All-American Women's Baseball Classic coming to Sarasota

In January, 60 of the world's best female athletes are expected to arrive at Ed Smith Stadium for a baseball tournament. 

The All-American Women's Baseball Classic will be held at the stadium Jan. 6-9. Seven games will be held over those four days, culminating in a championship game.

The players will be split into four teams, whose jerseys will honor four of the teams from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, the league depicted in the 1992 film A League of Their Own: the Rockford Peaches, the South Bend Blue Sox, the Racine Belles and the Kenosha Comets. 

The players will be the world's best, including Anna Kimbrell and Marti Sementelli, who both played in the 2015 XVII Pan American Games and in the 2019 COPABE Pan-American Championships, helping Team USA win gold at both events. 

Tickets are $10 a day for adults, $8 for seniors (ages 55 and up), and $5 for juniors (ages 13-18). Kids 12 and under get in for free and must be accompanied by an adult. There are also ticket bundles for the tournament for $35 ($18 for juniors).

Tickets will soon be available to purchase at American Girls Baseball's website.  

The event will also feature a free skills clinic for local girls baseball players under 18 years old on Jan. 3. The players will get to learn from the women playing and coaching in the event. Youth players who register before Dec. 1 will receive a T-shirt. 

Sponsorship opportunities are also available, for the teams ($10,000) the clinic ($1,000), the umpires ($1,500) and for the event's title ($10,000). 

The event is being spearheaded by Sue Zipay, a former AAGPBL player who lives in the area. For more information on the event or on American Girls Baseball, contact Zipay at 475-4489 or via email at [email protected].