Two lady coaches face off for first time at High-A

On paper, it was the beginning of a typical six-game sequence between the Hillsboro Hops and the Vancouver Canadians. On the sector, it was something however typical — a minimum of for now.

For the primary time on the High-A degree, two girls coaches confronted off towards one another when Ronnie Gajownik, supervisor of the Hops, and Ashley Stephenson, a place coach on the Canadians’ workers, took the sector from reverse sides of the diamond Tuesday night time.

“It is extra special,” Stephenson mentioned of getting two feminine coaches in outstanding positions on the identical discipline. “It’s thrilling for us to have these alternatives, and we would like different girls to have these alternatives. There are extra girls on the market who would make incredible coaches.”

This wasn’t the primary time these two have crossed paths. In the 2015 Pan-American Games in Toronto, each have been gamers on their respective girls’s baseball groups — Gajownik for Team USA and Stephenson for Canada — when the Americans took residence gold towards their rivals from the North.

The pair caught up once more within the Arizona Fall League final yr when Stephenson was with Salt River for just a few days whereas Gajownik was a coach on the Rafters. The extra they talked, the extra Gajownik realized Stephenson was match for the position of a coach.

“She has a great baseball mind, it’s cool for her,” Gajownik mentioned. “Women are qualified [for coaching roles], so it’s cool to look into the other dugout and see a ponytail and have it be attached to a female’s head.”

Gajownik began her journey as a improvement coach for the inaugural USA Girls Baseball Camp, whereas Stephenson jumped proper from being a participant with the Canadian Women’s National Team to a training position and ultimately grew to become supervisor for the membership.

Two years in the past, Gajownik joined the D-backs group as a video coordinator. Stephenson was invited by the Blue Jays to their new Player Development Complex final August. Now each of them are taking over main roles within the Minor League system as girls proceed to interrupt boundaries throughout the game.

“It’s great to see how far it’s come along, and it’s pretty cool to be a part of and to see other females succeed in their own roles and in their own dreams,” Gajownik said. “It’s cool that you do not essentially need to look into one dugout [to see a female coach], you may look into two.”

In the primary of 30 contests between the Northwest League foes, it was Stephenson’s Canadians who got here out on prime, 8-1. Even although her workforce gained the primary battle, Stephenson was fast to sing the praises of the skipper on the opposite aspect.

“She’s in a position of leadership as a manager, it’s such a significant role on a team. To have a female leader is a further step for us, for women,” Stephenson mentioned. “We understand that if we do a good job, that continues to open the door for other women.”

Stephenson messaged Gajownik earlier than the season to want her luck and even checks in on how the Hops are doing every now and then as a result of she needs to see her succeed. After all, as Stephenson mentioned, the extra girls succeed, the extra alternatives they’ll be given. Even with a much less seen position, Stephenson is aware of she’s a part of one thing larger than only a teaching job.

“We all understand that we have eyes on us,” she added. “I understand that people are maybe watching us a little closer, just because it’s the first of many things. But it certainly won’t be the last.”