Journalists Topple Lawmakers at Women’s Softball Game
The women of the Capitol Hill press corps came from behind to hand female lawmakers their second defeat in two years at the Congressional Women’s Softball Game on Wednesday night.
After falling to their staff members last year, the Members challenged journalists — including five from Roll Call — for their second annual game.
The lawmakers played strong, supported by doubles from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), event organizer and breast cancer survivor, and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).
They led by at least two runs until the sixth inning, when Politico’s Kasie Hunt and Roll Call’s Emily Ortman smacked doubles clear to the greens, bringing four home to take the lead. The final score was 13-7.
The journalists, who on average were about a decade younger than the Members, endured some taunts from the crowd as they failed to keep up in the first five innings. “They’re not very athletic, are they?” one woman asked her friend during the second inning.
The face-off also boasted such players as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), as well as Dana Bash of CNN and Shailagh Murray of The Washington Post. The event raised funds for the Young Survival Coalition, a breast cancer awareness group that focuses on patients age 40 and younger.