Women’s baseball league flourishing in NJ, with Hudson County flavor
As long as she can remember, Adriane Adler has always played baseball. Growing up in Scarborough, N.Y., baseball was always a part of her life.
"I grew up with two older brothers and my father, who all loved baseball," Adler said. "I played baseball with them all the time. I played organized baseball all through Pony League (13-to-15) with and against boys. I knew I could throw just as hard as they could."
When the time came for Adriane Calenda – as she was known at the time – to attend high school, she had a long talk with her father.
"He told me that he didn’t think they’d let me play baseball in high school," Adler said. "He said that whatever I wanted to do, he would support me, but that I should consider playing softball."
It was a wise choice, because Adler not only went on to become a standout softball player in high school, but she was a catcher/third baseman at Fordham University for four years.
However, when her softball days were done at Fordham, Adler was left without something to quell her competitive spirit.
"I was so used to playing competitive sports, baseball, basketball, softball, from the age of six," Adler said. "And it was weird not having that part of my life around after college."
In 1994, Adler went to a tryout with the Silver Bullets, a professional women’s baseball barnstorming team, sponsored by Coors Light and managed by Hall of Fame pitcher Phil Niekro.
Adler didn’t make the team, but trying out for the Bullets gave her the inspiration to want to play baseball again.
"I got the bug again to want to play," Adler said. "I needed to play."
In 1996, Adler moved to New Jersey and found a baseball league, the North Jersey Men’s Baseball League, based out of Parsippany, that she wanted to play in. It was a men’s league, but Adler went back to her roots.
"I wasn’t intimidated," Adler said. "The guy who ran the league, Mitch Miles, told me that he would give me a chance. I thought it might be overpowering to me, but I said, ‘What the heck?’ I wanted to play baseball."
For five years, Adler regularly played in the league. She also received another benefit from playing.
"I met my husband [Geoff Adler] playing in the league," Adler said. "I played against him and we just sort of hit it off. There were a lot of great players in the league, but I held my own."
However, Adler always wondered about forming a league just for women.
"I knew that there were enough women in the area who could probably play," Adler said. "I just wondered if there was enough interest."
So, with the help of Miles, Adler decided to form the East Coast Women’s Baseball League, a baseball league strictly for women.
"It started slow, but by word of mouth, we kept getting more and more women who were interested in playing," said Adler, who is not only the league director, but she’s also a player. "We were able to get enough women to form three teams, but we keep getting calls from women who are either curious or really interested. They wonder if they can really do this."
Right now, the East Coast Women’s Baseball League has approximately 50 players, but by the end of the fall season, Adler hopes to have upwards of 70 players, enough to form four teams.
"And if things go well, we hope to add even more teams for 2003," Adler said. "We’re getting calls from potential new players almost every day."
It’s a very professionally run league, down to the uniforms, the statistical updates, a webpage.
"We have the whole nine yards," said Adler, who until recently served as an associate director for the Sally Jessy Rafael talk show. "I’m really excited about the league. I thought it was possible to get perhaps two teams. But it’s really taking off. I’d like to see it get as successful as the men’s league. I’m thrilled to see so many interested women in New Jersey who want to play."
Including some from Hudson County, like Jersey City native Tracy McNulty, who was a standout softball player during her day at St. Dominic Academy. North Bergen’s Melanie Cardona has made an inquiry about playing in the league, but she’s only 16 years old.
"That’s not a problem," Adler said. "We have a 13-year-old from Long Island who is a regular player with us. We also have a woman who is 50. So it’s been interesting."
After reading about the exploits of Memorial’s pitcher Mercedes Nunez in The Hudson Reporter in May, Adler reached out to contact the first girl to ever win a high school baseball game at the West New York school, to see if she was interested in playing in the league.
"She came to a practice and we tried to get her to a scrimmage," Adler said. "But she said she had a lot going on at the time. She said that it’s something she might be interested in the future. But she would have fit right in."
The league currently plays its games at either Smith Field in Parsippany or Dwight Morrow School in Englewood. There are plans to hold some games in Moonachie, but Adler would like to venture into Hudson County or at least southern Bergen County, like North Arlington or Lyndhurst, within the next year.
Adler is optimistic about the league’s future.
"Word of mouth is traveling," Adler said. "If we get one person to find out about us, then that might lead to another. We’ve been going all summer and now, we’ll begin our fall league. I’m really enjoying it. Women are wondering whether they can do this, and the answer is, ‘Yes, they can.’ "
Rosie O’Donnell, Geena Davis and Madonna would be proud. These women truly have a league of their own, some 60 years after the All-American Women’s Baseball League was formed during World War II.
If any women are interested in participating in the East Coast Women’s Baseball League, they can contact Adler via e-mail at ajadler03@hotmail.com or call (201) 460-3704.