June 4, 1943

Rockford Morning Star
Mayor To Toss First Ball Saturday
By Harry D. Milne
Morning Star Sports Editor

Mayor Henry Bloom will toss the first ball and Ken Selles of Chicago, former Rockford boy, president of the league, will attempt to catch it in in part of the opening ceremonies Saturday night at the high school stadium when the Rockford and South Bend, Ind., teams officially open the season here of the All-American Girls Softball league.

There will be other ceremonies, Melvin Shaffer, business manager of the team announces, such as flag raising with the members of the two teams of girl softball stars marching out onto the field in their attractive uniforms and forming a big "V". The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m.

Sunday night the two teams will swing into a doubleheader at the stadium. The girls play a full nine-inning game and play under the rules of men's hardball with nine players on a side. Base runners are allowed to take a lead off the base and pitchers will throw the ball with one foot on the pitching rubber. There will be no safety player on either team.

In league games played so far the action has been fast with games being completed in much faster time than in men's hardball. Double plays are a feature of this game with with the Rockford team getting more than its share of twin killings in tilts played up to date.

Through Wednesday night the Rockford Peaches, named after the color of their uniforms, has a .500 percentage in the league standings with three wins and three defeats. The Peaches dropped their first three games at South Bend but came back to win the next two and to defeat Kenosha Wednesday night. The Peaches are anxious to win the five-game series with South Bend slated for Saturday and Sunday nights and Monday and the fans are assured of seeing some spirited competition when the two teams clash.

Rockford Beats Kenosha Girls By 7-5 Score
(Special to the Morning Star)

Kenosha, Wis., June 3 - Scoring three runs in the fifth to tie the score 5 and 5 the Rockford Peaches defeated Kenosha here tonight 7 to 5 with single runs in the sixth and eighth frames. The win gives Rockford four victories out of seven games played for a .571 percentage in the league standings.

Dorothy Green of Boston, a catcher, joined Rockford today and was behind the plate from the fourth inning on, handling Clara Cook, a southpaw, in excellent style. Rockford made a dozen hits, paced by Burmeister's trio, including a double.

Kenosha took an early lead, scoring one in the second and two in the third. Rockford made a couple in the fourth but the home team came back with two in the same inning to lead 5 to 2. In the fifth the visitors tied it up and then went on to win.

Score by innings:
Rockford ........	0	0	0	2	3	1	0	1	0	-	7	11	4
Kenosha ........	0	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	-	5	7	3
Cook and Burmeister, Green; Bennett, Harney and Westerman.

Rockford Register-Republic

Rockford Peaches Bid for League Lead as Home Opener Nears

Now Second in Softball Race
South Bend Blue Sox Here Saturday Night For First Home Game

"We'll be in first place when we come home."

This assurance was broadcast to Rockford fans today by the Rockford Peaches, the city's entry in the new All-American Girls softball league, as they prepared to wind up their first road trip of the season at Kenosha and stage an "opening night" celebration for the hometown followers Saturday night.

South Bend, from whom the Peaches won two out of five to launch a winning streak that now stands at four straight games, will provide the opposition. The curtain will go up at 7:30 p.m., with Mayor Henry Bloom throwing the first pitch and Ken Sells, president of the new league and a former aide on the Chicago Cubs managerial staff, doing the catching. 

Coach Eddie Stumpf and his Rockford girls blasted their way into second place last night with a 7-5 decision over Kenosha at the latter's field, and only today's game with the same team stood between the Peaches and league leadership when they open at home tomorrow. The Rockford girls, displaying considerable nervousness, dropped three games in a row at South Bend over the holiday week-end.

Then their nervousness vanished and they set the Blue Sox down twice in a row and continued on to Kenosha to pick up two more. It was a sizzling scoring struggle, throwing with excitement all the way, as the Rockford Peaches whipped Kenosha last night in the Lake Front stadium.

New Catcher on Staff

Dorothy Green of Boston, a catcher, joined Rockford Thursday and was behind the plate from the fourth inning on, handling the slants of Clara Cook, a southpaw, in excellent style.

Rockford assembled a dozen hits, paced by Ella Gurmeister's trio, including a double. The visitors sent Bennett to the showers in the eighth.

After trailing 5-2, Rockford splurged for three markers in the fifth to tie it at 5-5. Then shoved over a marker in the sixth and seventh while holding Kenosha scoreless.

Two Rockford runs developed in the fourth inning. Fritz walked and scored on McCreary's single, she reached second when Kenosha's left fielder bobbled the retrieve. After Burmeister skied to left, Cook poked a single to left counting McCreary.

Fritz, McCreary Score

With Davis out on a tap to first baseman to the first baseman to open the fifth, Kamenshak singled to right field, Fritz was safe and a Kenosha error failed to check Kamenshak at second. McCreary strolled and Burmeister's clout to center registered Kamenshak. Cook's single accounted for Fritz at the counting station and when she attempted to stretch the hit into a double she was nabbed at second but McCreary raced home.

Davis whaled a triple to center in the sixth, and after Kamenshak rolled out to first, she raced in on Fritz's infield ball which was fielded too slow to nip the Rockford runner at the plate.

The Peaches had four errors sprinkled throughout the game as compared to three for Kenosha, but they displayed a lot of hustle and spirit and put on the pressure in the right spot to keep their winning streak alive.

Box score:
Rockford (7)				Kenosha (5)
	AB	R	H		AB	R	H
Jackson, lf	4	0	2	Koehn, cf-3b	5	2	2
Wuetrich, 2b	2	0	0	Ruhnke, ss	5	0	1
Green, c	2	0	0	Mickelson, rf	5	1	0
Warwick, 3b	5	0	0	Hartnett, 3b	0	0	0
Davis, ss	3	1	1	Wohlm'der cf	3	0	1
Kamenshak, 1b	5	2	2	O'Hara, 1b	4	0	1
Fritz, rf	4	2	1	Lester, 2b	4	1	0
McCreary, 1b	4	2	1	Holle, lf	4	0	0
Burmeister, c	5	0	3	Westerman, c	4	1	1
Cook, p	5	0	2	Bennett, p	2	0	0
				Harney, p	2	0	1
Totals	40	7	12	Totals	38	5	7
Rockford ................. 000 231 010 - 7
Kenosha ................. 012 200 000 - 5
Home run - Koehn. Three base hit - Davis. Two base hit - Burmeister. Stuck out - By Bennet, 1, Harney 1; Cook, 3. Losing Pitcher - Harney. Wild pitches - Cook, Harney. Passed ball - Westerman. Hit by pitcher (Bennett) - Jackson, Green. Double players - Lester to O'Hara. Umpires - Green and Gembler.

STANDINGS
	Won	Lost	Pct.
Racine ..........	3	1	.750
Rockford .......	4	3	.571
South Bend ...	3	4	.429
Kenosha .......	1	3	.250