First female MLB umpire inspiring other women in sports

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A day at the ‘ole ballpark is new again. 48-year-old Jen Pawol has become the first woman to umpire a Major League Baseball game.

“Once I started umpiring, I was like, ‘this is for me,’” Pawol said.

Pawol is working the Braves-Marlins series this weekend at Truist Park. It’s a groundbreaking moment that is inspiring other women in sports, like Natola Hawthorne.

“She was actually one of my instructors at MLB school. I was with her for five weeks learning the craft from her,” Hawthorne said.

Hawthorne has a story of her own to tell as the first black woman in the nation to umpire a Division 1 collegiate baseball game.

“I started in 2017, and it was after playing slow pitch softball and the way the people were going in on the officials, I thought that I could save the day and become one to bring integrity back,” Hawthorne said.

Perhaps, Hawthorne’s biggest moment happened while she was umpiring an MLB exhibition game with former superstars a month ago.

“I got really emotional, and Gary Sheffield saw it right, so he walked up to me and said, ‘Are you okay?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I mean, yeah,’ and he said ‘Hey can I hug you?’ And I said, ‘That’s what I need,’ so he hugged me, and I felt like the pressure and tension, and everything release,” Hawthorne said.

It’s people like Hawthorne and Pawol who continue to pave the way for other women with dreams of one day making it to the big leagues.

“There’s nothing you can’t do it. Absolutely, nothing. Go for it, right? Shoot for the stars, you may fall in the clouds, but you are still up,” Hawthorne said.

MLB’s move comes 28 years after the gender barrier for game officials was broken in the NBA, 10 years after it ended in the NFL.

It’s history in the making.