When Hall of Fame coach Mike Candrea called Jenny Dalton-Hill about playing pro baseball, he knew exactly what to say to her.
He said it’s an all-female professional baseball team going on a cross-country tour to play men’s teams and “I don’t think it’s something you’d want to do.”
That was enough for her competitive spirit to know it was absolutely something she wanted to do.
“By him saying [that]… I literally started training the next day because, for me, it’s all about competition,” Dalton-Hill said.
An Arizona Legend
Dalton-Hill had just wrapped up her softball career at Arizona as one of the most decorated players in school history, with records and accolades that have withstood the test of time.
She was an All-American second baseman who played on three national championship teams: 1993, 1994, and 1996. Her senior year in 1996 was one for the ages. She won the WCWS Most Valuable Player award and the Honda Softball Award.
Dalton-Hill still owns NCAA records for runs scored in a season (101), career runs scored (293), and career runs batted in (328).
But continuing her feared swing wasn’t on the horizon for Dalton-Hill despite collecting handfuls of rings and a shelf full of awards. Less than a month after walking across the stage, she planned to get married and begin teaching, trading the Wildcats fans for an audience of elementary school students.
“Everything has always been about competition… And so trying out for baseball was the next challenge in my book.”
Unexpected Opportunity
Her career started on a Little League softball field in Glendale, California. This would be the first time she ever traded the big yellow ball for one three inches smaller and two ounces lighter.
Dalton-Hill trained and joined the Colorado Silver Bullets, the first all-female professional baseball team since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League folded in 1954.
But unlike the AAGPBL, this wasn’t a league for women to compete against other women.
After the box office success of the movie “A League of Their Own” in 1992, Whittle Communications and Coors Brewing Company announced the formation of an all-women’s team. The Colorado Silver Bullets were created the following year and named after Coors’s brand of light beer.
The Silver Bullets began their barnstorming tour competing against men’s professional, semiprofessional, and amateur teams with a “battle of the sexes” promotion.
Like Dalton-Hill, few girls or women play baseball and the team struggled. But their record gradually improved year after year, and in 1997 the Silver Bullets had a winning season. Dalton-Hill was on that 23-22 squad.
Dalton-Hill, Toni Heisler, and Tamara Holmes hit over .300 in the ’97 season (no player finished with a batting average higher than .200 in the Silver Bullets’ first year).
Despite the improved competition, Coors pulled its annual $2.6 million sponsorship. The 1997 season would be the Silver Bullets’ fourth and final season.
“After the team folded, I didn’t have anywhere else to play,” Dalton-Hill said. “So I went back, I taught fifth grade, and became a school teacher.”
The Catalyst to Coaching
It would be 13 years before Dalton-Hill stepped on a baseball diamond as an athlete again.
Another phone call came urging Dalton-Hill to try out for a baseball team. This time it was a former Colorado teammate urging her to try out for Team USA.
“I thought, I have three kids, I haven’t played in over a decade. The only cleats I have are literally 13 years old. All right, let’s go.”
Dalton reemerged from retirement in 2010 to compete for the Women’s National Team in the 2010 Women’s Baseball World Cup. She helped guide the U.S. to a bronze medal, but during that training and playing, she was injured to the point that she couldn’t play anymore.
“I feel like there always needs to be a catalyst to changing over and coaching,” Dalton-Hill said. “So I had a hip replacement and took the field – still in uniform because in baseball you wear the uniform – to coach.”
She started with the Women’s National Team Development Program and coached the national team in 2012 helping Team USA to an IBAF Women’s Baseball World Cup silver medal. Dalton-Hill still serves on the USA Baseball Board of Directors.
“They gave me back a piece of who I am.”
Coming Home to Softball
With limited opportunities in professional softball and finite spots within the USA Softball Women’s National Team, many athletes have taken a route similar to Dalton-Hill. She said that she doesn’t push baseball on anyone but she does push opportunity.
“So I speak to softball players about if you don’t have another place to go, you can always come home because a lot of them started with baseball,” Dalton-Hill said. “It [allows me] to help give longevity to athletes who may not have another opportunity to play.”
Now Dalton-Hill is the one rounding third back to her sports roots.
“Maybe that’s why this opportunity to be in the AUSL has been so poignant for me because now I feel like I’m coming home and to be able to give longevity in a sport that makes my heartbeat.”
Savanna Collins is the Senior Reporter for the AUSL. You can follow her on X @savannaecollins.
