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Female Baseball Star Vying For Roster Spot with Long Beach Armada

June 1, 2007 - Golden Baseball League (GBL)
Long Beach Armada News Release


The Long Beach Armada, an independent professional minor league team in the Golden Baseball League is pleased to announce that infielder Tamara Ivie, one of the most accomplished female baseball players in the country, has been invited to spring training to vie for a spot on the 2007 Armada roster.

The ballclub, managed by ex-major league All-Star and American League Home Run Champion Darrell Evans, opened spring training yesterday with approximately 40 players. After 10-days they will reduce to 22 players to begin the season. The team will have at least 3 players with big league experience, Bud Smith (no-hitter with the St. Louis Cardinals as a rookie), Chris Wakeland (Detroit Tigers), and Al Newman (Tampa Bay & Cleveland Indians) and the balance made up of players with Triple-A to Single-A minor league experience and a couple of rookies just out of college. In the last two years, the Armada has had the contracts of 10 players purchased by major league organizations.

Ivie has been one of the outstanding players in U.S. women's baseball for the last decade. A standout on the 2006 U.S. Women's Baseball Team that won the World Championships in 2006, where she batted .477, she has been a dominant force for the past dozen years, including 4 seasons with the famous all-female Silver Bullets in the late 90s that took on men's teams across the country and finished with a winning record in their final year under manager Phil Niekro.

"Tamara has the ability to play at this level, or I wouldn't have her out here," said Long Beach Armada Manager Darrell Evans. "She is a tough, determined, skilled ballplayer and a pleasure to have in spring training. It's not easy for any player to make this team, but she will have a legitimate shot."

If Ivie makes the ballclub, she will become the first woman to play for a professional minor league team since left-handed pitcher Ila Borders ended her two year career after stepping off the mound at Bruce Hurst Field with the Zion Pioneerz of St. George, Utah in the independent Western League in 2000.. In an odd coincidence, opening day for the 2007 season for the Long Beach Armada is in St. George, Utah on June 7th versus the St. George Roadrunners, managed by ex-Cleveland Indians great Cory Snyder, at Bruce Hurst Field.

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