SARASOTA, FL – Bay College Head Baseball Coach Mike Pankow added an additional coaching role to his plate this fall.  Pankow was asked to coach in the All-American Women’s Baseball Classic in sunny Florida on November 17-19 at Ed Smith Stadium and the Baltimore Orioles Spring Training facility.  The tournament was in its second year, but it was Pankow’s first year attending.

The tournament was run by American Girls Baseball (AGB), an affiliate of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association (AAGPBL PA).  The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was immortalized in the 1992 film A League of Their Own and continues to hold reunions and gatherings.  American Girls Baseball continues to fight inequity in the USA, striving to create more opportunities for females to play the great game of baseball.  The All-American Girls Baseball Classic is one of the premier events hosted by the organization and this year featured women from all over the US, as well as seven Canadian players, and one from Peurto Rico, and another from Mexico.  The tournament proved itself as a showcase of the talent and skills of some of the best women playing baseball today.

Pankow was first introduced to the world of women in baseball in 2015 when he was named the Head Baseball Coach at the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI).  There he took over a roster that featured the only woman in NCAA baseball at the time, Ghazaleh “Oz” Sailors.  During his tenure there, Oz continued her career as a pitcher and infielder, eventually being named a captain her senior year.  Oz also was the starting pitcher against NCAA Division 1 Maine her senior season, though the Owls lost the game 6-0, Oz performed brilliantly allowing just four earned runs in six innings of work.  It was a start that got her a call from the National Baseball Hall of Fame later that year, asking for some artifacts from that game to display.

Since their time together Sailors and Pankow have remained in close contact.   “Oz is one of the most genuine and positive people you can meet,” said Pankow.  “Not only have I been able to follow her through her adult life, she has been my connection to women in baseball since meeting her.  It has been fascinating learning about that side of the game, and through Oz I have wanted to be involved in some way, and finally something materialized that fit with everything we both do.”

The first event that “fit” was a AAGBPL reunion in August.  During that event, some women that had played in 2022’s All-American World Classic played an exhibition game against the USA Women’s National Team, who was gearing up for the World Cup Qualifiers later that month. 

“Though we talk usually at least once a month, I hadn’t seen Oz in years,” continued Pankow.  “Since I was off that weekend, it was a no-brainer to watch her go play.”  It was there that Pankow made connections with people associated to the AGB, eventually leading to the invitation to participate in the 2023 All-American Women’s World Classic.

The tournament features four teams of 12 players and two coaches.  The four teams are named after teams that were in the original AAGBPL, including the Rockford Peaches, South Bend Blue Sox, Racine Belles, and Kenosha Comets.  In the months leading up to the tournament, Pankow found out he would be reunited with Oz as the coach of the Belles. 

Sailors wasn’t the only former player to have a reunion of sorts with Pankow.  Janelle Calvet was a student at Bay and participated as a player for the Norse for a short time before being forced to leave school for personal reasons.  Calvet is another person Pankow routinely stays in touch with.  Despite having a few familiar faces, Pankow was set to work with ten other players and a coach he had never met before that weekend, and play games in a very short period of time of being together.  Though it was a unique challenge, Pankow says it wasn’t as tough as it sounds.

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