There is no crying in baseball, and no slapping. Very little slapping, at least.
Lexi Hastings, one of the best players in UConn softball history, doesn’t need Tom Hanks to tell her that — though it would be kind of cool, come to think of it — as she transitions to baseball and a new venture in professional sports.
“That movie is definitely an all-time favorite, although I grew up playing softball, I could see myself in those women,” Hastings said, “breaking barriers, what it means to show up as a women in sports, being tough and how society might see women. Yeah, I really resonated with that movie.”
The 1992 film, “A League Of Their Own,” one of the most beloved of all baseball movies, shined the lights on All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was created in 1943 to help keep baseball going in midwestern cities during World War II, and lasted until 1954. The concept of women playing America’s Pastime was largely dormant for 70 years until Justine Siegal, the first women on an MLB coaching staff, gathered investors and announced plans to launch the Women’s Pro Baseball League in the summer of 2026.
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“You know our women, they love the game so much,” Siegal told CBS News. “You know it’s an obstacle to get to play, and here we are living out our dreams. So it’s going to be just fantastic.”
Hastings is all in, and it would be hard to imagine an athlete better equipped to attack such a pioneering adventure. After finishing her career at UConn, hitting .364 across 211 games with 254 hits, second in program history, and UConn records in runs (198) and steals (128), she found out the new league would be holding tryouts not far from her home in North Carolina.
“After my collegiate season, I was really hoping to play professionally,” Hastings said. “Obviously, I played softball, so this is a completely different realm. This is something I want to be a part of.”
Hastings first filled out a form, thinking it was for the open tryouts, but found it was to play in the All-American Women’s Baseball Classic, a four-team tournament in Durham, N.C., in August. The teams wore uniforms based on the long-defunct All-American league, and suddenly Hastings was a member of the South Bend Blue Sox. She helped them win the championship game, and single in a run in the 8-7 final loss to the Racine Belles.
“So I accidentally got into that tournament and was really able to prepare,” Hastings said. “And kind of grow my baseball knowledge.”
From there, Hastings participated in the tryouts in Washington, D.C., and was selected to play in the final evaluation game at Nationals Park. She did well enough for her name to be listed among the roughly 120 prospects for the league’s first draft, to begin Thursday at 8 p.m. The first season will feature teams in New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
“It’s a very historical launch in a variety of ways,” Hastings said. “I think it’s a huge step for women’s sports. … I think I take after my mom, she was a women in the military, and that aspect, ‘You’re not going to tell me what I can and can’t do as a women, I’m going to make a space for my own.’”
Some of the players have baseball experience. The one you’ve likely heard about is Mo’ne Davis, who played in the 2014 Little League World Series. It’s a different game, of course. In softball, the third baseball often plays close to defend the bunt and hitters, especially fast, lefty hitters like Hastings, become adept at slapping the ball by them.
“In softball, I could slap, I could bunt, I could hit for power,” Hastings said. “In baseball, there’s not really a lot of slapping, so I’m figuring out who I am as a player, if that can be incorporated into my game. Once I use my tools to get on base, base stealing is huge for me. I’m a risk-taker, I like to make things happen with my legs.”
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The mound is further away, so there will be more time to react to the overhand pitches. It’ll take reps. “The timing of that is the biggest adjustment right now,” Hastings said.
From UConn, with its history in women’s sports, where Hastings was Big East Player of the Year in 2024 and helped the Huskies reach the NCAA Tournament last season, she brings that certain edge, an expectation of success.
“Coming from a culture of such strong representation in women’s athletics across the board, especially in women’s basketball, understanding the process of what it takes to be great, what it takes to create a dynasty. Within softball, we weren’t just trying to win championships, we were trying to create the standard of longevity that would surpass our time there. That creates legacy and translates to this league, too. The first-ever league, we want it to sustain for all the young girls who will sit in the stands.”
The young girls who will be watching are very important to Hastings. She was placed in foster care at age 4, eventually adopted by Ben and Dawn Hastings in Lynchburg, Va., where she became a three-sport athlete. In telling her story in a speech to her UConn teammates as a senior, Lexi described herself as “a rose that grew from concrete.”
In this new adventure Hastings, after a moment to reflect, sees herself as a cross between the main characters in “A League Of Their Own,” the big sister, Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis), and the feisty little sister Kit, played by Lori Petty.
“Dottie’s presence, her leadership, her athleticism, her advocacy, her demeanor, it really speaks to some level of who I am,” Hastings said. “As a player, I really resonate with Kit a lot. I feel like throughout my life I’ve had to fight for everything I’ve gotten, advocate for my skills, break barriers. Wanting more for my life. … That spunk Kit has, she loved baseball, wanted baseball, knew what baseball could do for her. A lot of people overlooked her in the movie, and at time in my life I’ve felt overlooked. I’ve always been that rose that grew from concrete ”
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UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley on putting together a strong nonconference schedlule. (Joe Arruda/Hartford Courant)
Dan Hurley right on schedule
After polishing off three mid-majors, the UConn men’s basketball team began the meat-and-potatoes portion of the nonconference schedule with the game vs. BYU in Boston Saturday night. Coming up fast are Arizona (Wednesday), Illinois (Nov. 28), Kansas (Dec. 2), Florida (Dec. 9) and Texas (Dec. 12), all ranked.
This is the schedule, filled with risks and rewards, Dan Hurley envisioned in phasing out multiteam events like Maui, a three-game misadventure last November.
“You’re going to look at all different styles,” he said, “all different offensive systems, defensive principles, roster construction, paces of play, coaching approaches. Then you’re also able to play six top-flight opponents where if you go into a (multiteam event), you don’t even have control over the first team you play.”
Hurley would favor playing still more games like this, and fewer guarantee games, an approach, one would think, would play well in the NCAA selection and seeding process (always in the back of this coach’s mind).
“It’s great for college basketball and its great for your teams,” Hurley said.
Meanwhile, this week, the UConn team got a visit last week from Cam Spencer, member of the 2024 champions, now with Memphis in the NBA.
“Cam got a chance to hang out with the boys,” Hurley said. “Cam is not a man of a lot of words, he’s a man of action. He wanted to get in practice and challenge some of the guys one-on-one rather than have a casual conversation. His messaging was pretty consistent with a lot of the guys who come back: His time at UConn was magical, he’s living his dream of playing in the NBA, but guys should appreciate every second they’re wearing the UConn uniform, because there is something special about UConn.
“It was a good pick-me-up, he was around all day. He didn’t have his social media team with him to document it, didn’t put it on Tik-Tok.”
Sunday short takes
*Aiyanna Robles Sedano, a former All-Stater in soccer at Tolland High, finished her sophomore season at Division III Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx, scoring nine goals, with five assists. Sedano, who has played for Peru’s under-17 and under-20 national teams, has found a home after a year at Iona and is studying business with an eye on a career in the law, or in sports marketing. USMV finished 13-4-2 after losing in double OT to Saint Joseph’s of Long Island in the Skyline Conference final.
*Mark Zanetto, a Meriden native, ubiquitous on UConn-related social media and founder of “The Big East Energy Network,” home of “The Hoops Cap Podcast,” is partnering with the Connecticut Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs to support youth across the state. A minimum of 25 percent of every sponsorship goes to the Alliance, with 50 percent of sponsorships of $10,000 or more. The network also is donating all proceeds from Connecticut-themed merchandise and UConn tickets (donated by season-ticket holder Matt Sullivan) sold on BigEastEnergy.com to the Boys and Girls Clubs. “This is the absolute least I can do to give back to an organization I wholeheartedly believe makes a real impact in the lives and development of kids in Connecticut,” Zanetto said.
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*Two former Whalers have the Ducks (11-5-1) in first place in the NHL’s Pacific Division, GM Pat Verbeek and coach Joel Quenneville, his suspension lifted for this season.
*Former roommates Bobby Valentine, the Stamford icon, and Lee Mazzilli, long time Greenwich resident who’s children all went to UConn, his son, LJ, starring for the baseball team, will be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame next season.
*To reiterate, amazing as Aaron Judge is, if I had an MVP vote, it would have been Cal Raleigh. Catcher with 60 home runs? No need to overthink that one.
*Isn’t it the most Paige Bueckers thing ever that she went to Spokane, Wash., this week to visit former UConn teammate Ines Bettencourt, now at Gonzaga, join her in practice and watch her play? “It’s not every day she goes to watch someone play especially in Spokane,” Bettencourt said. “She was hanging out yesterday with my roommates and it’s just like ‘You’re so cool.”
You can now vote for UConn’s Joe Fagnano to win the Heisman Trophy
Last word
Sure, the Heisman is a little overboard here, but in watching this remarkable season of Joe Fagnano’s unfold, bear in mind that one of the most valuable assets a football program can have is a reputation for developing quarterbacks in a pro style offense. It could get UConn more good ones.
