Rosie Adams

Reprint from The Path to the Gold by Mary L. Littlewood

As you might expect, when Hall of Famer Rosie Adams turned 14 years of age August 22, 1965, she wasn’t attending a birthday party. She was participating in the ASA Women’s Major Fast Pitch National Championships, playing second base for the Orange Lionettes. The youngest players to play in an ASA national championship, Adams played seven years for the Lionettes and four years for the Raybestos Brakettes.

After serving as a back-up infielder in 1965 and 1966, Rosie became the starting second baseman in 1967 and continued as the starter through the 1970 season. In 1971, she joined the Raybestos Brakettes of Stratford, Connecticut, and earned firm team All-American honors in 1971, 1972 and 1973. In 1969, Rosie was named a second team All-American as the Lionettes repeated as the national champion and earned a berth in the 1970 Women’s World Fast Pitch Championships in Osaka, Japan. Rosie’s bases loaded double off Hall of Fame pitcher Joan Joyce gave the Lionettes the national title and sent them to Japan for the world championships. Japan won the world championships, beating the USA (Lionettes) 1-0.

Rosie joined the Brakettes in 1971 and was a member of four consecutive national championship teams. In 1974, she competed in her second ISF world championship as the Brakettes, representing the USA, won the gold medal. Rosie left the Brakettes after that season to return to Orange to play the 1975 season, her last as an active amateur player. She played two years of professional softball for Santa Ana, California, and Buffalo, New York, before retiring.

In four years with the Brakettes, Rosie batted .279 in national championship play, having 19 hits in 68 at bats. Overall, she batted .187 in 11 national championships with 29 hits in 155 at bats. Although all of her defensive statistics are not available, she did have a .959 fielding percentage in six years with the Lionettes, with 802 putouts, 520 assists and only 56 errors. She had a .209 batting average during her 11-year career with 340 hits in 1,624 at bats and 133 runs batted in (RBI).

Named scholar-athlete at Mater Dei Catholic High School in 1968 and 1969, Rosie graduated from California State University, Fullerton, in 1970. While at Fullerton, she was a three-time All-American point guard and was a member of a national championship team in 1969 and 1970. She later obtained a master’s degree in education and training integrated with physical fitness from Memphis State University in 1985 in her off-duty time while serving in the United States Navy. After spending 12-1/2 years in the Navy, Rose was pursuing a career in television sports broadcasting for the NBC affiliate in San Diego, California, in 1998. Rosie was inducted into the National Softball Hall of Fame in 1987.

For more on Rosie Adams, see below.