1976 All Star Game

How the West Won

From November 1976 womenSports by Betty Hicks

The East’s got the Big O and the West’s got the Big D, prophesied San Jose Sunbird Brenda Gamblin just before the start of the First Annual Women’s Professional Softball East-West All-Star Game. In layman’s terms, the East had the hitters (Offense) while the West had the fielders (Defense). As it turned out, the East also had the Big E-Errors.

Despite a team batting average of .283-- .050 more than the West—and despite being managed by the legendary Joan Joyce, the East lost the inaugural professional softball All-Star game 5-0. The West owes its victory to an Eastern defense that had more holes than dietetic Swiss cheese.

And everything had started out so well for the East. Leadoff hitter Pat Guenzler sliced a change-up down the first base line for a single. Connecticut's Kathy Krygier followed suit with a line drive to left. Southern California's Debby Bevers retrieved the drive but made a poor throw to the infield allowing both runners to advance. Bevers immediately redeemed herself by snagging a fly off the bat of Mary Ann Cardillo, then rifling it home as Guenzler streaked for the plate.

The ball and Guenzler reached catcher Mary Lou Pennington simultaneously--the ball in her mitt, Guenzler in the catcher's midsection. The sturdy San Jose catcher was knocked to the ground, but not before making the tag to stop the runner from scoring. The play eventually earned shared Most Valuable Player honors for Bevers and Pennington.

Charlotte Graham of San Jose finished her pitching stint for the West by silencing the big guns from across the Mississippi three up, three down. Her associates on the West pitching staff—Bonnie Johnson, Cathy Benedetto, and Nancy Welborn—did likewise.

Connecticut pitcher Kathy Neal started for the East, loading the bases in the second in an error-begotten jam from which she remarkably emerged unscathed. But Neal’s mittfull of miracles ran out in the third, when the West exploded with five singles and a double. The result was three earned and two unearned runs, a product of previously mentioned Swiss cheese defense.

The fireworks display all but ended the game. At the end of three, the scoreboard read: East—no runs, two hits, three errors; West—five runs, seven hits, one error. At the end of the game, it was still 5-0 for the West.

To read news articles about the 1976 All Star game, view the 1976 All Star Program and photos from the 1976 All Star game, see below.