THE FRIDAY REPORTER
This is a special two-fer edition of The Friday Reporter because sometimes one conversation just isn’t enough.
This week, I talked with four women who know the Congressional Women’s Softball Game from very different angles — Senator Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) and Emily Goodin (New York Post), team captains for the two teams and then Atalie Ebersole, President of the Congressional Softball Game and Mary Ajango, Young Survival Coalition.
And if you know anything about this game, you know it’s about a lot more than softball.
For 18 years, women Members of Congress have taken on the women of the Washington press corps (Bad News Babes) in a bipartisan game that has become one of Capitol Hill’s great traditions.
But the reason this game exists — and the reason it keeps going — is the Young Survival Coalition, which supports young adults diagnosed with breast cancer.
Since the game began in 2009, it has raised more than $4.3 million for YSC.
And that’s what really struck me in these conversations: the game is fun, it’s competitive, there’s plenty of trash talk — but underneath all of that is something pretty powerful. Women who spend their days on opposite sides of politics come together around a cause that has nothing to do with party.
The 18th annual game is next Wednesday, September 23, at Audi Field here in Washington.
So if you’re looking for something to do next Wednesday night, go watch some women in Congress take on the press corps — and support a really important cause while you’re at it.
Tickets are on sale now at congwomensoftball.org
Tune in and play ball!
