Capitol press corps beat Lawmakers in historically high scoring Congressional Women’s Softball Game

Runs came in waves on Wednesday night in the annual Congressional Women’s Softball Game, with the press corps’s team Bad News Babes besting Team Congress 22-16 at Audi Field.

The 18th annual event saw the nation’s legislators — led by captains Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.) and Reps. Julia Fedorchak (R-N.D.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) — face the congressional press corps, led by captains Emily Goodin of the New York Post and Katie Lobosco of Tax Notes. The event raised $882,596 for Youth Survival Coalition (YSC), an organization dedicated to helping young adults diagnosed with breast cancer.

“It’s about raising money for cancer, building some collegiality and making sure that folks feel that there’s some joy in this hard work,” Rep. Emily Randall (D-Wash.) said of the game before the first pitch.

The game was established in 2009 by a group of lawmakers, including Wasserman Schultz, who had just announced her own battle with breast cancer. The game has raised over $5.8 million for YSC since its founding.

The air was crisp and the lights were bright as players took the field to raucous applause from the crowd at D.C.’s repurposed pro soccer stadium. The Bad News Babes quickly went up 2-1 by the second inning, but Team Congress fought back with key offensive and defensive plays by Delegate Kimberlyn King-Hinds (R-Northern Mariana Islands).

By the fourth inning, Team Congress had evened the score at 7-7 with key runs batted in by King-Hinds and Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.). The scoreboard kept climbing into the fifth with a series of walks by pitcher Rep. Kathy Castor (R-Fla.) that put the press in the lead 14-7.

Castor kept walking batters and the press kept crossing home plate as the press took a 20-10 in the sixth inning.

A home run from Davids in the final inning was a highlight for the Team Congress, but was not enough to surpass America’s First Amendment fighters on the Bad News Babes, who came back from last year’s loss to handily win in the highest-scoring Congressional Women’s Softball Game of all time.

Not far from mind for both sides was President Trump’s ban on three media outlets from the press pool. Hours after the game wrapped up, a district court judge ordered the White House to restore access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico.

Before the game, Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) said there is a friendly rivalry, with what she said congresspeople jokingly call their “common enemy.” She said she’d like to see both sides stand up for the free press, calling the White House ban “disgusting.”

“So being here, a friendly game will show that we can work together as Democrats and Republicans,” Craig said. “But I’d also kind of like to see us work together to support a free press in this country.”

Still, the Minnesota Democrat did not mince words when it came to the night’s competition.

“I support their First Amendment right, but I definitely support kicking their ass on the softball field,” Craig said.

Randall said during practices for the annual game, members are able to build relationships with teammates across the aisle. Randall said she has co-sponsored amendments with Fedorchak that stemmed from conversations on the diamond.

Randall said when she was campaigning for her seat in Congress, members including Wasserman Schultz encouraged her to play in the softball game. She said as the first LGBTQ Latina in Congress, she had some “stereotypes to live up to, queer women in sports.”

“I haven’t played softball since junior high, but it’s fun and we have a great team,” Randall said.

Frank Thorp, a coach for the Bad News Babes and a coordinating producer and off-air reporter for NBC News, said he first got involved in the annual game over a decade ago when the press team needed a fill-in coach. He said it has become one of the most impactful things he’s been a part of while covering Capitol Hill.

“I love being a part of it, it’s for a good cause, but it’s also a situation where I’ve gotten to meet so many amazing women, all these amazing journalists that I look up to,” Thorp said. “I’ve got to know them in this really special way and they’re all just a bunch of badasses.”