Hofstra Softball Alum Set to Become MLB’s First Female Umpire

Former Hofstra softball catcher and three-time All-Conference pick Jen Pawol is set to make Major League Baseball History this weekend when she becomes the first woman to umpire a regular-season game.

Congrats Jen! https://t.co/kbxOJy91fC
— Hofstra Softball (@HofstraSoftball) August 6, 2025

She’ll umpire three games during the series between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves at Truist Park, including both Saturday’s doubleheader on the bases and behind the plate for the finale on Sunday.

The doubleheader was the reason for adding a fifth umpire to the crew due to each home plate umpire skipping the other game they are not working. Whenever MLB needs a fill-in or additional umpires during the season, they draw from a group of Triple-A umpires who are on an MLB Call-Up list.

After umpiring NCAA softball games for 11 years part-time and taking teaching certification classes in New York, Pawol made the jump to umpiring full-time, beginning in the MLB’s minor league system in 2016.

“I wasn’t really satisfied,” Pawol said, according to Ben Walker and Ronald Blum of the AP. “Coming off of a huge competitive career, just playing locally, I wasn’t getting my fix. And I remember looking at the umpire and being like, I think that’s it. I got to go for that.”

She attended the Minor League Baseball Umpire Training Academy in Florida and performed exceptionally, and has already made plenty of history while climbing the ranks.

Pawol reached Triple-A in 2023 and became the first woman to umpire a championship game at that level. Then in 2024, she became the first female umpire in a Spring Training game since Ria Cortesio in 2007.

Jen Pawol is an umpire in tonight’s Astros-Nationals game. She began the game as the third base ump.

She’s the first woman to work an MLB #SpringTraining game in 17 years. pic.twitter.com/qgmt4aQU8L
— MLB (@MLB) February 24, 2024

According to Benjamin Hill of MiLB, in 2016, Pawol was running a training facility near her home, which taught young kids to develop their baseball and softball skills, and sometimes, they learned umpiring skills as well.

Not only did she play at Hofstra, but she spent 10 seasons playing at the Amateur Softball Association Major Fast Pitch level and played for the USA Baseball Women’s National Team in 2001. The New Jersey native was an all-state softball and soccer player for three seasons at West Milford High School.

MLB’s decision to let Pawol umpire a game comes 28 years after the gender barrier for game officials was broken in the NBA, 10 years after it ended in the NFL, and three years after the men’s soccer World Cup employed a female referee.

With the MLB having 76 full-time male umpires, who are divided into 19 crews of four umpires each, it’s about time they bring women onto the scene.

Saturday’s matchup between the Marlins and Braves kicks off at 12:15 p.m. CT and 12:35 p.m. CT on Sunday.