A two-game women’s baseball fundraising series is set to return to Ogden and a new city this year after a successful debut in 2022.

The Ogden Raptors announced the team will again organize two “A League of Their Own” tribute contests featuring all women players in full baseball games. This time, Idaho Falls is getting involved; the Chukars, competitors of the Raptors in the Pioneer League, will field a women’s team and host one of the games this summer.

The Idaho Falls Spud Queens will host the Ogden Whoopie Girls on Saturday, July 29, at the Chukars’ home of Melaleuca Field. The Spud Queens will return the trip to Ogden for a game on Saturday, Aug. 12, at Lindquist Field.

The Raptors and Justin Nakaishi, from lead sponsor SavOn Sporting Goods, will host a local tryout for the Whoopie Girls at 1 p.m. Saturday, July 8, at Lindquist Field. Women ages 18 and older can participate in the tryout. Questions can be sent to Raptors general manager Trever Wilson at 801-393-2400 or by emailing players@ogden-raptors.com

The 2022 games pitted the Whoopie Girls and the Junction City Dolls against each other, two Ogden-local teams. Those two games totaled a fan attendance of 4,751 and raised about $17,000 through donations from fans in attendance. That money went to the Hope Squad and Utah’s “Live On” suicide prevention organizations.

Game times and recipients of charitable fundraising for this year’s games will be announced at a later date.

The genesis of the women’s baseball games came last year for the 30th anniversary of the 1992 film “A League of Their Own,” which tells a fictionalized story about two sisters joining the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which was a real sports league from 1943-54 launched during World War II.

The idea grew from having a movie night using the Lindquist Field video board, to doing something during a Raptors game, to staging full-fledged women’s games.

“The amazing thing is when I walked onto the field (45 minutes before the game) and saw 1,000 people in the stands already … and they all stayed. And they were cheering for every pitch,” Raptors team president Dave Baggott said after the first game in 2022. “It was a wonderful event for something that started out as a lark. They took it dead seriously so we took it seriously.”

FREE TICKETS THIS WEEKEND

The Ogden Raptors host the Idaho Falls Chukars in a six-game series this week and Ascent Credit Union is footing the bill for fans to attend at Lindquist Field.

The local credit union has bought out the stadium, so to speak, paying for single-game tickets for both the Saturday and Sunday games. Interested fans can visit the Lindquist Field ticket office and request free tickets while supplies last.

Saturday’s start time is 6:30 p.m. and Sunday’s is 2 p.m.

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