The first thing Ronnie Gajownik did was grab her speakers from her office.
She put on Danzel’s "Pump It Up" and put it on full blast as she entered the Hillsboro Hops clubhouse. The other thing she had in her hand was a hat -- the bad boy hat, awarded to the “bad boy of the game.” She started dancing and they started cheering, because even though Gajownik hadn’t let it fully sink in, her players knew what they had just accomplished.
Together, the Hops earned Gajownik’s first win as a Minor League manager -- the first for a female full-time skipper at the High-A level.
“They got really into it,” Gajownik said. “The guys, they do understand how big of a moment this is. I had a couple of guys come up to me after the game and congratulate me. It’s just great to see that acceptance and knowing that I’m here for a reason, and I’m here for them.”
Indeed, it was hard for Gajownik to fully comprehend what this moment meant for baseball as a whole. From Rachel Balkovec to Alyssa Nakken to Victoria Alvarez and many more, Gajownik is another in the line of women who are breaking barriers in the world of coaching. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s sure been rewarding.
"I haven't really had a chance to think about how huge a moment this is in regards to me, since I've been so focused on them, but I know soon I'll probably be taking a huge sigh of relief," Gajownik said.
It was like déjà vu all over again when Hillsboro’s second game of the season got underway. In her historic debut on Thursday, her squad took an early lead before host Tri-City stormed back to hand the Hops a 9-2 loss. On Friday, the Hops jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first, and in the blink of an eye, the Dust Devils had plated three runs of their own.
This time, though, Hillsboro was able to shut Tri-City down and come away with a 7-3 victory.
"Even just after the first game, it just felt like a big weight off of my shoulders,” Gajownik said. “I was definitely in an easier mood today."
Her first win wouldn't come easy. Immediately following the three-run triple from Tri-City’s Straton Podaras that tied the game, starter Spencer Giesting issued his third walk of the night. Right then, Gajownik made the decision to take him out after just 1 2/3 frames, even after using four different relievers on Thursday.
Needless to say, it paid off.
Southpaw Hugh Fisher induced a groundout on the first pitch he threw, kicking off a string of seven scoreless, two-hit innings tossed by the bullpen. In total, five relievers combined to finish out the game for Hillsboro, and the staff combined to strike out 14.
"Fisher did a great job slamming it in on them and getting us out of that inning," Gajownik said. "All the pitchers kinda coming in and the guys not allowing the momentum to shift ... I was more so proud of them and how they handled it."
A five-run fifth, courtesy of a wild pitch and RBI singles from J.J. D’Orazio and Jacen Roberson, put the Hops up 7-3 and lightened the load for Gajownik, even if walks or hit batsmen kept causing traffic on the basepaths until the end.
Her confidence in her players, her staff and herself never waivered.
“Our staff is doing a really good job before the game going, ‘Hey, in this situation, what are we doing here?’ Kind of laying a little bit of the groundwork,” Gajownik said. “In the moment, it may seem like ‘Oh my gosh, what are we doing?’ But we’re doing a really good job beforehand making it easier on ourselves for that moment.”
At the start of her managerial career, Gajownik is still getting used to the balance between just doing her job and realizing that everything she does is a ‘first.’ But she knows as well as anyone that eventually, there will be no more firsts. It will just be normal.
“I had a woman a couple of days ago who said she was so happy that I have this opportunity and that I’m in this position, and she wishes she had had it,” Gajownik said. “It’s going to be great that there’s not going to be that many females saying that anymore, really in any profession, but especially in the sports world. It’s great to be a part of that.”