West Milford Native To Make MLB History As First Woman Umpire

By Chris Spiker From Daily Voice

A New Jersey native will be the first woman to step behind home plate, calling balls and strikes in a Major League Baseball game.

Jen Pawol is set to make history as the first woman to umpire a regular-season MLB game, the league announced on Wednesday, Aug. 6. The West Milford, NJ, native will work three games when the Miami Marlins play at the Atlanta Braves.

The Marlins and Braves will have a doubleheader on Saturday, Aug. 9, creating the need for a fifth umpire in the weekend series. Pawol will work both doubleheader games and will be behind home plate for the matchup on Sunday, Aug. 10.

Dee Kantner and Violet Palmer became the first two women to officiate a major North American professional sport when they joined the NBA in 1997. Sarah Thomas was the first female NFL official in 2015, while a woman has never been a referee in an NHL game.

Pawol's journey to the majors started at West Milford High School, where she excelled at softball, soccer, and indoor track and field. She was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2022.

From West Milford, Pawol went to Long Island to continue her softball career, earning a scholarship at Hofstra University. She played catcher with the Pride between 1996 and 1998.

According to the Society of American Baseball Research, Pawol earned All-American honors, hitting .332 with 102 RBIs. As a side hustle, she started umpiring fast-pitch softball games in college for extra money.

In 2001, Pawol was a member of the Team USA squad that won the first Women's Baseball World Series. She was also a 2004 member of the Stratford Brakettes, a professional softball team in Connecticut.

In 2005, she earned a master's degree in fine arts at Hunter College in New York City. She continued umpiring even while working as an art teacher.

Pawol has been a Minor League Baseball umpire for about a decade, beginning with her stint calling Rookie League games in 2016. By 2023, she became the first woman to reach Triple-A in 34 years and was elevated to a crew chief in 2024.

After working the Triple-A Championship Game in 2023, Pawol was an umpire for MLB spring training games in 2024 and 2025. She was the first woman to serve as a spring training ump since Ria Cortesio in 2007.

Pawol was just the seventh woman umpire in minor league history when she joined, but she's now one of 17 in Triple-A who can fill in at the MLB level.

"Anybody in baseball will tell you that you've just got to keep it simple, keep working hard, put your all into it and get ready for the next day," Pawol said in 2024. "That's all I think about every day -- get better before tomorrow."

Pawol's first game in the Marlins-Braves series is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. on August 9.