Women take Turner Field for Baseball 101

Most people may not know that the first stanza of the unofficial baseball anthem, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," features a baseball-mad fan named Katie Casey, who "had the fever and had it bad."

Nearly 100 of Katie's successors convened at Turner Field Saturday to prove that among women everywhere, that fever still persists.

Fans arrived from all over the country for the Braves' 13th annual ladies-only Baseball 101, which included question and answer sessions with a handful of players, along with pitching, hitting and fielding sessions.

Sporting a Washington Nationals cap and a Jason Heyward jersey, Ruth Mulkerin arrived on a short night of rest. The 43-year-old had flown down from Washington, D.C., at 6 a.m. to make the 10 a.m. clinic. She could have flown out the night before but a prior obligation took precedence.

"Stephen Strasburg was pitching," she said. "So I couldn't miss that game last night."

Still, Saturday marked her big break. After being turned down for similar sold-out baseball clinics with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Nationals, Mulkerin finally secured a spot with the Braves.So it was down to business.

"I'm not here to crush on the guys or be a jersey chaser," she said. "I'm here to learn about the game. I'm here to learn baseball."

In the bullpen, Braves reliever Jonny Venters spent much of the session playing catcher, though it often involved as much fielding as catching. He snagged errant fastballs and evaded some unintentional trick pitches.

His assistant working the radar gun, Evan Shields, was not so lucky. He walked away with a baseball-sized bruise on his calf.

But those were not the only impressions left on the station's pitching coaches.

"Those last two girls were throwing hard, geez," Venters said.

"They might throw harder than I do," reliever Craig Kimbrel replied.

They were referring to 18-year-old twins Allison and Lauren Boden -- Venters dubbed them "flamethrowers" -- who were at the clinic with their mother Mary. Lauren, a pitcher of some note, admitted she had practiced that morning before arriving at the ballpark.

"I didn't want to embarrass myself," she said.

The warm-up was hardly needed. She currently holds the Guinness World Record for fastest baseball pitched by a female, a 65-mph speedball which she hurled on April 19, 2008, at Lakeside High School.

But it was not just the youngsters who were bringing the heat.

Marilee Brambley, 40, also emerged as a prospective ace with a 59-mph fastball that caught Venter's glove. Brambley, who played fast-pitch softball growing up, didn't know if she could still deliver the high heat. But after a few throws, she appeared ready to get out of the bullpen.

"That was really fun," she said. "But you know what? It'd be fun to get out there and actually play a game."

Infielder Brooks Conrad discovered he was dealing with serious fans during the question and answer session. Inquiries covered interleague play, Bobby Cox and post-retirement plans.

"I was impressed," he said. "The stereotype is that a majority of fans are men. That's not true. There are a lot of female fans and it's fun to come out and teach them about the game."

If Sunday's Father's Day focused on the oft-noted baseball bond between father and son, Saturday featured the thread of baseball that exists between mothers and daughters.

Chris Strauss and Pattie Kent made the five-hour drive from Florida to share a mother-daughter bonding day at the park, though not without dutifully attempting to smuggle in their husbands as picture-takers. They were ultimately declined.