A warmer Thursday start with stray showers this afternoonFTC issues refunds of over $5M to Ring customers; are you eligible?
YouTube in-game reporter Alanna Rizzo, part of an all-female broadcast crew, interviews Brandon Lowe, left, after the Rays’ 9-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles in a baseball game Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in St. Petersburg. (AP Photo/Steve Nesius) There was history — and her story, too — in the broadcast booth at Tropicana Field on Tuesday night. For the first time in Major League Baseball history, an all-female announcing crew called a game as the Tampa Bay Rays played the Baltimore Orioles. The YouTube broadcast featured Melanie Newman on play-by-play with Sarah Langs as the analyst. Alanna Rizzo was the on-field reporter, and Heidi Watney and Lauren Gardner hosted the pregame and postgame coverage. “This was so much FUN!” Langs tweeted after the Rays’ 9-3 win. “Honored to be part of a historic moment, but more than anything, just so overjoyed to get to work alongside” her colleagues, she said, praising them as “Strong, smart & inspiring WOMEN and PEOPLE!” Newman is the Orioles’ play-by-play radio announcer, Langs writes for MLB.com and Rizzo, Watney and Gardner are on air for MLB Network. “It’s not a novelty, it’s about normalcy,” MLB Network tweeted. “Trailblazers” posted the official MLB Twitter account. Tennis champion and social justice advocate Billie Jean King celebrated the broadcast by posting on Twitter: “It’s a history-making night for #MLB.”