The IWBC is delighted to announce the nominees and the winner of this year’s Hustle Award.
This prestigious award, bestowed by the International Women’s Baseball Center in honor of beloved Rockford Peaches player, Shirley “Hustle” Burkovich, celebrates an individual who demonstrates outstanding commitment, leadership, and dedication to the empowerment of women in all aspects of baseball and life.
Our winner this year is Beth Greenwood. 
Beth embodies the hustle and spirit of Shirley Burkovich. Her determination has shown through her entire career. She goes about her work in a steady quiet manner, much as Shirley did, working all the time to help other girls and women participate in the joy of playing baseball.
She has a lifelong commitment to women and girls in baseball and has been playing ball since she was a child. She has played throughout her High School and College years, and was selected for the US National Team which competed in last year’s World Cup.
She has often been the only girl/woman on the team. She has worked with minor league teams in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. She is involved in running clinics for girls baseball and advocating for all aspects of women in the game.
Beth was able to join us at our Founders Day event. She mentioned how much Shirley meant to her over the years…and how, like Shirley, she was there to do the work.
Congratulations from us all.
This year’s nominees were a diverse group of outstanding individuals involved with baseball.
We celebrate each of them for their unique contributions to the game and wish them all continued success in all their endeavors.
Here’s more about our nominees:
Robbie Fisher has stepped up to assist in many women’s baseball events by acting as ballboy and part-time umpire. He also helps by supporting the many administrative tasks involved with events. He finds motivation and purpose beyond his job as assistant clubhouse manager for a college team by dedicating himself to helping women’s baseball grown.
Sarah Hamilton has been involved with the media aspect of covering baseball with the Tri-City Valley Cats Production Team. She works as videographer and photographer for the team as well as operating the videoboards. Sarah works diligently to improve her skills and works hard to pursue her passions and to help other people. She was recently selected to participate in MLB’s Women in Sports Networking event.
Melissa Ludtke helped break barriers for women reporters during the 1977 World Series when she was denied access to the NY Yankees clubhouse to do her job as a reporter for Sports Illustrated. Backed by SI, they sued the MLB on her behalf for equal access. After winning this fight, Melissa has worked tirelessly for equity for women and wrote a book “Locker Room Talk” that was published in 2024. She is still on tour bringing this story to light and helping to continue the fight for more equity in the game.
Elmira Thornton has a broad knowledge of women who played professional baseball in the 1950’s in the Negro Leagues. She has been a leader in educating the public about the careers of women Negro Leaguers: Toni Stone, Connie Morgan and Mamie Johnson. Ms. Thornton, now in her 80s, finds time to volunteer for the Simmons Museum of Negro Leagues Baseball, Inc. She is dedicated to sharing the fighting spirit of these women baseball pioneers.
Kelsie Whitmore exemplifies an outstanding individual who has been committed to baseball since she was 6 years old. She was often the first girl to play on a team. She has played for Team USA and has travelled with team members to Uganda to teach baseball to girls there. She was the first female professional baseball player to play in the Atlantic League. She pitched with the independent league Oakland Ballers in 2024 and has won numerous awards and recognitions. She also created a “Be You” clothing line that expressed positive affirmations. Kelsie was recently featured in “See Her, Be Her” a documentary film by Jean Fruth.
Congratulations again to all our nominees. Our thanks to Beth, Elmira, Sarah, and Melissa who were able to join us at Founders Day.