Northwoods League Softball coming to Wausau

Rich Palzewic

Staff

January 6, 2025

WAUSAU – Northwoods League fastpitch softball is coming to Wausau.

The Wausau Softball Club recently announced it will begin play starting with the 2025 season, playing its games at Athletic Park on the city’s north side.

Wausau Softball becomes the third Northwoods League team in Wisconsin to add softball – joining the La Crosse Steam and Madison Night Mares, which both joined the league in 2024.

The Mankato Habaneros (Minnesota) and Minot Honeybees (North Dakota) currently round out the five-team league.

Similar to the Wausau Woodchucks, Club Owner Mark Macdonald said Wausau Softball will be a collegiate summer league women’s softball team with athletes coming from across the country.

Macdonald said Brianne Barta, who previously served as the assistant general manager for the Woodchucks, will lead the new team as its general manager.

“I’m very excited to see Brianne enter this leadership role,” Macdonald said. “Over the past three years, Brianne has distinguished herself with her intelligence, creativity, hard work and genuine interest in the sports entertainment business. She will be a great person to lead us as we bring high-level women’s sports entertainment to Central Wisconsin.”

Northwoods League Softball recently finished its inaugural season this past summer.

The teams played a 42-game season from mid-June until early August, and Barta said the league will again play 42 games in 2025.

“I am excited for the opportunity to bring women’s collegiate softball to Wausau,” she said. “This is an opportunity to do something that has not been done before in the city and to open new doors for women’s sports. With the growth in popularity of women’s sports in recent years, especially at the college level, an additional Northwoods League Softball team in Wausau will be a chance to highlight the skill and talent of more high-level female athletes.”

Barta, who began as an intern with the Woodchucks in summer 2021, said for now, the team will be known as the Wausau Softball Club, but a team name selected through fan voting will be announced soon.

She said the club received a lot of responses from the community on what they wanted the team to be named.

“The purpose of the league is to develop players for their college, Olympic and future professional play,” she said. “Teams will be promoted similar to Minor League Baseball teams, playing games in front of fans in a fun, friendly, family oriented environment. As far as I know, Wausau is the only new softball team being added to the Northwoods League this summer.”

Barta said she was hired full-time in fall 2021 as the Woodchucks’ director of operations of food and beverage, so she knows the club/city well.

“In that role and through my time as the assistant general manager, I was in charge of basically doing all the food and beverage needs of the ballpark,” she said. “I also hired and scheduled the gameday staff.”

A vision for softball

Barta said even before the Northwoods League announced softball was coming to the league, Wausau was interested in bringing in a team.

“From the get-go, it was something we always had interest in doing,” she said. “After the inaugural season this past summer, it was just a question of ‘how do we do this?’”

Barta said at the time, Athletic Park had a natural grass field.

“For softball, we need a synthetic turf field,” she said. “This past fall after the Woodchucks completed their season, the turf was put in. We also had to get a lease from the city.”

Barta said she envisions – eventually – all Northwoods League teams will have both a baseball and softball team.

“The league will definitely grow,” she said. “I know teams around the league have been looking into putting in turf at their field, doing lease situations with their cities and working out different logistics before they can come into the league.”

Barta said the installation of turf is probably the biggest barrier to joining the softball league.

“It’s not cheap (to install turf),” she said. “Fastpitch softball is played without a (pitching) mound, so if you’re playing on the same field as your Northwoods League Baseball team, the mound has to be removable (because baseball uses a mound).”

Barta said the team is in the process of hiring a coach and building its roster.

“The premise is the same as Northwoods League Baseball,” she said. “The softball league is for players who have college eligibility ranging from NAIA, junior college or NCAA.”

Similar to Northwoods League Baseball, Barta said softball players will stay with host families.

With 36 home baseball games and 21 home softball games, Barta said it will be a busy summer for Wausau.

“There will definitely be an increase in gameday staff,” she said.

According to the team’s website (northwoodsleague.com/wausau-softball), the first home game of the season will be June 10 against La Crosse.

The season will include five doubleheaders, two of which will take place at Athletic Park June 19 against Minot and July 25 against La Crosse, respectively.

Wausau Softball’s final home game of the inaugural season will be July 29, also against Minot.

For the first time, Barta said Northwoods League Softball will hold a playoff series, with playoff games Aug. 4, 6 and 7.