Lilly Jacobson (born June 27, 1988) is a former member of the
United States women's national baseball team
The United States women's national baseball team is a national team that represents the United States of America in international women's baseball competitions. It is controlled by USA Baseball and is a member of the Pan American Baseball Confeder ...
.
Playing career
Growing up, she played in the
Albany, California
Albany ( ) is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in northwestern Alameda County, California. The population was 20,271 at the 2020 census.
History
In 1908, a group of local women protested the dumping of Berkeley garbage in their ...
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationTamara Holmes). She would also play in the
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizationBabe Ruth League
The Babe Ruth League is an international youth baseball and softball league based in Hamilton, New Jersey, US named after George Herman "Babe" Ruth.
The parent program, Babe Ruth League, Incorporated, is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization.
...
.
At Wooster High School in Reno, Jacobson played on the men's baseball team. She also earned letters in
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
,
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...
and
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
. While there, she was one of ten recipients of the Northern Nevada Student-Athletes of the Year Award. After her senior year of high school (2006), she was contacted by
Jim Glennie
James Patrick Glennie (born 10 October 1963) is the bassist for and eponym of English rock band, James. He is the band's longest-serving member—having been there from the first line-up through to the present day—and now only remaining origi ...
about attending the Western Regional Tryouts for Team USA.
Qualifying for the Team USA roster as a
relief pitcher
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...
, she was converted to designate
hitter
In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, to driv ...
by manager
Julie Croteau
Julie Croteau (born December 4, 1970) is an American former college and professional baseball player. She is recognized as the first woman to regularly play men's National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) baseball, as well as the first woma ...
. As a side note, she was one of four teenagers to qualify for the Team USA roster in 2006.
She would attend
Vassar College
Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely follo ...
in
Poughkeepsie, New York
Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...
on a golf
scholarship
A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need.
Scholarsh ...
. As a
sophomore
In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...
at Vassar, she played on the baseball team. She would eventually join the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
in 2009, competing on their club team.
Jacobson also played with the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
Women's
Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...