Vassar Baseball Coach Beth Greenwood: Breaking Barriers, One Catch at a Time

Greenwood, a catcher, earned a guaranteed spot on the team after she was selected in the third round of the draft. She will start play next August, but her journey in this predominantly male sport began more than two decades ago. While most girls her age were playing softball, Greenwood fell in love with baseball, playing on youth and school teams composed almost entirely of boys. Did she get teased? “Of course,” she said.

When Greenwood was 11, she attended a girls’ baseball camp through the nonprofit Baseball For All, which provides opportunities for girls to play baseball. That experience was a pivotal moment in Greenwood’s career, opening her eyes to future playing opportunities and introducing her to the girls’ baseball community. “Even though there were only about 30 girls at this event, at the time I thought it was the coolest thing in the entire world, and it changed my life,” she said.

After enrolling at the University of Rochester, she spent two years as a catcher on the men’s varsity baseball team, becoming the first American female catcher in NCAA college baseball history.

Breaking barriers continued after college. Greenwood came to Vassar in January 2025 after spending two years as a minor league player development coach in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, working with catchers in the team’s minor league system. She became a member of the USA Baseball National Women's Team in 2018.

Greenwood broke new ground at Vassar, too, becoming the first woman to coach the men’s baseball team. Head Coach Tad Skelley said hiring her was an easy decision: She was simply the most qualified candidate for the job.

Skelley said Greenwood’s value to the team was evident immediately when she began working with the pitchers on the team last January. “Beth has been an invaluable asset to the Vassar baseball program,” he said. “She is highly organized, detail-oriented, and relates exceptionally well to our student-athletes. Our pitching staff showed significant development over the course of the season, and I firmly believe Beth played a foundational role in that progress. Her preparation, professionalism, and commitment to the holistic development of our student-athletes will have a lasting, positive impact on our program.”

Greenwood said she felt at home with the team almost immediately. “Coming to Vassar just seemed like a good fit,” she said. “The players are open-minded, and they embraced me from the start.”

A pitcher on the team, Addie Lee ’26, worked closely with Greenwood after he sustained an injury to his pitching arm that required surgery. Lee said all of the pitchers on the team were excited to have her as a coach because of her wealth of experience on the professional level. “She just fit in here right away, and we all learned a lot from her,” he said.

Greenwood said the feeling was mutual. “I knew I had to earn the team’s respect,” she said. “It can be frustrating having to keep proving you belong, but I think the fact that I’m still playing helped me form a bond with the players pretty quickly.”

While growing up, Greenwood learned about the history of the Vassar Resolutes. The team was formed by some of the first students to attend the College in the 1860s, earning a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame as the first women’s baseball team in the country. “During my interview with our Athletic Director, Michelle Walsh, we discussed the important history of the Resolutes and the role they played in women’s baseball. It felt like a full-circle moment once I was hired to continue their legacy.”

As Greenwood prepares for her professional baseball career, she expressed gratitude to her family, coaches, and others who have supported her decision to choose to compete in a predominantly male world. For her, the question was always simple: “Why can’t girls just do what they love?”