GROVELAND — A softball diamond at the Pines Recreational area became a field of dreams for Christine Sullivan-Higgins and about 70 other women yesterday.
They got to meet 91-year-old Mary Pratt of Quincy, who played in the 1940s in the All-American Girls' Baseball League — the subject of the 1992 film, "A League of Their Own."
"When I was a young girl, all I wanted to do was play ball," recalled Sullivan-Higgins, 37, of Groveland, during opening ceremonies for the second season of the Dirt the Skirt 30-and-over softball league, which consists of more than 100 women from all over the Merrimack Valley and the North Shore.
"I had to pull little boys off the street to play ball with me," she said.
But over the years, she missed out on the opportunity "to play ball." She blew out her knee in college, and then there was law school.
A few years ago, she got to thinking "So, why not start a league of our own?" she said yesterday.
"None of this would be possible without people like our guest of honor," Sullivan-Higgins said, before introducing Pratt, a retired educator who is recognized in the women's baseball wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
"Christine wanted to start her own league, and that movie ("A League of Their Own") was really the inspiration for what we have now," said Jennifer Miller-True, 33, of Salisbury, vice president of the Groveland-based league. "And I got the idea, 'Wouldn't it be great to have one of the ladies from the All-American Girls' league come by for opening day? We looked to see if we could get somebody, and were lucky to get Mary Pratt. She's definitely a pioneer and a true inspiration for what we have."
It didn't take long for the 5-foot-1 Pratt to win over the crowd yesterday.
"There's no question we were ladies," Pratt told the women, describing the dresses they wore as uniforms in the league, which was set up to keep baseball going during World War II. "We dressed like ladies and we acted like ladies."
Pratt tossed the first pitch to begin the season yesterday. She spent most of the rest of her visit signing autographed baseball cards depicting her in her playing days as a left-handed pitcher.
Players asked for her take on "A League of Their Own," in which she was supposedly portrayed by Madonna.
But Pratt said that's not so, and that movie director Penny Marshall took liberties with the film, as Hollywood usually does, embellishing it and adding some fiction.
"Tom Hanks played a good part," she said of the alcoholic manager Jimmy Dugan in the film. "But the manager never came in the locker room — let alone with a drink."
