SOFTBALL STANDOUT JOAN JOYCE WILL SPEAK IN STRATFORD SCHOOL

May 22, 2006 - STRATFORD, CT- Joan Joyce, a National ASA Hall of Famer, will be in Stratford Tuesday and Wednesday, May 23rd and 24th, on a speaking tour of several Stratford public schools. The former Raybestos Brakettes pitcher will address elementary, middle school and high school students.

Mayor James Miron will help Joyce launch the tour as he introduces her at a 9:25 a.m. assembly in the Stratford High School auditorium. During her 20-year career with the Brakettes, Joyce compiled a 753-42 record with 150 no-hitters and 50 perfect games. Regarded as one of the greatest women athletes of all-time, Joyce also was a professional golfer, as well as an outstanding bowler, basketball player and volleyball player.

Joyce, the head softball coach at Florida Atlantic University, will address several issues, including the evolution of women in sports, the responsibility of professional athletes as “role models” for young people, and the personal pressures that accompany professional athletic success and stardom. She will also help promote the Connecticut Brakettes’ move into professional softball, which begins June 1 at Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field.

Joyce and several Connecticut Brakettes players will put on a free mini-clinic and meet and greet session Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the King Street Field behind Stratford High School. The event is open to the public and girls of all ages. One participant will be selected to be a bat girl for a Connecticut Brakettes home game during the 2006 season and there will be several giveaways.

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