Proper softballs can be hard to procure. They must be 12 inches in circumference, the biggest size produced, white and made of real leather. With the prevalence of Optic Yellow softballs today, white ones have become less popular, and they tend to be made of synthetic leather. A dozen white leather 12-inch balls cost around $80, compared with $30 for a synthetic dozen.

During the game here, an infantry re-enactor hit a foul ball that flew into the nearby Fox River. It was not recovered.

“A lot of people don’t realize that when the league started in 1943, they didn’t play baseball, like in the movie ‘A League of their Own,’” Tulloch said. “They were playing 12-inch underhand fast-pitch softball, the reason being because none of the women knew how to play baseball.”

Only during the league’s last couple of years, after the war had ended, did the women switch to baseball — partly in hopes of making the games exciting enough to attract fans of the reinvigorated major leagues.

“I wouldn’t join another team after this. This is the best. I love 12-inch,” Joy Hyzny, a player in her early 50s, said as she tossed a ball with her teammate Kathy Suyko, firing it hard enough to make a smacking sound in Suyko’s antique glove. “My high school team went down to 8, and after that, there was no more 12-inch — I couldn’t find it in the area. I love it. It’s such a great group of women. All ages, diverse backgrounds. It’s so much fun.”