Barrie women’s Dirt in the Skirt baseball tournament steps up to the plate this Civic Weekend
Courtesy Barrie360.com
By Ian MacLennan, July 29, 2026
A unique women’s slow pitch tournament that started with a Facebook post is returning to the Barrie area this Civic Holiday weekend – bigger than ever.
Dirt In The Skirt will bring together 24 teams and about 300 women for two days of baseball, entertainment, and fundraising on July 31 and August 1 at the Barrie Community Sports Complex on Nursery Road in Springwater Township.
The event was created in 2024 by founder Jenny Hastie after she reached out to the local slow pitch community to see if women would be interested in a charity tournament where players wore dresses.
“I just put a small post on my Facebook, seeing if some ladies – I’m part of the Barrie baseball community here, slow pitch community – asking if anybody would be interested in doing a tournament with our dresses, make it a charity tournament,” Hastie said.
The response was immediate.
“We had such a great reaction. We ended up having 12 teams sign up in 24 hours.”
The first tournament featured dresses inspired by the 1992 movie, A League of Their Own, starring Madonna, Geena Davis, Lori Petty and Tom Hanks, honouring the women who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s.
The event raised $2,300 for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Simcoe County chapter.
After a long wait, DITS expanded to 24 teams last year, with about 300 women taking part and $6,000 was raised for Hospice Simcoe.
Hastie says this year’s tournament will continue the charitable focus, supporting the Women and Children’s Shelter of Barrie and CMHA.
“We’re doing it again this year, bigger and better,” Hastie said. “It’s just to uplift and empower the community, and with our tournaments, raise some money for local charities.”
The popularity of DITS has also led to the creation of a women’s slow pitch league.
The league now has six teams playing Tuesday nights at the Tree Nursery Diamonds in Midhurst.
Hastie says the league takes inspiration from entertainment-focused baseball, including Banana Ball-style rules and choreographed dancing.
“We have kind of taken a little bit of Banana Ball style rules and the choreographed dancing,” she said. “We choreograph ourselves. We don’t have professional choreographers.”
She says the goal is to create an experience where players of all skill levels feel welcome.
“You can be any skill level, which is the nice part about our league and our tournaments,” Hastie said. “It’s for every woman. You can be brand new or experienced.”