Sonoma Stompers
The Sonoma Stompers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Sonoma, California. They are current members of the California Collegiate League. They began play as members of the Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs in 2014. They are a successor franchise to the defunct Sonoma County Grapes, and are the first professional team to make Sonoma County home since the Sonoma County Crushers ceased play following the 2002 season. History. The Stompers announced their first professional signing, Tommy Lyons, in March 2014, and shortly thereafter traded for local player, Jayce Ray. The team's first manager was  Ray Serrano, who led the Stompers to a 42–36 record in their inaugural season. In 2015, Serrano accepted a full-time position with the Atlanta Braves to serve as the organization's catching instructor. Former major league pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee started a game for the Stompers on August 12, 2014, pitching the team to victory over the Pittsburg Mettle. Lee set a record with the win, becoming the oldest person (at age 67) to ever win a professional baseball game. Lee pitched  innings, and batted for himself. In 2015, the Sonoma Stompers allowed Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller of  Baseball Prospectus's "Effectively Wild" podcast to serve as the Baseball Operations department, under General Manager Theo Fightmaster. The duo wrote about their experience in a book entitled "The Only Rule is it Has to Work", published in 2016. The team made history in June 2015, when pitcher Sean Conroy became the first openly gay active professional baseball player. In June 2016, the Stompers announced that two female baseball players would join their roster starting in July. Upon joining the team, the two players, outfielder-pitcher Kelsie Whitmore and infielder Stacy Piagno, made the Sonoma Stompers the first coed professional  baseball team since the 1950s. The Stompers added catcher Anna Kimbrell in July 2016. In 2021, one year after the Pacific Association's season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Stompers left the professional ranks and joined the California Collegiate League.