About
Jen Pawol is the founder of Evolve 2 Excellence Baseball and Softball Training, LLC. Her passion for sports, art, and umpiring were cultivated during her high school experience in West Milford, NJ. During her education, Jen greatly benefited from exposure to a wide variety of skill building activities in art, charity, sports, and leadership.
Evolve 2 Excellence Baseball and Softball Training, LLC is proud to offer development programs to today’s youth with dynamic programming for hitters, catchers, and umpires!
Trailblazer
History was made on August 9, 2025 in Atlanta, when Jen Pawol #95 became the first woman to umpire a regular season game in Major League Baseball between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves. The hat she wore working first base that day was donated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. She was called up to the big leagues a half a dozen times for a total of 18 MLB games. Pawol will continue to work up and down on the MLB Call-Up list going into the 2026 season. In recognition of her grace, class and character during the historic and pressure filled moment, The Musial Awards honored her with their 2025 Extraordinary Character Award.
In 2016, Jen Pawol was hired by Minor League Baseball and became the 7th woman in the history of men’s baseball to umpire professionally. Jen is currently working in the AAA classification as a Rover on the MLB Call-Up roster. In 2024, Pawol served as a AAA Crew Chief. She has umpired for MLB in Japan, the Pacific Coast League, International League, Eastern League, High-A Central League, South Atlantic League, Midwest League, New York-Penn League, and the Gulf Coast League with multiple post-season selections during her career. In 2023, Pawol was selected as the plate umpire for the AAA National Championship in Las Vegas. She has also completed two Arizona Fall League assignments. Pawol has served in AAA as a Crew Chief. Pawol was a professional umpire instructor at the four-week MLB Umpire Prospect Development Camp at The Jackie Robinson Training Center in Vero Beach, FL in 2023. Pawol is a graduate of the 2016 Umpire Training Academy and Advanced Course. She was one of the first women to earn a Major League Baseball Umpire Camp scholarship to professional umpire school. Pawol was a former National Professional Fastpitch umpire and an NCAA Division 1 softball conference umpire in the BIG 10 and others, having worked multiple post-season conference championships for the Atlantic-10, OVC, and Ivy League. In 2017, Pawol’s umpire mask was placed on display in The Diamond Dreams exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The exhibit features equipment and memorabilia highlighting the accomplishments of professional women umpires throughout baseball's history.
Education and Teaching
Jen Pawol offers more than 30 years of teaching and coaching experience through classroom instruction, coaching teams, private lessons, camps, clinics, and events. She specializes in creating new programs for catching, hitting, and umpiring to promote learning and development while meeting the individual needs of each student. Pawol has spent the past 15 years offering junior umpire programs to teens and young adults. Recently, she added a training program for new umpire instructors to develop umpires!
Jen earned her Master’s degree in Painting from Hunter College. Pawol is a former New York State K-12 Certified Art Educator with teaching experience in public schools and not-for-profit organizations in urban, rural, and suburban school districts. Her programs follow state standards for physical education requirements. Jen is trained to work with special needs student-athletes and implements IEP learning modifications with diversified teaching strategies. Pawol is American Red Cross CPR and AED certified. She has completed multiple state and national background checks to work with youth participants.
Athletic Career
As a post Title IX generation athlete, Jen had the chance to participate in a wide variety of sports during her childhood. Her favorite sports were baseball and softball. She graduated high school with a .538 career batting average as the starting catcher on the West Milford Varsity Softball Team from 1991-1995. She generated 153 RBIs, 118 runs, and 17 homeruns. Jen was a highly decorated three-sport varsity athlete in softball, soccer, and winter track. During her junior year, Pawol was selected to compete in Levels 1 and 2 of the USA Olympic Softball Team Trials in 1994. In 2000, The New Jersey Sunday Record recognized her among the The Best of The Century for NJ high school softball. In 2022, Pawol was inducted into the West Milford High School Hall of Fame as an individual athlete and again in 2025 with her 1993 Varsity Softball Team.
Pawol pursued opportunities for higher education and earned an athletic scholarship with the NCAA Division 1 Hofstra University Women’s Softball Team. She hit .332 for her college career and collected numerous All-Conference and All-Region honors.
After college, Pawol spent 10 seasons in ASA Women’s Major Fastpitch with the Stratford Brakettes, Topton VIPs, New York Raiders, and Montclair Majestics. In 2004, she earned an ASA Women’s Major National Championship with the historic Stratford Brakettes. Pawol also competed at the highest level in women’s baseball winning a World Championship with the inaugural USA Women’s Baseball Team in 2001.
