Emma Wolff – Owner of D1 Fastpitch Events – “Helps Players Reach Their Dreams”

In a sport played by girls and young women, the event-producing side is dominated by men.

There are some notable exceptions, with Alison Strange having built up The Spring Games to be a strong presence in the college space and Rachel Coleman out of New Jersey running showcases and former Central Florida great Stephanie Best producing camps directed at the travel ball athlete.

But overall, it’s a reality that there aren’t many women who are tournament directors in fastpitch softball.

In the Midwest, however, there’s one current events owner who is building up her business and showing that women can do it just as well as the men – and, in this specific example, maybe even better than one man—her father—ever did it!

Emma Wolff, the daughter of Ohio Outlaws founder and director Warren Wolff, has elevated the D1 Fastpitch Events company to the biggest it’s ever been despite the misconception that, well… it’s a male-run sport only.

“I don’t think I’m treated differently now,” Emma begin as she addresses the imbalanced situation, “but there are certainly disadvantages. There are still people who still think women can’t do it (event production) as well as men and that’s more of a global perspective.”

“I personally haven’t had personal experiences with that, but I have seen it. At the same time, I feel people don’t have an issue with a female event director as long as you’re doing the right thing and producing quality events. You put out what they’re wanting and needing in terms of events, and it won’t matter.”

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The Outlaws Origins

Warren Wolff first got into softball when his daughters Emma and Kate began the family’s long association with fastpitch softball.

The two sisters started off playing for a local rec ball local organization called Explosion and within a few years switched to the Maddogs 14U team out of Massillon, Ohio. At that time, Warren became more involved, helping and “learning as we went along,” he recalls.

Those experiences led Warren to start a club team he named the “Ohio Outlaws’ out of Garrettsville, Ohio, which is in the Northeast part of the Buckeye State.

That was in 2010 and, before long, Warren had five teams and Emma and Kate were playing together on the primary travel squad and doing quite well. Eventually, the girls’ father saw the need for more competition and began running small local tournaments about three times a year.

As Warren was expanding into softball events, Emma was growing into a talented three-sport athlete playing volleyball and basketball in addition to softball, which she admits she soured on a bit when her dad “became that parent. I was a pitcher and he was the reason I didn’t want to do softball as much!” she laughs.

But there was also a strong benefit which Emma acknowledges kept her in softball: “It was a bonding thing with him—he loved it and we as his daughters did too.”

Dad coached a few years in fastpitch but eventually moved into the recruiting space where he believed he could help his daughters and their fellow players more. The events business side, however, continued to expand successfully.

“I added quite a few events,” Warren recalls of those busy times.

Emma’s playing career, however, came to an end when she became pregnant her senior year of high school. Still wanting to stay connected to the sport, she began working with her dad on the events side, primarily helping build event schedules for the club teams.

“I got into it by doing random small jobs for my dad and barely making money,” Emma recalls. “I just loved being involved and, once he wanted to have more free time, I got more and more involved.”

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Emma’s Event Beginnings

Warren was looking to step back and saw the perfect way to do that—by transitioning everything to Emma.

His daughter soon was responsible for event setup including setting dates and locations, locking in the teams and running seamless events that were beneficial for player, coach and college scouts alike.

Before long, camps were added to the roster of events and Warren—in coordination with the Outlaws organization in 2011—was gaining notice with her events which were drawing teams from up and down the East Coast at that time.

This was under the banner of D1 Fastpitch which never looked back as Emma took it to greater and greater heights.

By 2019, the coach’s daughter was overseeing 10 tournaments for D1 Fastpitch with each ranging from 100 to 230 teams depending on availability of fields.

It was during this growing period that the Outlaws Summer Invitational Showcase began and continues to this day as one of the premier fastpitch events in the Midwest. The event is held in North Ridgeville, Ohio and next summer will be played from June 14 to June 16.

From the early days of producing five events, Emma’s successes let her to add another headline successful summer club event, the Super Select, which last June drew 200 college coaches from Power 5 and DI programs in attendance from coast to coast.

“That’s the one I’m most proud of,” Emma admits.

The feedback from club coaches reveals how far she’s come in running the events on her own.

“Emma has been super accommodating to Turnin2 for a long time and we appreciate that.,” says Ron Pezzoni, the T2 program’s founder and co-owner. “She provides a great atmosphere and does a great job getting the best teams to attend her events.

“D1 Fastpitch, led by Emma, provides the very best high-level girls fastpitch softball tournaments in the country,” adds Eddie Chevalier of Ohio Lasers Silver.

“She built the D1 Fastpitch brand into the top fastpitch softball tournaments in our home state of Ohio and has made the D1 tournaments the best around for teams, not just locally, but from all over the country and for girls that play fastpitch at the highest level. These are outstanding college recruiting events and should not be missed!”

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10 Events in 2024

In 2024, there will be 10 events on the schedule including the Outlaws Summer College Coach Camp to be held June 13 with college coaches working the event from top programs like Michigan, Kentucky, Penn State, Notre Dame, Indiana, Pitt and Maryland. There will be a 6:1 ratio of coaches to attendees to ensure each player gets a significant amount of personal attention.

And if that isn’t enough, Emma, a mother of two young children, is also the Vice President of the Ohio Outlaws organization which currently has 23 teams ranging from ages 8U to 18U.

With all her success, it’s no surprise that Emma has a very proud father who appreciates how hard she works on and off the fields to pull together top events.

“Emma has taken D1 Fastpitch to the next level,” Warren Wolff continues. “The key to her success is getting the top teams from around the region and our state. One genuinely transparent thing is that she cares about every team and every girl out there the same, no matter their skill level.”

“She has such a good heart,” her dad explains. “Emma cares about the kids and, sometimes, that gets lost, as she is passionate about taking the events to another level. She is a good communicator and really cares about the coaches, players and teams. Emma’s just a good person and tries to do what’s best for the sport.”

In 2020 the family patriarch handed all the D1 business to his daughter who has come a long way from “helping here and there whenever I had down time or free time.”

It’s a much different situation now, as Emma oversees everything regarding the events she produces.

“I still coordinate everything and I’m at all the events,” she says. “I have a couple of people who work for me and help run my events so they operate smoothly and so we can provide the best events for all involved.”

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Impressive Connections

Emma is not afraid to reach out and solicit the help of other top event producers and has become close with Robb Behymer’s Top Gun Events and his daughter and college coach Katie Swan.

“Emma is motivated to do what’s right for the sport and the athlete,” Robb says. “I give her my opinions, she takes them under consideration and then comes up with great decisions to help everyone out.”

She also has some pretty impressive player connections too.

Warren says he knew Tim Founts when his daughter, Montana Fouts—the former All-American pitcher for the Alabama Crimson Tide—was a 12 and 13-year-old pitcher.

“I introduced them (the Fouts) to Emma and had Montana come up and do a camp with us. When Montana was 13 and still with a local small Ohio organization before the national circuit, I told the Florida and Alabama coaches about her and Tim was always grateful that I helped in any way I could to get her name out to colleges. After all, it’s about the girls, whether they play for me or not.”

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Family Affair

The softball events business is also expanding to a third generation of family members as Emma’s two kids, Callie (age 10) and Kylie (age 4), are in love with softball too and someday could be taking over the “family business.”

“They both love softball,” their mom says, “and my 10-year-old plays travel softball for the Ohio Outlaws. Owning the company, I still set my time aside to spend with them doing things they like such as sports, school events, meals as a family, playtime, movie nights and more.”

“At the end of the day, they will always be a priority and being their mom is my No. 1 job.”

While serving as an adoring and doting mother does keep Emma busy on the home front, she’s very happy with her “day job” as well.

“The most satisfying part of running D1 Fastpitch is knowing that we are working hard to get these girls seen by college coaches and helping them reach their dreams to play softball at the collegiate level,” she says.

“Seeing the smiles on the players’ faces when we give away Bomb Squad shirts or hearing them talk after a game that they had 35 big time college coaches behind their backstop is a feeling like no other.”

— Brentt Eads

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