Moms of baseball stars celebrated at Athletics-Yankees game for Mother’s Day
Sutter Health Park was lined with moms of Athletics and Yankees stars in West Sacramento this Mother’s Day weekend for the series finale between the teams.
In a synchronized ceremonial first pitch, tosses from Lisa Butler to outfielder Lawrence Butler; Kimberly Holman to pitcher Grant Holman; and Tami Soderstrom to position player Tyler Soderstrom, honored the “unwavering love and support” the mothers have shown to their children and the sport.
Staffing concession stands. Cleaning the grass stains out of sweaty pants. Driving to and from practice week after week. The life of a baseball mom is one of patience and encouragement.
Take Woodland resident Jenna Solorzano, for example. Ahead of Sunday’s game at Sutter Health Park to watch the Athletics take on the New York Yankees, she cheered on her son, Edward, 7, as he played wiffleball inside the park just behind the lawn.
Just the day before, she spent the day at the Little League field, and planned her day around Sunday’s Athletics game with her family — what she said was “all I wanted” to celebrate Mother’s Day.
While her attention focused on Edward, she noticed another mother in the crowd.
“Wait until I tell my son when he’s older he just hit a home run in front of Aaron Judge’s mom,” Solorzano said.
Patty Judge, an educator and mom to Yankee star Aaron Judge, took to exploring Sutter Health Park before the Sunday afternoon game began.
Rooting on the Yankees for the three-game series in West Sacramento had been fun, she said. Friends and family from Sacramento and Stockton have turned out and noted the far easier drive than heading to the Bay Area. At the ballpark, Judge said she’s run into familiar faces left and right, including a former high school umpire and past classmate.
Patty and husband Wayne adopted Aaron and his brother as infants more than 30 years ago from Sacramento County and raised the family in Linden.
“We needed children in our lives to make our lives full,” Patty Judge said. Her sons, in turn, continue to bless her life, she said, adding that she recently became a grandmother.
Patty now leads the Linden-based ALL RISE Foundation, a nonprofit which serves underprivileged children by offering educational opportunities and grant funding to communities in San Joaquin and Fresno counties in California, as well as Bronx County in New York. The nonprofit, which started in 2018, encourages leadership, education and healthy habits.
The foundation, Judge said, is built out of her son’s love for children and leverages his position as a role model to encourage stewardship.
She recalled a time when Aaron was in the fifth grade, then, he stood between his friends who disagreed and called for them to find harmony. She said this type of “good citizenship” can be mimicked. Some of the foundation’s work has included a summer book club, virtual events, mini-grants to support local schools and baseball camps.
The ALL RISE Foundation, Judge said, acts as a supplemental piece to support the development of children.
“Parenting isn’t easy, no matter the situation,” Patty Judge said. But the work of the foundation can be to “focus on the younger ones. They’re the ones who need the resources.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2025 at 2:44 PM.