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WALDORF, Maryland -- The first thing Courtney Knichel typically does when she arrives in her office on a Saturday afternoon is change into a pair of Converse sneakers. Saturdays with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs involve manual labor, even for the general manager.But today, thats not the first thing Knichel does when she arrives for work at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, Maryland. Before she can lace up her chucks, marketing manager Austin Gore is waddling up to her. His head is poking out of a bulbous, furry, blue mascot suit; his huge, red clown shoes are awkwardly scuffing along the hallway; and in his giant, blue hands, hes carrying papers for her to look over.Hes dressed as Pinch, the Blue Crabs mascot, for the team photo later in the afternoon -- but he also needs to make sure all the names are spelled correctly in the in-game videos. In between lacing up her shoes, Knichel corrects the spelling of McCullough to McCawley.Welcome to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, an independent league baseball team in Waldorf, Maryland. While theyre based about 30 miles from Nationals Park and 60 miles from the Baltimore Orioles Camden Yards, theyre a world away from both. In baseballs backwater, Knichel is breaking ground as the only woman general manager in the Atlantic League.***Knichel, 29, started at the bottom of the Blue Crabs organization. A native of Charles County, Maryland, Knichel became a marketing intern for the Blue Crabs in 2008, when the organization formed; she was fresh out of college when her mom signed her up for a summer internship. During a year-end sorority party, Knichel received a call from the then-nascent Blue Crabs, offering her an internship. She wrote the details down on a nearby napkin.Unsure of what her job really entailed, Knichel showed up on her first day in heels to look professional. She spent the evening picking up trash in the stadium, because in 2008, for a fledgling independent baseball team, marketing intern really meant grunt laborer.Knichel was quickly introduced to a job with long hours, but it turned out to be much more than that. When the original marketing manager was fired in May of the first season, Knichel took over. She had been with the team for just a few months. It was mayhem.I had no idea what I was doing, Knichel said. That whole first summer I taught myself everything.For the next eight years, she steadily worked her way up the ladder for the Blue Crabs -- marketing assistant, then marketing manager for four years, then assistant GM for three after that. When Patrick Day, the previous GM, left to take over the New Britain (Connecticut) Bees in December 2015, Knichel was the natural successor.Its not like it was, [Courtney] hasnt been around the game, but lets give her a shot, manager Jeremy Owens said. Shes been here. Shes seen.The Blue Crabs released a short statement about the management change in March, but there was little fanfare.***Its four hours from game time, and the issue is tables.The Blue Crabs sell tables along the stadiums concourse for local vendors during games. But folding tables, as it turns out, are worth their weight in gold: the players need them for the clubhouse, concessions needs them to set up, the front office needs them in the main office.But right now, the game-day staff needs 25-odd tables for the vendors, and corporate sales manager Jason Sproesser protests, saying they dont have enough. Knichel tells him simply: Figure it out.At first glance, Knichel appears part-stereotype: Her hair is perfectly curled and she wears a large, monogramed necklace. Her office is not only decorated with nine years worth of Blue Crabs momentos, but also with a pink base from a breast cancer awareness event and a mug scrawled with Worlds best lady boss in pink script. On the wall behind her desk, theres a framed picture of the Blue Crabs opening pitch.If that clashes with the summer boys culture of baseball, Knichel does not care -- she has a vision for what she wants, and shes quick to respond if she sees something out of place.Earlier this year, Knichel was visiting the locker room after a game to talk to Owens. As she usually does, she called out before entering to make sure all the players were at least decently dressed. As Knichel walked in, a first-year player made a crack, miming her peering through her fingers to see the supposedly naked studs in the locker room. Knichel stopped.I was like, Dude, Ive worked here nine years, she said. If I wanted to look at d--ks, Id have looked at d--ks, you know?The locker room fell silent, and the player was so subdued he later worried if he was going to get released. Knichel went on with her meeting.People say stupid stuff, said Brian Bures, a three-year veteran among the pitching staff. Shes handled it as well as she can, I think. Youre going to get a reaction, because thats just how it is.Baseball as a whole -- and most especially the major leagues -- has long had a diversity problem. The all-womens league of the WWII era is long gone, and with the advent of softball, its rare that a woman makes her way onto a professional baseball team.The path to broadening executive and front-office positions beyond men has been tortuously slow. Some major league teams employ women at senior levels, particularly in marketing. But there are only a few women in player personnel or baseball operation roles. Linda Smith of the Kansas City Royals is one of a handful of women with direct input into player personnel decisions at the major league level.Kim Ng made waves after getting hired as an assistant GM by the Yankees and Dodgers, and she has been mentioned in several GM openings. She has been rumored to be the best candidate for the first female MLB GM.Minor league teams have seen a number of women as general managers -- though they typically dont make player personnel decisions; those are handled by the teams parent organization. A few hours down the road from Knichel and the Blue Crabs, Blair Hoke is GM of the Pulaski Yankees, a Rookie League team.With the Blue Crabs, Knichel decides who gets signed, who gets promoted and who gets released. Shes in charge of the bottom line, and that means when a player has to be acquired or released, shes in on the deal.On this day, Knichel is finalizing the release of high-profile player Fred Lewis, a one-time MLB journeyman. Lewis has been injured most of the season. The Blue Crabs say hes cleared to play. Lewis says he still cant go and is still in pain. He hasnt shown up in a while and didnt show up for the team picture.Thats it, Knichel said after Lewis was a no-show for the team picture, though shed already made the decision to release him. Lewis official release came through the wire after Saturdays game.With that decision and countless other personnel moves, Knichel has already (quietly) broken barriers. She may break more.On the weekly teleconference with other league GMs, Atlantic League president Rick?White called everyone guys or fellas. Knichel is the only person on the call whos not a man.Halfway through this season, White emailed Knichel to apologize -- hed totally forgotten there was a woman on the call.I told him I dont mind, Knichel said. I know Im playing ball with the boys.Knichel is also dead-set to have things her way, and shes single-minded in her standards. If there needs to be 25 tables on the concourse, there are going to be 25 tables on the concourse. If the sales team needs to make 50 calls a day, Knichel says she doesnt expect to hear why its not getting done.Courtney is really strong-willed, said accounting manager Samantha Slovik. Shes on a path, and she knows what shes set out to do.Knichel is one of a few women in senior management at the Blue Crabs front office -- Slovik is in her third year as accounting coordinator, and Alexandra Wohlenhaus is the box office coordinator. Both describe Knichel as approachable but unmistakably headstrong.Wohlenhaus, Slovik and Knichel make the Blue Crabs something unusual: a baseball front office with women in all of the senior management positions. All three started as interns with the Blue Crabs, and each has been promoted within the system. Knichel says it wasnt some grand scheme or vision -- just a result of the most driven and organized rising in responsibility.I didnt bring those girls in because girls are better, Knichel said. But are these girls better? Kind of, yeah.***Knichel may be on baseballs outer rim, but there are still occasional brushes with the big time.Earlier in 2016, the Blue Crabs were involved in a swirl of rumors around minor league moves. The Batavia Muckdogs, operating at a significant loss and struggling with flagging attendance, were for sale.A group of local investors wanted to bring the Batavia Muckdogs to Waldorf as a Nationals affiliate -- but the deal fell through because of a lack of agreement between the Nationals and the Orioles, both of whom had to approve the deal because Waldorf is in the territory of both organizations.What would have happened -- or what still might happen -- is totally up in the air to Knichel. She said she has no idea whether a minor league organization would incorporate some of the Blue Crabs front office or bring in their own people.But Knichel and White both said they were confident that the Blue Crabs would remain in Southern Maryland through the 2017 season and likely through the 2018 season.***During the afternoons leading up to game days, Knichel takes a lap around the stadium. She circles every inch of the place, putting up placards that have fallen down, straightening umbrellas, pulling down signs still up from yesterdays game.I like to do it every day, to make sure everything is good, Knichel said.In her first days and weeks as GM, Knichel struggled with micromanaging. Everything had to be perfect -- and nobody could do it better than she could.Ive learned to relinquish duties, Knichel said. And if something goes wrong, thats okay.Micromanagement is an understandable issue for Knichel, who has worked her way up the ladder in Waldorf. After nine years, this is home -- even at the fringes of a sport that is still struggling with the concept that women are just as qualified to run the show as men.She happily shows off the features shes most proud of: the kiddie wading pool just off the outfield that she had re-filled this year for the price of one outfield sign, the picnic tables along the concourse she had installed, the staff members spaced out along the concourse acting as de facto ushers and concierge.Knichel remembers putting seats together minutes before the gates opened for the first-ever Blue Crabs game.Now, Regency Furniture Stadium, which shares a parking lot with a metro bus stop and whose concrete is chipped and siding is starting to peel, is the place she doesnt want to leave.She knows this ballpark better than everyone, Wohlenhaus said.This, Knichel said, is a place thats very special to me.On this particular Saturday, Knichel is standing along the third-base concourse. People started lining up outside the gates well before they opened, and theres not a rain cloud in sight. Today will be a good day.The Blue Crabs averaged about 3,500 in attendance in 2014 and 2015, good for the top 10 of independent league baseball. On a good Saturday like today, the park might bring in 5,000 or more.The chucks get some good use: just before the gates open, it turns out the Blue Crabs are, as usual, one table short. So Knichel hustles down to the clubhouse and helps haul the final table into position. When another vendor requests some chairs, she ducks into a concourse closet and finds a few for them.Shes not joking when she says she knows everybody -- dozens of people come up to her to say hello and to chat with her for a few minutes during the game. Theres the owner of the local Chick-Fil-A, a big sponsor; theres the guy who runs a local haunted house; and Knichels mom scolding her for missing church two Sundays in a row.Tonight is a good night, though. The stadium is full, and Knichel is able to present a local charity with a check for more than $5,000. Whats more, the Blue Crabs win 5-3. After the game, there are fireworks and a party on the field. But its already 10 p.m. and most of the young families head home.Knichel is still on the field, and good thing she wore her chucks. Some of the fireworks from the postgame show blew onto the field, and somebody has to pick them up. Wholesale Soccer Jerseys . Paul Pierce couldnt believe he missed at the end. Young scored a season-high 26 points to spark a huge effort from the leagues most productive bench, and Los Angeles beat the Brooklyn Nets 99-94 on Wednesday night after blowing a 27-point lead. Discount Soccer Jerseys . Andreas Johnson had a goal and two assists while Jacob de la Rose also scored for Sweden (2-0-0). 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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana Hoosiers spent seven years chasing a bowl bid.With the drought finally over, the Hoosiers can turn their attention to a whole, new world of possibilities.A national championship, not just a bowl game, defensive lineman Ralph Green III said when asked about Indianas next step. Everyone on this team believes we can play for a national championship -- and win it.Green wasnt making a prediction, a guarantee or even a boast about this season. He just wants outsiders to know that these Hoosiers are confident enough to dream bigger than their most loyal fans.The bold talk will take some getting used to In Bloomington, a town that usually reserves the term national championship for the mens basketball, mens soccer and the schools swimming and diving teams.Nearly a half century since winning its last Big Ten title, the football team wants in on the action.A year ago, the Hoosiers finished 6-7 -- a record that could have been significantly better had they not blown leads in the final minute of two games and a 25-point third quarter lead in another game. At Michigan State and at Ohio State, they were within a field goal going into the fourth quarter, and Michigan needed to convert a fourth-and-goal play with 2 seconds left in regulation just to force overtime.Despite losing all of those games, Indiana still made its first postseason trip since 2007 by winning its final last two games on the road for the first time since 1982.The Hoosiers also have won three straight over archrival Purdue for the first time in nearly seven decades. Beating the Boilermakers at home Nov. 26 would give Indiana a record-tying fourth consecutive victory the series; the only other time that happened was 1943-47.It has all given the Hoosiers momentum heading into Thursday nights season-opener at Florida International -- and has coach Kevin Wilson encouraging them to raise the bar.Im excited to see where these guys start. Im really excited to see how they go through the year, Wilson said, assessing the defense. I think its got a chance to be really, really good.If hes right, the Hoosiers could really have something because the offense is pretty talented, as usual.ddddddddddddThe Hoosiers are looking for a third consecutive season with a 1,000-yard runner -- something that hasnt happened since 1989 Heisman Trophy runner-up Anthony Thompson and Vaughn Dunbar did it from 1987-91. If Devine Redding runs for a second straight 1,000-yard season, it would be the first time in school history that the Hoosiers have produced three successive seasons with a different 1,000-yard runner.Redding finished with 1,012 yards last season and is working behind an offensive line that returns three starters and a new left tackle, who was an honorable mention selection on the 2015 all-freshman team.Its a way different feeling around here, the whole aura has changed, Redding said. You can feel this team is really gelling and were all on the same page.The question, of course, is whether the defense improves. Since 2005, Indiana has allowed an astounding 34.1 points per game.Though the Hoosiers have landed some solid players over the years, such as NFL players Adewale Ogunleye and Tracy Porter, they are starting this season with their third defensive coordinator in four years and have mostly struggled on that side of the ball.Green and others insist this seasons new attitude could produce the missing pieces to a championship puzzle.I have confidence we can be competing for a playoff spot, linebacker Marcus Oliver said. The biggest thing has been learning that we have the talent and that teams arent better than us. We just beat ourselves a lot of the time.Of course, the Hoosiers know the reality: They havent won a conference title since 1967, havent won a bowl game since 1991 and have never even been in contention for a playoff game.But after all that, this Indiana team believes it can change course.We want to go back and win a bowl game or go even higher, All-American guard Dan Feeney said. We got a taste of the postseason and we want to get back this year and go even farther. ' ' '