Nighthawks’ Winters lets her love for baseball play-by-play show

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Phoebe Winters was set to start an internship last summer with the Bethesda (Md.) Big Train, a team in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League, when a bigger opportunity came knocking.

She had been hired to be a production assistant, doing behind the scenes work on the team’s broadcasts.

But at the last minute, the team’s play-by-play announcer could not make it for the summer.

“I had expressed interest in working on that skill further and kind of building off of the work I had done (in college), they asked me to step in and fill that role,” said Winters, who turns 22 later this month.

Her summer calling games in Bethesda solidified her love for baseball play-by-play. And this season, the recent Virginia Tech graduate finds herself developing her craft in Hartford, working as director of broadcasting for the Upper Valley Nighthawks of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

“I grew up playing sports, so I’ve always enjoyed watching sports, playing sports, and just kind of that competitiveness that comes with being around sports,” said Winters.

She said that doing play-by-play commentary is a way to stay engaged with the play on the field.

“You get that same feeling of competition when you’re (calling the game) because you’re so focused on the step-by-step action that’s happening — your emotion is riding with the play because you’re trying to communicate that to the audience,” Winters said.

Winters had initially applied for her current position with the Nighthawks last summer, but the team stuck with the same broadcaster from the 2023 season.

Then last October, Nighthawks general manager Matt Wright reached out to Winters, inquiring about her interest in working for the team for the 2025 season.

“He had been kind of keeping up with my LinkedIn and my YouTube and my other social media, just seeing the work that I had been doing at school and over the summer with the Cal Ripken league,” Winters said.

The position Winters has secured in the Upper Valley was highly sought out, Wright said, noting that there were around 30 applicants.

He said she stood out because she checked all the team’s boxes, including previous experience with summer baseball and her training and academic background at Virginia Tech.

He said Nighthawks management “liked the voice coming through on the other end and how it sounded on the reel.”

Winters is responsible for more than just donning the headset.

When she was hired in October, she assisted Wright in hiring a broadcast team, which included an assistant director, producer, sideline reporter and camera operators.

“I helped Matt come up with the job descriptions, we posted them, we searched through different resumes and then we hired the team,” she said.

Winters collaborates with her colleague Caitlin Beal, the team’s sideline reporter and associate director of broadcasting, to direct the Hawks Talk podcast, which features discussions on summer baseball, interviews with players and staff and other features.

“Five months before the season started, I started writing the episodes up. I would record them on Zoom, I would schedule interviews with guests and plan out all the episodes,” she said.

Beal, herself an aspiring sports journalist who attends Boston University, said she has been impressed with Winters’ professionalism.

“She comes into every game, every podcast episode so well-prepared,” Beal said, “and you can see how much she cares about what she does. And it really shows in the work that she produces.”

Wright also noted that Winters has proven to be an effective leader.

“She’s really stepped up and shown that she has that determination,” Wright said. “The drive in someone is something that’s hard to teach … and she has that,” he added.

Nighthawks president and founder Noah Crane was equally complimentary of the job Winters has done this season, noting her “unflappable attitude” and “professionalism that belies her age.”

Crane pointed out her habit of providing background information on players throughout the broadcast, rather than simply calling the action.

“You can just kind of go through the motions and tell folks, ‘OK, this is what’s happening on the field,’ but she’s doing a really great job of digging into the players and their backstory and their background. That adds some color and some commentary to the overall broadcast, and that takes work,” said Crane.

Initially, Winters had aspirations of studying something writing-based in college and had taken a journalism class in high school and sports marketing courses.

However, after her first year as a Virginia Tech Hokie, she narrowed down her interest to sports broadcasting.

Going into her sophomore year at Virginia Tech, Winters had an internship with Pro Sports Fans, a start-up that allowed her to hone her writing, editing and podcasting skills.

Winters also joined a club at Virginia Tech for aspiring sports broadcasters, which opened the door to try her hand at studio anchoring, sideline reporting and a bit of play-by-play for Hokies sports.

She said she is enjoying her summer living in the Upper Valley.

“The people here are really friendly, it’s a lot different from home, and the views are just incredible — I’ve never seen mountains like this,” she said.

Following the conclusion of the baseball season, Winters is slated to move on to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, where she will be an intern in the school’s athletic communication department.

“It’s a very competitive industry, so I’m trying not to limit myself to just one thing — just being around sports and getting to talk about it is so special, so whether that’s being on the sideline or getting to be up in the booth doing play-by-play, I’d be equally happy,” Winters said.

Michael Coughlin Jr. can be reached at mcoughlin@vnews.com.