The first pitch at Warner Park’s grand reopening Friday is scheduled to be thrown by softball’s most famous nonpitcher.

Dr. Dot Richardson, shortstop on Team USA’s Olympic gold-medal teams in 1996 and 2000, will be among those in attendance when the city celebrates what it hopes is a return to fastpitch softball glory as revamped Warner Park is officially reopened for play. A ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. and will last until the Amateur Softball Association A Division state tournament begins at 6.

Richardson was on a national championship team at UCLA, where she was a three-time All-America selection and was voted the NCAA’s Player of the Decade for the 1980s. She was chosen an ASA All-American 16 times and was inducted into the ASA Hall of Fame in 2007.

She also has been an author, a motivational speaker and a member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and is medical director of the National Training Center at South Lake Hospital in Clermont, Fla.

Greta Hayes, Chattanooga’s assistant director of parks, said the idea to have someone widely indentifiable with softball throw out the first pitch was discussed at a committee meeting about a month ago.

“I was just trying to think of people that were very recognizable nationally,” Hayes said. “Having someone of that caliber — who’s had teams here, played here on the Olympic Team when it came through and is familiar with Chattanooga — is something special. Lacey Swarthout is coaching at UTC now, and she and Dot are very good friends. I called Lacey, Lacey called Dot, she got in touch with me and she was able to work it into her schedule.”

Richardson also is commissioner of the Pro Fastpitch Xtreme tour, which features several of the game’s former college and national team standouts traveling the country, playing games and offering youth clinics the same weekend. A stop is scheduled for Warner Park for Nov. 7-9. Registration can be done online at www.pfxtour.com

“This will also give her a chance to do some initial promotion for that,” local ASA official Kim Swafford said.

The city is providing snacks and drinks during Friday’s observance before the tournament. It will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, a performance by local band Foundation and free carousel rides. Mayor Ron Littlefield, Tennessee coach Ralph Weekly, UTC coach Frank Reed and local businessman and philanthropist Jim Frost are among the notables who have pledged to attend.

Swafford also coaches the 14-under Fury, which is one of the approximately 50 teams expected to compete in this weekend’s tournament. ASA national berths are at stake for the winners in the 18-, 16-, 14- and 12-under age groups. There also will be some 8-under teams in the tournament, which resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday and concludes late Sunday afternoon.

Swafford said local teams make up about 60 percent of the field. She said the 16-under division should be hotly contested, considering the national berth at stake is for Owensboro, Ky.

Cost is $5 daily or $10 for a tournament pass. Children 6 and under will be admitted free.

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