GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Jenny Cavnar is used to breaking barriers.
She made history last year when she became the first woman to be the primary television play-by-play announcer for a Major League Baseball team.
The Colorado native, who was also the first woman to call an MLB game when she was behind the mic in 2018 with the Colorado Rockies, will be the first woman to be the featured speaker at the Alpine Bank Junior College World Series pre-tournament banquet on May 23.
Cavnar is in her second season as the primary announcer for the Athletics, who are in their first season playing in Sacramento after leaving Oakland, with plans to relocate to Las Vegas.
During her time as a sideline reporter, pregame and postgame host and backup play-by-play announcer with the Colorado Rockies, she coined the phrase “Fire up the fountains!” after home runs at Coors Field, which triggered the stadium's water feature.
“We're excited to have Jenny speak to our student-athletes as she has great connections to western Colorado and Colorado through baseball and family. Her success in the MLB is inspiring to all that know her story,” said Jamie Hamilton, the JUCO chairman emeritus.
Cavnar's father grew up in Delta, eventually moving to the Denver area, where he coached baseball at Regis Jesuit High School. Steve Cavnar is in the Colorado High School Hall of Fame.
A 2004 graduate of Colorado State, Cavnar started her baseball broadcast career in 2007 in San Diego, working the Padres' pregame and postgame shows. In 2012, she returned to Colorado to work Colorado Rockies games.
She's a five-time Emmy® Award winner and became the first woman to be voted the National Sports Media Association Colorado Sportscaster of the Year in 2021.
In addition to her baseball broadcasting career, Cavnar calls men's and women's college basketball on various networks and also appears on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM Radio throughout the regular season and playoffs.
She and her husband, Steve Spurgeon, and their children,Vincent and Emmery, live in Denver.
Banquet tickets are $50 each or $500 for a table of 10, and go on sale April 21. They can be purchased by calling 970-245-9166 or emailing info@jucogj.org. The banquet begins with a social hour at 6 p.m. at the Grand Junction Convention Center, with dinner served at 7 p.m.
Tickets for the JUCO World Series are now on sale to the general public. All seats not renewed by fans holding reserved seats from 2024 are available for purchase at jucogj.org.
General admission seats for the tournament are also sale, with single-game tickets go on sale May 3.
The 2025 JUCO World Series is May 24-31 at Suplizio Field in Grand Junction.