Sea Dogs radio broadcasters Rylee Pay, left, and Emma Tiedemann are shown in their booth above the Hadlock Field grandstand in April 2023. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Once the first pitch of Monday night’s game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox was thrown, all the buildup over the last few weeks was complete, and the moment Emma Tiedemann and Rylee Pay had been waiting for was here.

“That first pitch was thrown, and I was like, oh this is happening,” Tiedemann said.

The broadcast team for the Portland Sea Dogs, Tiedemann and Pay got the call to the big leagues Monday, and were on NESN’s call of the game as part of the Women’s Celebration Game at Fenway Park.

“There was so much buildup, you try to keep your breathing level and your heart rate normal and remember, once you put on the headphones, you realize it’s just another game,” Pay said.

The duo received the invitation earlier this month, and the anticipation has built since. For game two against the Blue Jays – the first was the completion of a game suspended in June – they shared the booth with Dave O’Brien, NESN’s regular play-by-play voice for Red Sox games, and color analyst Kevin Youkilis, who throughout the game spoke fondly of his time playing for the Sea Dogs in 2003, the first season the team was affiliated with the Red Sox.

Tiedemann and Pay began splitting the play-by-play duties in the fourth inning, and stayed on the call for the remainder of the game. Tiedemann called the three-run home run sliced by Toronto’s George Springer in the top of the fifth inning around the Pesky Pole down the right-field line, while Pay called Jarren Duran’s two-run blast to center field in the bottom of the eighth.

Originally, the plan was for Tiedemann and Pay to call the middle three innings, but as the game unfolded, their time on the mic extended for the remainder of the game. Keep it going, a producer said to them, and O’Brien echoed the offer.

“It was super gracious of Dave to turn his mic over to us. That just shows the kind of broadcaster and person he is,” Tiedemann said.

Tiedemann is in her fourth season calling the Sea Dogs, while Pay is in her second season with the club. Last season, they became just the second all-female baseball broadcasting team, and are the only one currently active.

The day began for Tiedemann and Pay at Fenway at 11:30 a.m., when they sat in on Boston Manager Alex Cora’s first press conference of the day. They watched the afternoon game from the NESN studio situated in center field, before meeting with O’Brien, attending Cora’s pregame press conference before game two, and holding a press scrum of their own.

In Portland, Sea Dogs fans gathered at Bissell Brothers for a watch party.