Byington said her former boss at WLNS-TV in Lansing has a lot to do with her success on the national stage. In 2017, she was the first woman to call play-by-play for a Big Ten network football game. That same year, she worked the sidelines of the NCAA men’s tournament. “They weren’t asking me as a female broadcaster or as as female play-by-play. I felt three things -- I felt grateful, I felt happy and I felt exhausted.