Too few players spell trouble for baseball, softball
Staff writer
Too few participants.
That's the simple reason for a decision made earlier this month by Marion-Florence USD 408 Board of Education to seek cooperative agreements when it comes to fielding baseball and softball teams.
"The board voted not to run these programs as independent teams," explained Tod Gordon, USD 408 athletic director.
During the current season, 15 boys are participating on the baseball team, while only 10 girls are out for softball.
"It takes nine to play so if you've got a couple of injuries or someone can't show up to a game you can't field a team," Gordon explained, talking about the girls' program.
The April 12 board of education vote directed Gordon to visit with neighboring districts and determine if they would be interested in fielding joint teams.
"Hillsboro is willing to talk about it, but we're just starting our discussion," Gordon said, noting he also planned to talk to Centre officials in the near future.
"But they (Centre) may be having the same problem we are — not having enough kids for their programs," he said.
With much public speculation concerning possible elimination of MHS baseball and softball programs, Gordon said that's a decision which is "entirely up to the board."
"But when we started softball this season it didn't look like we were going to have enough kids to get started," he said.
Spring is typically a difficult time for school sports because students have so many choices with track, golf, softball, and baseball. However, Marion High School's spring sports problem doesn't stem from too many sports to chose from, but too little participation.
"A lot of kids don't participate in sports during the spring semester. Maybe it has to do with work schedules. Maybe it has to do with burnout. For whatever reason, they don't play," Gordon said.
"But we have a very active summer baseball and softball program," he added. "We have the kids in the system. They're just choosing not to play."
Gordon said he needs five to six students from each grade level to adequately field a team.
"In softball, for instance, I needed five senior girls. Instead I have two," he explained.
At the beginning of the current season, boys' and girls' coaches each worked on recruiting participants.
"We started with only nine girls out for softball and we had a new girl move in. That's how we got our 10," he said. "We encouraged a lot of kids but weren't able to entice enough kids to go. We had to wait for the new girl."
Even practices are difficult with so few members. Participants are unable to adequately simulate game situations because there are too few kids available to practice fielding, batting, and running bases at the same time.
Gordon also said low participation in recent years means there are too few students to field junior varsity teams. That means students don't have the opportunity to gain experience during JV games and end up sitting out the season on the varsity bench.
"And without a JV program, an underclassman is going to have to have enough talent to take the field during a varsity game to get any playing time in," he said. "They have to get experience somewhere down the line. The problem we have is not enough kids to have either a boys' or girls' JV program."
Gordon said he has heard from numerous parents, all expressing concern and disappointment about the decision to not field independent teams. However, many of those parents have children who will not be eligible for high school play for a number of years.
"What I'm doing now is looking at numbers so I can figure out scheduling," Gordon explained.
Baseball and softball schedules are set up two years in advance and need to be finalized before the end of the current school year.
"We're trying to get a feel for the eighth graders and their interest level, but we're not entirely sure yet," Gordon said.
So far, 10 eighth-grade boys have indicated an interest in playing baseball next year, while eight eighth-grade girls have signed up to play.
However, the baseball team will lose five senior boys due to graduation and the girls' softball team will lose two senior girls.
Should lack of numbers ultimately mean the end of Marion's baseball and softball programs, that will create other problems for the district.
"Officials have already been hired for two years, but it remains to be seen whether or not we'll have the kids to field a stand-alone team," Gordon said.
Coaches also are left in limbo, not knowing their future, Gordon added.
Gordon indicated MHS's "iffy" status with the two programs also is a concern for the Mid-Central Activities Association (MCAA) league, which the district just joined.
"Ten of the 12 league schools have baseball programs," Gordon said.
Sterling is in the process of adding it. Hesston offers softball only, which means Ellinwood would be the only league school without the programs.
"The league is frustrated. If we field teams it will work better for scheduling, otherwise, teams have to go outside the league to pick up games," he said.
