It’s out with the old and maybe in with the new at East Webster and Eupora.
There will no longer be 10-girl softball in Mississippi with the decision by the Mississippi High School Activities Association to discontinue slow pitch as a fall sport for girls. East Webster and Eupora are among the dwindling number of schools that fielded teams this year and both have enjoyed success in the sport. Eupora was runner-up in Class I last year and East Webster reached the North State final this year.
East Webster plans to add volleyball as a fall sport for girls next year. Eupora might follow suit.
At East Webster it will be a matter of preparing a budget for volleyball and lining up coaches, said athletic director Doug Wilson.
“Coach Berryhill and the program has been so successful. It’s difficult to do away with something like that,” Wilson said. Lee Berryhill has coached fast and slow pitch at East Webster.
Wilson understands the decision by the MHSAA. “The association always thinks these things through,” he said. “With schools dropping it, scheduling would have been difficult. Competition wise, it would get a little skewed. You would have to play bigger classes against smaller classes.”
Eupora athletic director Alex Rawls said his school has begun the exploratory process toward possibly adding volleyball and will hold an interest meeting with parents and the community. He said a problem could be financing a new sport.
“Anytime you lose something where your school has had some success it hurts,” Rawls said. “Eupora has a strong tradition of slow pitch and fast pitch success.”
But he added “I understand it’s getting harder and harder to schedule opponents. It’s getting harder to set up divisions and the bus rides were longer and longer.’
The decision to discontinue slow pitch was made by the MHSAA Executive Committee comprised of 15 school administrators from throughout the state.
Approximately 75 of the MHSAA’s 248 high schools competed in slow-pitch this year, down significantly from more than 160 six years ago. Many of the schools that dropped slow pitch have added volleyball.
“Fast pitch softball has continued to grow and has become one of our largest sports in terms of participation for our schools,” said MHSAA executive director Don Hinton said. “More and more girls and young ladies are focusing exclusively on fast-pitch, which is played on the college level. Those changes are reflected in many schools discontinuing slow pitch even before the state association reached this point.
“The growth of volleyball, which is also a fall sport, has paralleled the decline in participation with slow pitch. The MHSAA expanded from three to four classifications in volleyball this year to accommodate a number of our schools that have added the sport in the past few years. We are expecting even more to do so in the near future.”
Neshoba Central has been synonymous with softball success in Mississippi, both fast and slow pitch. The Lady Rockets won an eighth straight slow pitch state title this year and are the seven-time defending 5A champion in fast pitch.
“With the success we have had and the amount of students who are still participating, I’m disappointed,” said Neshoba Central coach Trae Embry, who formerly coached at Eupora. “But we don’t have any control over that so we have to take the decision in stride and move on.”
Embry feels playing slow pitch helps prepare players for fast pitch. “I think it really helps my young kids get prepared for the fast pitch season. It helps us overall on defense.”
