Clover rec director sees rise of girls’ softball

Greg Holmes, director of the Clover Parks and Recreation Department, said he has seen youth girls’ fastpitch softball growing steadily over the years.

“We’ve had a good year in youth softball in Clover,” Holmes said. “Girls’ softball is becoming more popular in the community.”

Holmes said the Clover Parks and Recreation Department has offered girls’ softball in the spring and the fall for a number of years. “This year, we hit our all-time high.”

Clover rec’s 2015 spring softball program had a record 99 participants, Holmes said, up from an average of 66 participants over the past three years. Those numbers are up from just 37 participants in 2010.

Soccer and baseball remain the largest spring sports, however, with 332 participants in soccer and 257 in baseball this year.

Holmes, who spoke in glowing terms of the Clover High School softball team’s state 4A championship in May, said spring softball participation has been heavier at all levels, beginning with the 8U players at Clover Community Park.

“Clover High’s state title got the attention of a lot of kids throughout the Clover community,” he said.

“Shea Hall, head softball coach at CHS, has done a great job working with Clover Parks and Rec the last seven to eight years,” Holmes said. “She’s had clinics for the kids.

“Shea has been tremendous helping us to get our softball program where it should be for local kids.”

Homes said the 16U Clover Sting had a banner season. “That’s a pretty good team and part of Shea’s future,” he said. “She spent time with Sting team members when they were in our youth softball program. She knows what she’s got coming up.”

Prescilla Cook, a program assistant for the York Parks and Recreation Department, knows about Clover High School softball and its impact in western York County.

Cook, who lives in the Clover community, played softball for Hall’s Lady Blue Eagles. “Girls’ softball has come a long way, even in the last 10 years, which includes the time I played at CHS,” said Cook. “It’s grown in numbers every year.”

Cook said it impacts young people when high school teams do well, regardless of the sport.

“When high school football does good, you have big numbers,” Cook said. “We love it that our local softball team won the state championship. All of the little girls see that and say ‘that could be me someday.’”

Cook said the York Comprehensive High School softball team has inspired children who are aspiring to play high school ball someday with a one-day clinic.

“The young girls got to go out on the high school field which made their day,” said Cook. “They were sitting in the big dugout.”

“They kind of got a vision that in four years, ‘this could be me,’” she said. “This could be me sitting in the dugout. This could be me on the pitcher’s mound.’”

Cook said she believes appealing to local childrenh at an early age is the way to go. “You’ve got to get them sold into the sport when they’re nine or 10,” she said.

This story was originally published June 29, 2015 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Clover rec director sees rise of girls’ softball."