Recruitment falls short; season canceled

For the first time in years, Laguna Beach High will not field a softball team this spring season, Athletic Director Mike Churchill has confirmed. Despite all efforts to recruit a substantial team, they could not find enough students who wanted to play.

The Athletic Department collaborated with new softball coach Ali Poulos for two months to recruit players but only enlisted seven “” five of whom played the previous year.

These seven girls made their own recruitment efforts and found two more players, but that wasn’t enough to field a team.

“It’s a dead issue this season,” Churchill said. “You can’t have a softball team with only seven girls.”

He said the team has struggled to find players for many seasons in the past. He attributes the lack of popularity and interest in softball to the geologic structure of Laguna Beach.

“There are no flat fields and so (softball) is not a sport these kids have grown up with or have had the opportunity to play “” so they pick up other sports.”

Senior and would be co-captain Courtney Capobianco agrees that there is little opportunity to play softball.

“There are no programs for younger girls, and it’s an expensive sport to play,” she said.

She also attributes the small turnout this season to too few announcements and lack of knowledge among students about tryouts.

LBHS will try to bring softball back next year. Churchill hopes to field two teams “” one Varsity, one JV “” to ensure that the sport does not get dropped again. Ideally he would have 12-15 players per team, but will settle for just one team if they cannot find that many players.

Poulos has made it her goal to get girls interested in softball.

“I will hold summer clinics that will be open to all [female] residents, ages 10 and older,” she said. “I will get out there and talk to girls in person, rather than relying on fliers and announcements which obviously weren’t enough.”

She is optimistic that with these efforts, it will return Spring 2009. Freshman Paige Watroba, who has played softball for four years, said the team’s history of losses was discouraging for interested students.

“The announcements didn’t sell the idea of a new coaching staff and the fact that this was a brand new year “” which was important and would have been helpful,” she said.

Watroba said she is unsure if she will play next year due to the unfortunate break she’s been forced to take from softball; however, a summer clinic would increase her interest in playing next year.

“A clinic that helps girls to improve their skills would be a great thing, so if that is successful, I will try out next year and see what happens.”