Rec softball season ends for local athletes

The rec softball season recently wrapped up for the Lovell and Rocky kindergarten through eighth-grade athletes.

The rec program had almost 90 athletes sign up to play softball this year. There were three divisions in the program – T-ball, machine pitch and player pitch.

Henry Sanchez, organizer of the rec league softball program, said of this year’s season, “We had a good turnout of girls for this year. Although it hasn’t been as many as previous years, I believe we will retain many of the girls and continue to build the program.”

Sanchez also added that he would like for the season to go a little longer, saying, “We would like to start earlier next year and offer more mini-camps and clinics for the girls, utilizing older players from the area to prepare them for a new season or moving into a new age group.”

With that information, here is a deeper look into the teams that participated in this year’s season:

The T-ball/Coach Pitch league was comprised of three teams, the Blue Diamonds, Power Pearls and Sapphire Squad. The players at this level are beginning their softball career, and the teams have  athletes that range from kindergarteners to the second graders. The coaches for the T-ball teams were Allison Howe, Christa Henderson and Rilee Cueva for Sapphire Squad; Leslie Mayes for Power Pearls; and April Nicholls, Lyndsey Allen and Kristine Henley for Blue Diamonds.

The Machine Pitch division had three teams: Amethyst Aces, coached by Jourdan May and Angie Hitz; Crystal Crushers, coached by the McIntosh Family – Ashlee, Mikkel, Jelly and Keith,; and Silver Sluggers, coached by Henry Sanchez and Jessica Beeton.

Athletes in this division had the opportunity to learn how to pitch and put this into play in games. Pitchers had three tries to get in a good pitch to the batters before using the machine to pitch the ball instead. Teams from Lovell were able to gain more experience by competing against teams from Powell and Cody. The season for the Machine Pitch division ended with a double-elimination tournament featuring the three teams from Lovell. After losing their first game, Sapphire Squad came out as the champions by winning their next two games.

There were two teams from Lovell in the Player Pitch league – Diamond Divas and Ruby Reds. Coaches for the Diamond Divas were Jenny Christiansen and Jason Wallway, and coaches for the Ruby Reds were Jen and Brandon Hessenthaler. The local teams played against two Powell teams and one Cody team. Both teams from Lovell had successful seasons and competed well. Head coach of the Ruby Reds Jen Hessenthaler noted that the Ruby Reds went undefeated all season, beating most teams by at least 10 runs to be the district champions.

“What I loved most about this team was their energy and passion for the game,” Hessenthaler said. “They were excited and loved their teammates.”

Sanchez had a few more things to say, noting, “I have four amazing daughters, all of whom have shown an interest in softball. As long as everyone will have me, I would love to help run the softball program and keep moving upward.”