Welcome back, slowpitch softball.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association announced Monday it will reintroduce girls slowpitch softball as a sanctioned sport beginning this fall for the 2018-19 school year.
The WIAA Executive Board approved the sport’s comeback at its April 22 meeting behind a recent rise in interest statewide for slowpitch 16 years after the association discontinued the sport. Pending on participation numbers, the earliest WIAA slowpitch state championship tournament will be 2019.
Monday’s news was a treat for Erick Johnson, the head coach of Fort Vancouver’s slowpitch and fastpitch softball programs. He believes the revitalization as a sanctioned state sport it’s a good step forward in slowpitch’s reemergence statewide.
“I think it will help it grow and get more recognized,” he said, “and even have some (junior-varsity) teams out here.”
Johnson has coached Fort’s slowpitch team, one of 12 Greater St. Helens League schools to field slowpitch, since 2015. Five years ago, the GSHL re-adopted slowpitch as a non-sanctioned fall sport, joining the already established sport played in the Greater Spokane League for the past 12 years. Johnson said a number of his players who wouldn’t otherwise play slowpitch decide to turn out after being cut from other fall sports, such as soccer or volleyball.
The WIAA said slowpitch will continue to be played in the fall to allow more students to participate in a school-related activity.
“This is a great opportunity to reach more female athletes and increase the number of students who get the benefits of competitive athletics,” WIAA Executive Board President Lori Wyborney said in a news release.
Washington is now one of five states to offer high school slowpitch softball. The sport remains uber-popular in Oklahoma, which leads the country in slowpitch participation numbers. According to National High School Federation (NHSF) data, Oklahoma has more slowpitch programs than 11-man football teams and girls basketball teams in that state.
Slowpitch softball was a WIAA sanctioned spring sport from 1979-2002, but dwindling participation throughout the 1990s, thanks in large part to fastpitch, led the association to discontinue slowpitch after the 2002 season. By then, the WIAA state fastpitch tournament reached its 11th year. Columbia River won the inaugural WIAA fastpitch state title in 1992, the first of three championships in the sport from 1992-97. Mountain View won the AAA fastpitch title in 1994.
As of late, slowpitch continues to gain traction, and Southwest Washington is no exception. The GSHL is one of three leagues statewide to offer slowpitch and last fall, the GSHL added Longview’s Mark Morris and R.A. Long high schools to the softball mix.
The Spokane-based Greater Spokane League set the trend more than a decade ago to reestablished slowpitch as a way to combat Title IX. In October, teams from the GSL and GHSL met in Richland for an eight-team state tournament won by Class 4A Mead out of the GSL.
