Season ends before it even begins for City College softball

By Bonta Hill
The Guardsman

Since City College of San Francisco Women’s Athletic Director Peg Grady stepped in six years ago, it has been a struggle for her to keep softball from canceling their season.

Unfortunately, that struggle was lost and there will be no softball team for the 2010 season due to eligibility issues, a lack of efficient recruiting and not enough players.

“It’s very disappointing because we have a very successful women’s program as well as our overall athletic program,” Grady said. “A series of events fell into place that we had no control over and the decision was made to cancel the season.”

That series of unfortunate events happened this offseason. Former coach Frank Sinkavich resigned during the fall semester and first year head coach Jack McGuire suffered a serious leg injury in late November.

According to Grady, not having softball this year does not affect the athletic budget.

“My budget was already planned and allocated for softball, and it’s money that I now won’t have to spend on officials,” Grady said. “I’m still getting the team the equipment they need for practice in the next year. I’ve already contacted other schools and their athletic directors and coaches stating that we have every intention to field a team in 2011.”

In the history of City College softball, the season has been close to folding on more than one occasion. The Rams Softball program often struggled in finding enough players to fill a diamond. This season, fielding even nine players would have been a stretch. The team had no  incoming freshman on the roster.

However, the future still looks bright for the program, and players will not lose a year of eligibility and have the option to come back and start a new era of Rams softball. The team will participate in a 10-game fall league for the first time in school history.

McGuire said he is “feeling well” and looks forward to having a full off-season and an opportunity to recruit players out of high school.

“Between injuries, a couple of players not being eligible, and the fact that there were no incoming freshman recruited — you put all three components together and that causes the season not to be played,” McGuire said.

Although the feeling of disappointment lingers among those associated with the program, the team is still going strong, practicing as though they had a game next week.

The softball team, along with the baseball team, gets to practice in a new state-of the-art softball facility on campus. With that available, Grady has hope that the program can thrive and be competitive on a consistent basis.

“We’ve got a great practice field, Fairmont Field in Pacifica, and we haven’t had access to that in the past,” Grady said. “That is a must for recruiting, and I encourage the athletes and softball team to come out and play. We have a new coach, a new field, and we really want to get this program up and running.”