ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 28, 1996 TAG: 9602280054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
THE GROWTH OF THE SPORT and gender-equity concerns have made women's softball a big hit with Virginia Tech and other athletic programs.
Suddenly, colleges have realized what moviegoers learned from Marilyn Monroe years ago.
Diamonds are a girl's best friend.
Women's softball has replaced women's soccer as the hottest sport among NCAA schools. During the 1994-95 school year, there were 69 new women's soccer programs. This year, there are 82 more schools playing softball than in '94-95, up to 738, including Virginia Tech.
``It's a sport we've wanted to add for a quite awhile,'' said Sharon McCloskey, Tech's senior associate athletic director. ``We needed a place to play. There's no question it's become a popular sport.''
The reasons for softball's climb - it ranks right with women's basketball in the number of individual competitors, in the NCAA's top 10 - are varied. Surely, one is the number of players available. As more high schools have added the sport or switched from slow-pitch to fast-pitch, the college programs have sprouted. Youth softball, like soccer, also has sprouted.
Women's softball will be an Olympic sport this year in Atlanta, and a women's pro fast-pitch league is about to become a reality. Hokies assistant coach Rebecca Aase, who has played the NCAA game at its highest level, knows there are other reasons more schools are going batty.
One is the law.
``Part of it is Title IX and schools needing to add women's sports to reach equality with men,'' said Aase, who holds an NCAA record with 50 consecutive victories during her Florida State career, which included a four-year earned run average of 0.84. ``The Silver Bullets [baseball team for women] has added some interest. And more people are playing fast-pitch again.
``I went to Florida State from San Diego. I had never heard of slow-pitch until I moved to Florida. A lot of schools in the East have been recruiting slow-pitch players, then teaching them to play fast-pitch.''
Now, more girls in this part of the country are starting as Aase did. she began playing fast-pitch when she was 6. Summer youth programs have made a difference. Those little girls should know there is scholarship money out there. Legislation at the recent NCAA convention increased the number of scholarships allowed in a Division I program from 11 to 12.
Still, the state of Virginia has been slow to embrace the game. Tech becomes only the sixth Division I varsity program in Virginia, with a team evolving from club to intercollegiate status. Radford University started its fifth softball season last week. Virginia, Liberty, George Mason and Hampton also have teams. The Colonial Athletic Association doesn't play softball, although two CAA members compete with Radford in the Big South Conference as associate members.
Only five of the nine ACC schools play softball: FSU, UVa, North Carolina, Maryland and Georgia Tech. Virginia has the state's oldest program, dating to 1980, in pre-NCAA-sponsored days. Among the 12 Atlantic 10 Conference schools, nine play league softball.
In the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, which has 12 schools with Division III women's athletic programs, only five play softball. Roanoke College appears ready to add the sport next season, and Maroons athletic officials have little doubt it will be a popular program.
Ferrum just began its eighth softball season, and is coming off a school-record 22-victory year. Six of the seven Dixie Conference schools play softball, and the Panthers have shared the past two regular-season titles. Ferrum's only women's conference title has come in the sport.
``There are so many players out there,'' said Scot Thomas, Tech's head coach. ``The Southeast has been dominated by slow-pitch, and it's going to take awhile for the East Coast to catch up. People in California are kind of leery about the quality of play on the East Coast, but it's getting there.
``The thing about starting a program is that, in recruiting, you can go out and tell a player she has the opportunity to play for four years. A program can become what it wants to be.''
Softball still has plenty of room to grow, too. This season, 204 schools will play Division I softball. By comparison, 305 are playing men's Division I basketball. And, as Thomas said, it's still a developmental sport on the East Coast. UCLA has won eight of the 14 NCAA Division I championships. No team from east of the Mississippi River has reached the final.
On a different level, the sport has a budding presence in Southwest Virginia. In late May, the NCAA Division III national tournament returns to the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem, the third consecutive year an NCAA title will be decided at the site. The Moyer Complex also will be home to tournaments with Radford or Ferrum as host in late March and early April.
The NCAA is concerned about making its softball more appealing to the spectator. The fast-pitch game always has been dominated by pitching. A few changes from the Amateur Softball Association rulebook make a difference in run production.
The ASA pitching distance is 40 feet. The NCAA rubber is 43 feet from the plate. The NCAA also allows the use of titanium bats, yellow-green softballs and closer fences. The NCAA also recently established its first women's softball rules committee.
The idea is to promote the sport, as well as play it.
Tech, scheduled to play - barring snow - the first home game in its history Friday afternoon against Liberty, plans to build a softball field between Rector Field House and Lane Stadium. The $2.25-million project is projected for completion by the spring of 1997, but isn't expected to be ready until a year later.
Before then, there are other more important items in creating a program, the school's 21st and last women's program to be added after settlement of a Title IX lawsuit. McCloskey said the program is beginning with 2.75 scholarships. The number will increase annually, she said.
``Our operations budget [not including salaries] for softball this year is in the $70,000-to-75,000 range,'' McCloskey said. ``Some of that includes things that are involved in starting a program, like a drag for the infield and uniforms. It's not really that expensive for a program. I'd say our annual budget would be around $60,000, once we get into future years.''
In those years, the field figures to become more crowded, too.
BATTER UP!
Since last school year (1994-95), 82 NCAA schools have added women's softball to their athletics programs. That's a 12.5 percent rise, making it the fastest-growing NCAA sport this year, replacing women's soccer. The rise in softball programs is more than 27 percent from five years ago. Here are recent numbers on schools playing the sport:
1995-96 1994-95 Division I 195 204 Division II 191 221 Division III 270 313 Totals 656 738
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. 1. Tech pitcher Jennie Kallio was anby CNBall-district player at Cave Spring High School for three consecutive
seasons. 2. Tech catcher Shannon Crowder follows the ball during
bunting practice. Crowder was Cave Spring's MVP as a senior and was
an All-Roanoke Valley District selection. color. 3. Virginia Tech
head coach Scot Thomas (center) and his assistant, Rebecca Aase
(left), will be guiding the Hokies' fledgling softball program
through its infancy starting this spring.