“We’re taking baby steps,” said Renee McKim, the Orinda Baseball Association (OBA) board member who’s heading up the group’s expansion into softball. “We’re starting with clinics – in the fall, we’ll have exhibition games and a brief season.”
But why now? The OBA has been around for 41 years, and girls’ softball has been a high school sport since the ‘70s, so what made the organization finally make the jump into softball?
“It wasn’t in anyone’s game plan,” she said, “but we were talking about what we can do to make the program better.” And the interest was there, as often sisters of OBA players would say they wished they could play softball in their home town instead of having to travel to Pleasant Hill.
So last December, the OBA board decided to move ahead with softball, but given the scarcity of fields and the complex process of organizing a league, the league didn’t want to rush into the process. Even so, it’s been a challenge.
“It definitely feels like we are trying to create things as they happen,” said McKim, starting with finding a place to play.
For the spring clinics, OBA shifted some of its Pinto (for younger baseball players) games and practices off of Del Rey’s field to open up some space, but other options, such as Pine Grove or Wilder, were already booked.
“Every program had already made their reservations,” said McKim.
Still, the 40 or so girls who have signed up will be able to work on basic skills, especially since the OBA has decided to zero in on younger players.
“We’re focusing on the elementary school age group,” she said, with first- and second-graders in one group and third- and fourth-graders in another. “We want them to get the fundamental skills.”
Teaching those fundamental skills this spring is Hailey Breakwell, who’s played and coached at the NCAA Division I level and also played on the New Zealand National Team.
Down the road, those fundamental skills will pay off, not just for OBA teams but also for the Miramonte program. Too often, Matador players are trying to learn the game at the high school level, which puts them behind – sometimes way behind – girls who’ve been playing since third grade.
McKim’s daughter Madison, a sophomore, plays on the Miramonte varsity, and Renne has seen the difference up close.
“We don’t have the girls who have the experience,” said McKim, “ and it hampers the high school.”
The OBA also hopes to partner with the Moraga Baseball Association as it builds the softball program, but in the meantime the focus is on the younger girls who are attending the spring clinics and who will practice as a team and play in the fall.
Sign-up information is available at obabaseball.com.
