The first high school girls' softball team in Goshen County spent the week warming up for its inaugural season.
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TORRINGTON – More than a dozen athletes gathered at the Wyoming National Guard Armory in Torrington on Tuesday for the second practice of the first girls’ high school softball season in Goshen County.
Team members represented all three high schools in the district – Torrington, Lingle-Fort Laramie and Southeast – and Robin Schainost is the head coach.
The Wyoming High School Activities Association sanctioned girls’ softball as a high school sport in November 2019 with the inaugural season in spring 2021.
Several athletes from Goshen County traveled to Cheyenne South to compete on the Lady Bison softball team before the Goshen County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees unanimously approved a girls’ softball program in October.
“This is super exciting,” Lingle-Fort Laramie (LFL) sophomore Skyla Wunder said. “Getting softball as a school sport opens up new opportunities for us.”
LFL sophomore Laney Grubbs commuted to play on the Cheyenne South squad the previous spring.
“Traveling to Cheyenne almost every day last year was a lot,” Grubbs said. “I’m really excited to have a team in Torrington and seeing where this program goes.”
Southeast High School senior Kailey Porter looks forward to belonging to a new program.
“I played softball when I was younger, I stopped because I didn’t feel like I had the team I wanted,” Porter added. “Since it’s my senior year, I’m really excited to have a softball team in Torrington.”
The drive to bring girls’ softball to Goshen County began at the ground level, with local student athletes from both the high school and middle school levels participating in the process.
“Hope Hager shared her point of view on why softball should be a program at a (school) board meeting,” Wunder explained. “A couple of younger girls wrote essays. Board members from the Torrington Thunder softball program also contributed.”
Funding for the team and acquiring equipment are both in the works.
“We’ll have to get a budget,” Wunder said. “Jerseys are on the way.”
Grubbs felt optimistic the team “will figure it out” in terms of its logistics as athletes and coaches find their footing in a new program.
“The Southeast Booster Club donated the money to get jerseys,” Porter said. “Hopefully other people will contribute.”
Wunder, Grubbs and Porter each stepped onto the softball field for the first time when they were in elementary school.
“My mom was like, ‘Here – try softball,’” Wunder said. “And it just kind of grew on me.”
Grubbs’ parents signed her up for the sport when she was eight.
“I started playing and I loved it,” Grubbs added. “I think it’s a great sport for everybody and it builds tons of friendships.”
The softball community “definitely has a family feeling,” Porter said.
“Playing softball when I was younger was always fun because you would go out on the field and immediately have friends and family with you,” Porter added.
The Torrington girls’ softball team will initially compete at the junior varsity level, Wunder explained, and the team especially looks forward to playing in home double-headers. The team will not compete at the state tournament this year.
“If you’re interested in playing softball, definitely check it out,” Porter said. “We need more people.”
“But this is a very good start,” Wunder added.
The high girls’ softball team is an opportunity for athletes to be involved in a high school sport that they already play during the summer, said coach Schainost.
“We have a good core of athletes to start the program with and hope to be competitive with,” Shainost added.
