Bolsa Grande to Play Softball After All, but Replace Coach

Three days after Bolsa Grande’s softball coach said the program would not continue, largely out of his safety concerns, the school announced it will go forward this season.

“We’re going to play the season, but replace the coach,” Ron Inman, Bolsa Grande’s athletic director, said Wednesday. “He had some doubts, and we felt that if he had some doubts, we need to go in another direction.”

Kurt Parker coached the team last year, the second in a row it went 0-21. He said Sunday that attendance at practices was poor, and that players who had picked up a softball for the first time three weeks ago would be on the varsity. The highest attendance for any practice was 16, he said, but only two showed up with any consistency. Inman made a school-wide announcement Monday trying to drum up interest; 32 attended a meeting that afternoon, 20 who had never played before.

Inman said five players this season will have some varsity experience.

Parker said his safety concerns were from that lack of experience, citing players who walked into occupied on-deck circles as an example, as well as the disparity in talent that could create dangerous situations for his players.

“I think those are valid concerns and I told the principal that,” Inman said. “The experience level is not among the best, but we think we can field a number of girls who have played some form of competitive fastpitch softball. It will be a struggle, but we owe it to the students that we give them the opportunity to play, and we can’t be all that concerned with wins and losses.

“We all want to win, but in some places, it’s not as easily done as in others.”

Parker, who coached only one season, declined to comment.

Bolsa Grande’s first game is scheduled March 9. Anyone interested in coaching should contact Inman at (714) 892-2819.