Riverview unable to field softball team this spring

By: Michael Love
Friday, March 10, 2023 | 5:06 PM

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Faced with roster numbers that would be far fewer than required, Riverview softball will not field a team at the varsity level this spring.

Athletic director Corey Thomas said this week that there was an initial sign-up meeting for the spring season, and only four girls were there.

A second sign-up didn’t yield any additional interest.

“After we found out through those two sign-up periods that we didn’t have enough girls who wanted to participate, we waited another week and then called a meeting in the library to see if there were any girls who wanted to come out who might have missed the chance the first couple of times,” Thomas said.

“The four girls who wanted to participate came down. Then we made the decision that the team wouldn’t happen this spring. We informed the principal and superintendent about what was going on, and they took it to the school board.

“It was unfortunate that there weren’t enough girls who wanted to play. That can happen at a school as small as ours. Hopefully, in the future we are able to get the program back and competing.”

Riverview struggled to field a team in 2022 and was forced to eliminate all of its nonsection games because of the numbers crunch.

In many cases, there was no room for error in terms of players available for games. Three additional section games had to be declared forfeits as the team finished section play 0-10.

“We had nine players as the season went on,” veteran Riverview coach Jim Ashbaugh said.

“You could end a game with eight players, but you couldn’t start a game with eight. We were sharing a player or two with track, and some of the girls had busy lives with work and other obligations. Also, some of the girls had never played before, and I wasn’t going to put a player out there in a game if they couldn’t defend themselves. It took some of them time to get to the point where I felt comfortable enough to have them out there. They understood, and their attitudes were pretty positive.”

Four seniors graduated from last year’s team.

A job change in the fall forced Ashbaugh to step down as coach. He cited hours for his new job that wouldn’t allow him to give the proper time and effort to coach the team.

“I hated to leave the girls high and dry like that, but I had to think of my family,” Ashbaugh said. “I coached eight seasons, and I love the game. Every year, you grow close to each group of players. It was heartbreaking. I knew there were a couple of girls willing to talk to their friends and others about coming out for the team.”

Thomas said the process to find a new coach had begun, and there were a couple of candidates in mind.

“But before we were going to go ahead and hire someone, we wanted to make sure we had enough kids to be able to field a team,” Thomas said.

Vince Sortino, the WPIAL’s chief operating officer, said because it is the first year of the two-year cycle, Riverview will not be eligible to play a section schedule next year if they do come back with enough players to field a team.

He said Riverview can play an independent schedule in 2024 and will be reinstated in 2025 if the program is able to show it has everything in place to be a viable team in the WPIAL.

Under the new alignment for the 2023-24 competition cycle, Riverview was placed in Section 3 of Class A with Bishop Canevin, Frazier, Jeannette, Leechburg, Monessen, Springdale and St. Joseph.

The games with the Raiders will be declared no contests, meaning they will not show up as forfeits in any of the teams’ overall or section records.

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

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