Sherando Softball Field Status

Sherando High School in Stephens City, VA (Frederick County Public Schools) was opened in August of 1993. An outstanding academic and student activity school with a long history of excellence. However Sherando has lacked a Girl’s softball field to call their own! Well, frankly they have never had a field designed only for girl’s, ladies, women’s fastpitch softball. Our young lady athletes have had to walk to Sherando Park to play softball on fields that were designed for Men’s SlowPitch Softball. Over the years they have played on both sides of the Park and at times had to cross Route 277 where there are no traffic controls.

In 2009, 2010, and 2011 Sherando worked with the parents to move the girls back to the same side of the park as the High School to help with the crossing of route 277. We were also able to have homeplate moved forward away from the fence and the overhanging backstop removed in order to allow the catcher to be part of the game. A temporary homerun fence was installed. While these were great improvements they were small in comparison to the disparity between the boy s baseball program and the girl’s baseball program.

Even considering the field was not adjacent to or prioritized for High School athletics the girls and parents made the best of it. During this same time the boys field was upgraded with dugout modifications etc to meet ADA and other items were completed while nothing was done to build a field for the girls.

Announcing and Music were not part of the girls program although the boys had enjoyed this on their field for years. A parent worked with Athletic Director/Student Activity Director Jason Barbe to obtain use of a PA system with a couple of speakers to play pregame music, announce the game and play music between innings to improve the atmosphere and game experience. Local neighbors complained about the music just another factor when one has to use a public park to play HS games.

A meeting was held during the 2007-2009 timeframe with a member of the school system administration where-in the parent advocating for the field based on TITLE IX was told the school system met TITLE IX and there was no money to build the girls a field.

Presently the injustices between the baseball program and the softball program at Sherando High School remain significant, starting with there is no Girl’s Softball Field. However, let’s humor those who believe it is perfectly acceptable for the boy’ s baseball team to have a facility a hundred yards from the High School while the Girl’s have to walk or drive 4/5 of a mile to the field they have been designated to play on. The boys have concrete dugout floors that are covered while the girls have open air dirt floor dugouts. What do the girls do on a misty or rainy or cold day? They get soaked, their equipment gets soaked and they freeze. Their dugout is also open to spectators, parents, hecklers, etc. The boys have a beautiful scoreboard, The girls have no scoreboard and can t tell the inning, the pitch count, the score and the spectators can t even tell the score of the game. From a safety standpoint the boys can access the school if their is lightning. The girls have no shelter. The boys have music and announcing of their games, The girls if they are able to have this must bring it to the field and there is no dry place unless someone brings a tent to set it up and then of course people complain because because the tent blocks the view of the game. The boys infield can be tarped to help with keeping the field dry in the spring. The girls have no such option. There is a press box for the boys for scorers etc but not for the girls. The boys games are played at 7pm while the girls at 6pm making it harder for the girls own families to attend the games ( yes that is a potential TITLE IX violation as well). The boys do not have mens softball or girls softball playing on their field but the girls have mens slow pitch on their field, and because of this there can be different rubbers on the field as well as additional base anchors all of which can be safety hazards.

And last but not least in the spring of 2011 one of the best Softball Teams to ever play at Sherando had a playoff game with home field advantage. However they were not able to obtain their field at Sherando for the game because Parks and Recreation had the field so our girls had to play a home playoff game at Millbrook. That was truly one of the most disrespectful days to female athletes in the History of Sherando Softball.

Come work with us to right this wrong, to let your school board member know, to let your board of supervisor know this 23 year long injustice has gone on long enough!

Please sign our petition and call you school board member and board of supervisor member to tell them you think 23 years is a long enough disparity in Baseball and Softball at Sherando.

Steps"

1 Sign our Petition to support Sherando High School Softball Field

2 Please like our page on facebook

3 Call your School Board Member immediately as the budget approvals are imminent

4 Call you Board of Supervisor Member as the county budget for the School System is about to be approved