Sports ‘Babe’ 62-Year-Old Still In There Pitching Softball

While playing softball earlier this year Babe Wehr got clobbered by a line drive. Her leg swelled up and turned black and blue from the knee to the bottom of her foot.

“My reflexes aren’t what they used to be,” said Wehr. “I’ve since started wearing shinguards. I always thought they were for sissies, but when I went to the doctor, he said I better watch it.”

At 62, an age when most people get their sports thrills by watching from the sidelines or in front of a television, shinguards are the only concession Wehr’s willing to make.

The Valley’s own fabulous sports Babe is still in there pitching.

On Tuesday, Wehr took to the mound for a Spokane County women’s slowpitch tournament game in her 33rd year of playing softball in Spokane.

Backing her in the outfield were her daughter, Melody Ardiss, and granddaughter, Misty (Huguenin) Moore.

This is the first year all three generations have played for the same team. Wehr’s daughter was sidelined for five years after being injured in an auto accident.

Her granddaughter played two years ago and returned to action this year for the family gathering.

“It’s been such fun,” said Wehr. “We laugh and carry on and are having a ball.”

Wehr’s father nicknamed her when she was two years old and it stuck.

“I was always known as ‘Babe’ by my family,” she said. “I don’t like my other name, although when I do something friends will say, ‘now, Virginia…”’ She became immersed in sports after coming to Spokane in 1963, a widow with two young children.

Her first husband had been killed in a logging accident in Chewelah, Wash., where she was reared. She married Jim Wehr, who died in 1994 at age 75.

“I had played a little bit of basketball in school but not in a league,” said Wehr. “I lived on a farm, and there was no opportunity to get into sports. There was farm work to do.”

Once in Spokane there was softball. Wehr played second base until 15 or so years ago when her team needed a pitcher, and no one else would volunteer. She also began bowling and played recreation league basketball.

In the late 1960s, Wehr, her good friend Noreen Sale, Sal Jackson and Rita Bigham formed the Spokane Valley Girls Softball League.

“Noreen and I still laugh about it,” said Wehr. “We went to the first meeting and Sal said, ‘You two will be coaches.”’

Her recreation and youth teams dominated county leagues into the 1980s.

Wehr still bowls in two leagues at Players and Spectators, the sponsor of her softball team.

“I have about a 170 average,” she said. “It used to be in the 180s.”

That might help define Wehr’s approach to sports as she plays into her seventh decade. The wins may not come as often, a concession to age, but the fun never ceases and how many people can boast of a daughter and granddaugher as teammates?

“I don’t care whether we win or not,” Wehr said. “I just get a lot of entertainment out of it and have met a lot of nice people. I’ll keep playing as long as I can. I wish I could still play basketball.”

That’s out and running bases in softball isn’t as easy as it used to be. But Wehr still gets her hits and wins.

People half her age should be so lucky.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo