Former Division I athlete becomes female baseball coach in Oregon

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – Kelsey Anchors didn’t set out to make history.

She just wanted to coach.

Now she’s getting the chance to do both this year.

A former Division I college softball player, Anchors takes over this spring as the new baseball coach at North Valley High School in Merlin.

She’s the first woman to serve as a head baseball coach at the high school level in southern Oregon.

“I didn’t think of it like that,” Anchors said. “I just want to coach and I want to teach athletes.”

She’s also quite possibly the first in Oregon high school history. Oregon School Activities Association Assistant Executive Director Brad Garrett said he’s unaware of another female head baseball coach in the state.

Anchors applied for the position last fall with the encouragement of North Valley Principal Erik Lathen and Athletic Director Tim Sam. She was an assistant softball coach at the school last spring and is a PE teacher.

Sam wasn’t worried that hiring a woman for the baseball position might be viewed by some as a controversial move. He only saw the positives.

After all, Anchors has the pedigree. She was an all-state player at Olympic High School in Bremerton, Washington, then played four years at Oklahoma State, where the Cowgirls made the postseason three times, including a Women’s College World Series berth in 2011.

“I’ve found her to be a real kid connector, and for somebody who is newer to teaching, she has a real strength and maturity about her,” Sam said.

“Her experience as a World Series competitor at a Division I school was a plus. (Lathen and I) thought those were great attributes. She was somebody who was in our building, so it seemed like a no-brainer that she’s somebody we want to have coaching our kids.”

Austin Soler, a four-year varsity baseball player at North Valley, is excited for what his new skipper brings.

“She’s built a great coaching staff,” the senior catcher said. “This is the most growth I’ve seen in a short amount of time. I’m loving the (discipline) she’s bringing to the program.”

It is not unusual for men to coach girls’ sports at the high and college level, and increasingly it is becoming not unheard of for women to coach high school boys.

Alex Parker coached boys’ soccer for two seasons at Illinois Valley High. And there have been two female head wrestling coaches in the state in recent years in Carol Dauenhauer at Amity and Carla Baker at Chiloquin.

There’s even a female assistant football coach North Marion.

Baseball is the next step.

“It wasn’t like we were looking to hire somebody to be the first,” Sam said. “At the same time, we think that is a pretty cool thing. We can kind of take the lead. Males for years have been coaching team sports that are played by females.

“We’re excited about that opportunity, and the neat part about that is it wasn’t about gender, it was about having a great person leading our program.”

Sam said he won’t put an expectation in terms of wins on Anchors any more than his other coaches. He bases his philosophy off of legendary UCLA men’s basketball coach John Wooden, who encouraged players to develop their character.

He wants coaches to emphasize working hard to improve and having a great experience. On top of that, he wants coaches to develop a youth program through Fleming Middle School and younger.

Anchors, for her part, has bought into an idea that has been going through the school recently of “2 percent.”

“Get 2 percent better every day,” she said. “That means working on the little things and finding what you can do to be a better player and teammate.”

Anchors understands the challenges ahead. There are differences between softball and baseball, the most glaring of which is pitching.

“Pitching is probably the biggest thing,” she said. “I’ll be learning right along with (the players).”

She has two assistant coaches this season – Travis Moore and Ryan Goodman. Both played collegiately – Moore at Linfield and Goodman at College of the Siskiyous.

Moore, publisher of the Daily Courier by day, is the pitching coach. Goodman – Anchors’ husband – will fill multiple positions.

“I’m learning just as much from her as the kids are,” Goodman said. “She just approaches things from a different perspective and she sees things I’ve never thought of. There’s a lot of husband-and-wife combinations in softball. Why can’t the same be true for baseball?”

The Knights have 19 players this year, not enough to comfortably have a varsity and a junior varsity, so Anchors will have just one team.

“They say you shouldn’t chase kids,” Anchors said. “If you have to convince them to come out, they don’t really want to be there. The ones who are here want to be here and they’re working hard.”

Only 18 can suit up for any given game, so there will still be competition every day for a spot.

“I like that we only have one team,” Goodman said. “We’re in this together. We’re one, and we’re going to grow together.”

There’s an uphill climb for any coach leading the program, male or female. North Valley hasn’t had a winning record since 2013. Though the Knights reached the Class 4A state final in 2011 and semifinal in 2012, they haven’t won a Skyline Conference title since 1990.

“We’re starting from square one,” Anchors said. “We’re going to focus on fundamentals and fostering a good atmosphere to be around. We want to make it fun for these boys.”

Now that she’s breaking the mold, Anchors won’t shy away from what the history means.

“I want to show the girls in this school that the sky is the limit,” she said. “If they want to coach a boys sport they can. They can do what they dream of doing.”