Slowpitch puts fun into competition

With seemingly never-ending demands for off-season competition and conditioning programs placed upon young athletes, the idea of sports as fun sometimes seems nothing more than a historical curiosity.

Unless you’re talking about the Greatest Spokane League’s newest varsity sport, slowpitch softball, now beginning its fourth season. In that discussion, “fun” is a word you’ll hear as often as “competition.”

The slowpitch coaches and athletes in the GSL believe that the two terms aren’t mutually exclusive.

Take North Central’s Chuck Filippini, for example. He’s coached more sports in more seasons that even he can keep track of, and he enjoys coaching slowpitch as much as anything he’s ever done. And he’s seeing some converts among GSL fastpitch coaches.

“This year, 11 of my 15 players are girls who also play fastpitch in the spring,” Filippini said recently. “Two years ago, it was probably the other way around.

“I think it’s a combination of kids talking with their coaches and the coaches realizing that it’s not going to hurt their players to play in the fall. They’re coming to realize that it’s better for the girls to be involved in something than sitting around.

“That hasn’t always been the case in the last four years. We need to make this about the kids and about looking out for their best interests.”

Filippini finds a great example of a slowpitch player who knows something about competition – and about fun – 60 feet from home plate every afternoon.

That’s where 6-foot NC senior Colleen Cadagan resides, entering her fourth season as Filippini’s varsity first-baseman affectionately nicknamed “Stretch” the first time he ever saw her. Although he has three other seniors on the team, Cadagan’s the only one who’s been around all four years.

She’s a multi-sport athlete, competing in basketball during the winter and throwing events on the track and field team during the spring. Coming into NC as a ninth-grader, she knew she didn’t want to play volleyball or soccer, and she’d heard the previous spring about the slowpitch program.

“I played softball growing up,” she said, “and I thought it would be fun. Slowpitch is different because of the speed of the pitching and how the ball just drops right in front of you, but it’s an easy adjustment.

“I think that everyone has more fun in slowpitch. Part of it is that there are no regionals or state tournament. Everyone wants to be competitive and win, but you can still have fun while you’re playing.”

She sounds suspiciously like a trackster at heart, hoping eventually to coach in high school. But she says that she always enjoyed playing softball and enjoys the new teammates she’s met every year.

And she says that Filippini’s positive attitude rubs off on everyone around him.

“He’s so fun,” she said. “He never has anything negative to say, and you can tell he loves all the kids who try out and play. He’s great at working with a variety of girls, including some who haven’t played before.

“There’s a place for them, and that doesn’t diminish the competitiveness of the sport. Even if they haven’t played, once they realize what it takes, they want to be good.”

Filippini returns the compliments:

“Talk about a leader! Colleen is awesome! She leads by example and the other kids follow. And she’s the same way in the classroom.”

And about that nickname?

“I played outfield growing up,” Cadagan said, “but Coach saw how tall I was and so he put me at first base. He’s been calling me ‘Stretch’ for four years, and now there are a bunch of other people calling me that.”