Washington High School softball turns 50

WASHINGTON, Ill. (WMBD/WYZZ) — Clint Reed has seen a lot of softball in Washington.

He’s been around for 39 of the 50 years the Panthers have had a softball program.

“In 1974, the first year we played, our record was 6-2 and we played Pekin three times because they had a team,” said Reed. “There weren’t many teams.”

Reed wasn’t around to see the first season of Washington High School softball but he’s the team historian so he was records dating back to the early days of the program. And this week he’s taking a walk down memory lane this week as the school prepares to celebrate a 50th anniversary of girls softball.

He says the game has changed just in the time since he was head coach from 1989-2005.

“I had a team in 1991 that went to state and got third place,” Reed said. “We hit two home runs as team for the season. We had a game the other day where we hit eight in one game!”

Reed and Washington are welcoming back softball alumni to be part of the celebration this weekend. That includes members from the 2015 state champs and state runner-up teams in 1977 and 2016.

Through softball, head coach Stephanie Lawson says her players are learning about things like the fight against cancer and the importance of and serving in the community. Washington just hosted its annual ‘Swing For A Cure’ showcase to help raise money and awareness of the fight against cancer.

Fifty years of softball games is one thing, life lessons are another.

“It’s not your record. At the end of the day, we want to do stuff for the community, we want to be good leaders in the classroom, we preach that all the time,” said Lawson. “There are so many awesome people that have come through this program that are doing good things.”

Many of those people are coming back for the anniversary celebration. Reed, who began his time with the program as an assistant under Jan Smith in 1981, is looking forward to reuniting with former players.

“It makes you feel good when they come back and give you a hug and say, ‘Do you remember this or that?” said Reed with a smile. “I act like I do but really sometimes I don’t.”

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