Emporia Rec fields two ponytail softball teams this summer

May 12, 2023

The Emporia Rec Center has two ponytail softball teams this year, and they went head-to-head on Thursday night at Whittier Park.

Ponytail softball is for girls that will be going into sixth through eighth grade in August. The two teams this year are sponsored by Michelin and Gambino's Pizza.

Andy Battenfield coaches the Michelin team and he has been coaching the sport for over a decade.

"Softball is a sport that I love," Battenfield said. "I’ve been coaching this for 11 or 12 summers now and the reason I do it is for the love of the game. I love working with the kids and teaching them how to play the game. That's my favorite part of the whole sport."

The Gambino's Pizza team is led by Janice Williams. She coached in Lawrence after college and her daughter played through the Chase County program. When her family moved back to Emporia, she had an opportunity to coach the Rec team in the pigtail division.

Her daughter, along with the daughters of assistant coaches Jessica Buchholz and Megan Tajchman, was old enough to move up to the ponytail level this year. So, they did.

"Our daughters were old enough to move up this year, so we asked some of the girls from last year if they wanted to move up with us and the consensus was yes," Williams said. "We have a couple of girls going into eighth grade but otherwise, we’re a really young team with a lot of girls going into sixth grade."

Battenfield started coaching when his oldest daughter was playing in the Rec program. When she aged out, he wanted to continue coaching. He said he was lucky to keep a lot of the same kids that he had last year, and he loves the fact that Emporia has a program for kids who want to learn the game without the pressured environment that travel ball can bring. He's even had some girls who kept playing after aging out of the Rec program, which has been cool for him to see.

"I think it's super important for us to have this for those kids that maybe need the extra work," Battenfield said. "It's been cool to see some of the girls that I’ve had for three years join the travel teams when they age out of this program. To see them grow that much in three years is really nice."

With a team that is young for the level, Williams knows her team won't be competitive in a lot of their games this summer. But she is big on teaching the fundamentals and likes to see the girls learn the game with the hope they continue to play in the future.

"I really believe in fundamentals and I think playing against some of these older teams in the league will be a great experience for them," Williams said. "I believe in developing players for the whole Emporia area to play high school and travel ball."

Both coaches are excited to see two Emporia teams in the program again. It has been a few years since that has happened, but getting more kids to learn the game at a young age and being active in the summer is what this is all about.

"I am so fortunate that we do have Rec teams in Emporia and it's awesome that we had enough girls to field two teams this year," Williams said. "There is nothing better than looking a girl in the eye when she makes an awesome play. A lot of these girls are learning the game and the summer is about teamwork, being active and really coming together."

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