Despite previous efforts to form a softball team, MFS will not have its first-ever softball team this year due to a lack of participants.
Athletic Director Isaiah Coleman, as well as possible participants, confirmed that there will be no softball team after last year’s expectations of having one for this spring season. The school will hold softball clinics throughout the spring sports season instead of having a team.
The athletic department sent a second interest form at the start of the fall of this year, followed by a third interest form later in the fall.
Coleman said that the athletic department sent out surveys to students last spring to see if there would be interest in starting a softball program. According to him, there was not much interest.
“The interest had kind of lowered; it decreased for some reason, and I’m not exactly sure why,” Coleman said.
Then, in the late winter, the athletic department hosted an interest meeting, which only nine girls attended, although some girls said they were interested but just couldn’t make it to the meeting.
Coleman stated, “We have got to get to at least 20, because 20 gave us flexibility that if a few girls decided not to come out, we’d still have at least a decent number to have a quality practice for us to invest all the resources and finances and expenses that will go into it.”
For years, girls at the school have been advocating for a softball program. Ida Ramos ’26 and Aami Holmes-Gupta ’26 have been advocating for a program since their freshman year.
Ramos stated, “We got told that if we had [the] numbers, we could have practices and scrimmages within our group, and then the following year we can move up the ranks with getting into the league and establishing an actual team.”
“We got told that we didn’t have the funds in order to do so, and numbers were low, as is at the time for other programs,” she continued.
Holmes-Gupta explained, “The softball team is something I was really hoping to start in my time at MFS. I started asking around eighth grade, but figured I’d wait [until] Upper School, where I would have the next four years to develop the team.”
Holmes-Gupta further explained that she proposed the idea in her freshman year, but the athletic department denied it. In her sophomore year, she proposed the idea again and asked Assistant Athletic Director Brian Wright for his approval; while initially he approved of it, he later changed his decision, according to Holmes-Gupta.
Wright later responded saying that he personally did not approve nor deny the request. He stated that the athletic department sent out polls to see who was interested and the results from those polls led to the athletic department making the decision.
“I felt really discouraged and didn’t bring it up until [Coleman] held the Sports Fair last year. I had approached him and asked him about what he personally thought. I told him about the experiences I had before, and he said it was actually something he was considering and would try his best,” Holmes-Gupta continued.
To help get participants, some of the people advocating for the program put up posters around the school to spread the word.
According to Coleman, if the school forms a team in the future, the coaches would be Upper and Middle School English teacher Katie Stutz and possibly her father, Mike Stutz. As for where the team will play, Coleman said they are planning to play on either field two or field three.
The push for the softball team means a lot to these girls advocating for it.
This year, instead of a team, there will be a series of clinics for players to learn the fundamentals of softball.
Bella Morton ’27, another advocate for the softball team, stated, “It’s supposed to be a small after-school clinic for this year. Originally, it was going to be club softball, but even with the people that showed up at the interest meeting, not enough followed up afterwards about joining the program.”
Lower School teacher and the clinic’s coordinator, Angelica Aguilar, sent an email to Upper School students on February 25 asking about who would be interested in the clinic.
Aguilar explained the objective of the clinics, saying, “The idea with the clinics is working on the fundamentals of softball. Introducing the game to some of them [the participants], I’m not sure if everybody is familiar with the rules of softball and … what you use in softball.”
There has still been a lack of interest in the clinics, with only five people signing up.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t get a big number. Right now, I have [five] girls signed up for the clinics,” she exclaimed.
She continued, “Since I don’t have a big number, I am going to have the clinics once a week, and see if maybe anyone else joins; then I can move it to two days. It will be mostly Tuesdays.”
According to Coleman, the clinics were supposed to start the Monday following spring break, with 5-6 girls being signed up to participate in the clinics; however after a couple sessions, the interest seemed to be dwindling and the clinics have not been happening as of late.
Coleman stated that the Athletic Department has started to step away from pursuing a softball team.
Holmes-Gupta said, “It would make me so happy to have a space where people can play their sport and get representation like everyone else. That’s all I’ve ever wanted out of this.”
