By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
Today, it seems more and more sports teams are not able to field enough players whether it be soccer, junior varsity and junior high basketball squads to softball and baseball. No sport has been untouched.
This season, Greater Houlton Christian Academy filed with the Maine Principal’s that the school will not field a baseball team this season or a softball team again.
“We notified the MPA ahead of the opening of the season so there is no penalty,” said GHCA Athletic Director Barrett Potter. “We will be able to field a team next year, numbers permitting.”
In soccer, GHCA players have been able to play with Hodgdon. But, that is not the case in spring sports.
“We do not have a cooperative agreement with Hodgdon in relation to baseball,” explained Potter. “We feel confident and are planning to work to have these programs again in the future.”
GHCA has not had enough numbers to support varsity softball for three years.
“We are excited to offer for the second year in a row middle school softball, which has strong numbers,” said Potter.
Potter also noted that GHCA is not the only school facing the struggle of low numbers in spring sports.
“East Grand is not offering baseball again this year and Van Buren is not offering softball,” he said.
Chris Young, athletic director of East Grand School, also noted the school will not be penalized by the MPA because they too announced their intention prior to schedules being due.
“There is no program due to low numbers/interest,” he said. “We will have a middle school baseball team and expect those numbers to be strong, especially with the amount of eighth-graders, which gives me reason to hope that baseball will return next spring.”
Coaching varsity softball for his eighth-year at East Grand School is Shaun Beaudoin.
“The team will be strong again this year, with only one player gone from last year’s team,” said Young.
