From the beginning of the season, softball has been struggling to have enough players to fill a roster and have enough experience to perform in games. Athletic Director Darrell Wilson explained, “We had put in some effort to try to recruit, and we got some more girls out. So we felt like we were on a pretty good trajectory. But the end of the year ended not as high of a note as we hoped. So we will go back to the drawing board and put some things in place to try to make that better for next year.”
While Dominion emphasizes athletes’ attendance for each practice and game, there will be no consequence for the athletes prioritizing a field trip to Busch Gardens over their playoff game. “We would hope that student athletes would choose to honor their commitment, having been selected for and trusted in having a spot on a varsity team. One of the things that we will try to focus on impressing on future athletes is you’ve been given the opportunity and privilege to represent us on a varsity team, and that should come first and seriously,” Wilson said.
Music Teacher Gary English explained how softball athletes were given the opportunity to get refunds for their tickets, and read the email saying, “It has come to our attention that there’s a conflict with the June 1 music department field trip and the regional softball game. It is hard to anticipate all the potential conflicts a year in advance when we create our calendar and apologize that this has put you in a difficult spot. If you are withdrawing from the field trip, please email me and Mr. English so we can process the full $125 refund and return your ticket.”
English confirmed that Wilson had approved the decision to allow the softball players to go on the field trip.
Softball player Salwa Insari said, “I wasn’t going to go to Busch Gardens, but, the pitcher was going to be gone, the catcher was going to be gone, and left field was going to be gone. So there’s really no point in me not going, because I knew the coach was already going to forfeit the game. [When they sent out the email,] I was going to [get a refund], but then I heard nobody else was going to. So there was really no point in me getting it in the first place.”
Softball Coach Fawna Ruley did not respond to emails regarding the article.
