Though wins are hard to come by, Lower Richland softball finds reasons to celebrate

The scores haven’t been what Lower Richland High School softball coach Sheree Jackson was hoping to see. They’ve been lopsided for the most part, with 23-1, 17-1, 21-1 and 24-3 among the results.

But don’t tell Jackson — or her players, for that matter — what they’re doing isn’t fun and important. Jackson is trying to turn around a program that has seen little success and is taking the field with girls who have little or no experience by the time they reach the hallways of Lower Richland.

That hasn’t stopped Jackson from trying to build momentum in a sport that is overshadowed by the more decorated success of football and basketball at the school in the Hopkins community.

“One of the biggest challenges is the girls having experience,” Jackson said after a recent spirited practice. “We don’t have a feeder program. Introducing girls to softball, a lot of them don’t know what it is even when they come out.

“(We) teach how to catch, throw, all the skills associated with softball. Getting them in the habit of learning, developing the IQ and playing. They come as ninth-, 10th- and 11th-graders that have never played. They’re interested, so I want to keep that up and their engagement. It’s tough not having a feeder program, but we’re working on that.”

The Diamonds have one win this season. While some scores have been lopsided, Lower Richland’s small accomplishments are celebrated. Jackson, a former standout at Fairfield Central in high school and at Newberry College, is in her fourth season leading the program.

Jackson hopes a feeder program will be in place in the next year or two. She teaches at Southeast Middle School and has a few sixth-graders interested in learning how to pitch. That’s one of the bigger hurdles with so many players who don’t have much experience playing at a younger age.

But things are in place to build some success. The Diamonds have a new batting cage down the right field line that was installed this year. Jackson had 32 girls show up for tryouts, and she was able to keep all of them between the varsity and junior varsity teams.

“I’m an educator first, so just coming out and seeing the progress when they meet a goal, maybe even something really small,” Jackson said. “They see the progress. I ask them all the time if they’ve improved. The parents tell them, and the fans tell them. They realize, yesterday I couldn’t do this but today I can.

“We celebrate the small victories. We do paper plate awards at the end of practice. It develops the team camaraderie and family atmosphere, and the environment is one of the biggest ways to keep them out here and going.”

Jackson has a couple of players who have been with her all four seasons. Starr Anderson and Georgia Jackson have been around since their freshman years. Even though the scores might not reflect it, they have seen improvement.

They understand as seniors, it’s their job to lead the younger players and keep morale up. They have embraced that role wholeheartedly.

“It’s fun seeing so many girls come out, girls that have no experience,” Anderson said. “Seeing that passion and drive they have, even when you’re down by whatever, just seeing that drive they have when they get one out or get one hit is amazing and fun. We try to show them what to do because we were the young ones once and we had no idea. Having that older person saying ‘Go here or go here’ makes it easier.”

Georgia Jackson said her time with the Lower Richland softball program has given her something wins and losses can’t.

“The little accomplishments (the younger players) do make, we clap it up and cheer because we know how hard it is,” she said. “This builds character and sportsmanship. It makes you a better person first, and that’s what this is really about.”

This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 12:36 PM.