THE HISTORY OF SOFTBALL AT NEWPORT HARBOR HIGH SCHOOL
There wasn't much in the way of Girls sports at Newport Harbor High School until the 1960's and early 1970's. Any girls sports that existed were governed by GAA (Girls Athletic Association) through and including the 1985/1986 school year.
The first competitive softball teams were in the 1974/1975 school year. That year, the girls belonged to the Beach Cities League. There were two teams made up of 9 seniors, 6 juniors, 9 sophomores, and 5 freshman. They played 3 practice games against Corona del Mar, Foothill, and Tustin before they began their league season. The varsity team ended up with a 2 - 5 league record that year.
Since the beginning of softball at Newport Harbor, every year has seen 2 teams take the field: varsity and JV. Sometimes there were no more than 9 or 10 on a team but there were enough players to get through the season.
For the 1975 through 1978 season, the yearbook team photos were not taken in any kind of uniform. The girls wore their own clothes. From 1979, the team photos were in uniform. Some years had the coaches in the photos and listed with the players and some didn't.
The 1979 through 1989 season uniforms included black pants with various uniform shirts. Shorts replaced the pants from 1991 through 2004. Hats were also used instead of visors for several of those years. Pants once again replaced the shorts for the varsity 2005 season and for the JV 2006 season with the varsity wearing navy blue and the JV wearing gray. Uniform shirts have varied from v-neck pullovers of navy blue to baseball style white with blue pinstripes and button down the front. For the 1999 season, the varsity uniform shirts were sleeveless with home being white and away being navy blue. From that year on, every two years a new shirt (either home or away) was purchased for the varsity with the old ones being passed down to the JV team.
Sharon Wolfe was one of the senior players on the first softball team. She also played field hockey for Newport and would later be a field hockey coach for several years and a JV and varsity softball coach for Newport for a few years. Other former Newport softball players that became Newport softball coaches are Mindy Alford and Lindsay Moore.
Some of Newport's players have gone on to play softball in college. Only players from the 2001 varsity team until now are known: Lisa Huntington '01 - USMA at West Point, NY; Alizabeth Pfeifer '02 - OCC; Amanda Campbell '03 - Boston College and Chapman University; Athena Vasquez '03 - University of Wisconsin; Julianne Bass '05 - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY; Ashley Gleason '05 - Dartmouth; Katie Daniels '06 - Vanguard University; Felicia Leal '06 - OCC; Darci Pennington '06 - OCC; Casey Lucas '07 - Iowa Western JC; and Jane Messersmith '08 - Bucknell University.
In the 34 years of Newport softball, there has been at least 12 different varsity coaches. The first coach for Newport was Nancy Staub and she held that position for 6 years. The rest of the varsity coaches in order were: Rick Shelton; George Spangler (4 years); Tim Parsel (4 years); ?; ?; ?; ?; Mike Mullen; Morgan Taylor; Mike Mullen; Frank Talley (2 years); Jesse Martinson (3 years); Sharon Wolfe; Mike Davis (3 years); Zach Reeder; and Melissa Branch (2 years). Some of these coaches had assistants and some did not. Some years, the coach and the assistant coach worked with both teams together. Some years there was a specific JV coach and assistant.
The first softball field was in the corner by the girls gym and the football weight room. Eventually, the varsity field was where it is today. The empty space between the varsity field and the portables (which were put in in the summer of 2003 and were completely removed the summer of 2009) used to have our JV field and we hope will again someday. The softball boosters worked really hard in the late 1990's and early 2000's to update the fields and get them both looking good. The bathrooms were added in that same time frame. The varisty outfield fence was replaced in the middle of the 2005 season and moved back about 8 feet to what it is now. The JV field was replaced and used by the 2008 JV team starting in April 2008.
In 2000 or 2001, the team trailer was donated to the softball boosters by a retired Air Force office. It sat by the ENC fence on the 3rd base side for a couple of years before it was moved to where it is now and divided into 2 rooms with the electrical working, all the wall board put up, the outside stairs added, and the outside painted. Several dads worked on that project (Joe Gleason, Brian Horn, Mr Martin, and a few others). In the summer of 2006, Jeanine Bass and Becky Pfeifer painted the inside white and added the NH/anchor stencils in the larger room. Jeff and Jeanine Bass added the white board, the Leader Stat board, and hung all the team photos from 2002 on.
As for the success of the varsity softball team goes, Newport has never had a winning league season or ever gone to CIF. Some years have been better than others. But in all the years of girls softball here at Newport, having fun, becoming a team, playing as a team, and improving were always a big factor.
The 2003 varsity season was the year everyone thought the team would make it pretty far. There were 7 seniors on the team. Of the 9 starters: 4 were seniors in their 4th year of varsity play; 2 were seniors in their 3rd year of varsity play; 1 was a junior in her 3rd year of varsity play; and the final 2 were sophomores in their 2nd year of varsity play. But, as we all know, not every school's sport belongs in the league the school is in so the opposing teams have always been very tough to beat. The 2002 varsity team has the best season record of any team so far: 14 - 9 - 0 (1 - 7 league). The 2005 varsity team has the second best record: 13 - 12 - 1 (2 - 8 league). The 2002 varsity team was the first team to win a league game in several years and the 2006 varsity team had 4 of their 6 wins in league.
The 2007 season started with two sets of new varsity uniforms and a new league. Newport moved forom the Seaview League back into the Sunset League for the 2006/2007 school year. Both are tough leagues. However, as everyone knows, anything can happen.
Researched and written by Jeanine Bass in February 2007 and updated in December 2008. (NHHS softball mom 1997 - 1999 and 2002 - 2009)
Sources: 1980 - 1989, 1991 - 1999, and 2001 Galleon yearbooks from the Newport Harbor High School library; 1974 - 1977, 2000, and 2002 - 2006 Galleon yearbooks from my personal possession; varsity W/L/T records 2002 - 2005 frommy personal possession; varsity W/L/T record 2006 from Coach Mike Davis; Carolyn Martinson, Melissa Branch, and Becky Pfeiffer.
