Is Softball Getting Shortchanged in Shallowater?

The least Shallowater can do is investigate one family's complaints.

A recent news story on Everything Lubbock highlighted one family's efforts to have the women's softball field maintained. They claim the field has holes and is substandard. They also claim that their daughter, who hoped to be a college prospect, has been injured several times due to poor field maintenance. Instead of investigating, Shallowater ISD released a statement that's the equivalent of saying "nuh-uh."

I have no doubt that in small-town America that boy's sports are more popular than girl's sports. That's still no reason to neglect the girls, especially since things are changing. It is certainly reasonable for the softball team to have a playing field that's as safe as the boys, even if it doesn't feature all of the other amenities the boy's field has.

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All of this is happening at a very unfortunate time for Shallowater because they're currently trying to pass a $50 million dollar bond package which includes, among other things, improvements to the football stadium. Personally, if I had a daughter in Shallower sports, it would be a huge "no" vote from me until there's some parity.

Here's a challenge for everyone involved. Let's get away from this game of he said/she said. Use your phone, take some pictures of the condition of that field. Send them to me here. I'll publish them straight up and we'll let everyone out there know whether the Shallowater girls are being treated in a fair and equitable manner.