Before the softball season even began, Fountain Hills High School players were concerned that they wouldn’t have enough girls to fill a team. Their fears have become an impending reality as the Falcons already forfeited three games they would have played this week.

The forfeits come in the wake of Fountain Hills administration reporting a bylaw infraction to the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA). School administrators reported a violation in bylaw 15.3.1, which says “only students enrolled at a member school in grades 9 through 12, inclusive, shall be eligible for interscholastic competition.” This was due to fielding a pitcher who is not a member of the local team.

Lawrence Hughes will not return to coach the Falcons this year, but the softball community rallied behind him and delivered heartfelt public comments to the Fountain Hills School Board last Wednesday, March 22. Five players and coaches spoke about his character, and said Hughes has “a heart of gold,” is “a pillar in the community,” and always treated the players with respect and as if they were family.

According to FHUSD Superintendent Dr. Cain Jagodzinski, Fountain Hills High School had to self-report the bylaw infraction and create a corrective action plan. The AIA executive board will hear about the infraction and corrective action plan on Monday, April 17, and they will assign a penalty based on how the corrective action plan meets their expectations.

There are four potential penalties. The first is an advisement, or word of caution, and the next is an official warning. Schools given warnings may face probation if they have more violations.

Sports programs under probation are not eligible for post-season play or superlatives like region player of the year or even honorable mentions. The most severe punishment would be disqualification for the remainder of the season.

The Falcons need nine athletes to play, and they started the season with 10. Their numbers had dwindled to nine within three weeks, and they can lose a player for a week at any time if that player faces academic ineligibility.

“We’re going to do everything we can to get through the year, and then at the end of the year, the high school will reevaluate and try to rebuild the program for the future,” Jagodzinski said. “[Athletic Director Evelyn Wynn] is going to use all her resources to try and get a few more kids on campus to come out, because the issue right now is we don’t have enough active players. Even before this happening, they didn’t have enough active players to play this week.”

Wynn had a meeting with the softball players last week and they decided that middle school teacher Chris Peterson will step up as interim coach for the remainder of the season. Wynn then emailed the players’ parents to let them know, and also said that Peterson will run practices until the end of the season, even if they don’t play more games.

The last game the Falcons played was against Chino Valley on Monday, March 20, the day the infraction was reported. High school Assistant Principal Jessica Kane served as interim coach, and the Falcons faced more challenges than just the opposing team that day.

Considering more than half of the players are new to the sport and to the team this year, the Falcons didn’t have a tight bond or great team chemistry at the start of the season. When their backs were up against the wall against Chino Valley, the girls stuck together and saw it through till the end.

The Falcons lost 26-6, but there were moments that fired up the team. Senior Mia Duda had a double and an RBI, and junior Hailey Chandler prevented a home run by catching the ball just as it was leaving the ballpark. Duda is currently fourth in slugging percentage (1.214) in 3A and third in on base percentage (.750) in the conference, and Chandler also stole home on an error and is sixth in the conference in stolen bases.

“I think it’s the times where, I mean it just happened in this game, where we’re just having a terrible inning, and then we come in, we hit, we do good, we go back out into the field, and we can get three up, three down no problem, and then we’re back hitting again,” Chandler said. “I think it's those times where we struggle so much and then we come back and just do a great job, that’s super fun. Makes the game exciting.”

Chandler is one of four veterans and club players on the team, but even the rookies are making the best of this season. Junior Emma Medina has a .278 batting average, three RBIs and five runs in her first seven games as a softball player. Medina had her best game so far, batting 1.000 and getting two hits, a run, and an RBI against Chino Valley.

“The most surprising thing would probably be how I actually get to first base,” Medina said. “That’s been really surprising, and how much I’ve grown…I just really like being here, and I’m glad I joined this year. I’m surprised by how much I like it because it’s fun. I like our little team.”

The season depends on adding additional players to the team, but the Falcons hope to continue playing games starting with a home game against Wickenburg on Monday, April 3. It would be held at 3:45 p.m. at Fountain Hills Middle School if the Falcons can field a full team.