Editor:

Up until this point in our softball season, I have been very satisfied and appreciative of the coverage that the game of softball has received from your newspaper. It has been very positive and encouraging to the coaches and athletes on both ends of our county.

However, as I excitedly turned to the sports section of this week’s paper and read the article written by Terry Logan about the in-county rivalry game that took place this past Wednesday at Richmond Hill I quickly became mortified.

To read such negative remarks about one of my players was very disheartening. Samantha Howard is a top-notch athlete, dedicated to her sport.

To insinuate that her "lack of control" was a reason we lost is absurd. She had TEN strikeouts. TEN. This does not sound like she had a "lack of control" to me. She did not lose this game all by herself, as you would have your readers believe. We had eight additional players on the field with her the entire game. We win as a team, AND we lose as a team. The blame is NEVER put on a single individual.

My job, your job, and the job of OUR county newspaper is to build up our young people, to applaud their accomplishments, not to write opinionated articles that can be cruel and devastating to their well-being.

Both teams played their hearts out last Wednesday in Richmond Hill. Fans from both sides definitely got their money's worth at this match-up. I am so very disappointed in the article that your reporter wrote.

It is obviously a very biased article, degrading the hard work of the BCHS pitcher while continuously applauding the work of the RHHS pitcher.

BOTH of these very talented young ladies gave all they had to give that game. Instead of putting the blame of the BCHS loss on Samantha’s shoulders, you should have been more professional in your writing and uplifted each and every girl on both of these teams. I cannot adequately express the disappointment and anger that I felt as I read your article. All past articles that have been written about our softball games were very positive and uplifting to our team, whether it was written about a win or a loss. Perhaps it is because they were written by a person who truly understands the game of softball.

It is not about who wins or loses or why they won or lost. It is about growing young athletes into productive, caring and proud citizens of our great country.

Again, I must repeat my tremendous disappointment in the way you chose to report on a cross-county softball game between two great teams of athletes who should both be applauded for a game well played. I am proud to have been a part of that game. I wish I could say that I was proud of the article you chose to write about it, but I will never be proud of any kind of writing that diminishes the well-being of any student athlete. You shouldn’t be, either.