Danbury pauses softball program due to low numbers

The call was hard to make. With just eight girls out for softball and nine needed, at a bare minimum, Danbury had to pull the plug on its 2026 softball season. The announcement was posted to X/Twitter on March 2. "When you look at the math, we have some really small girls classes here at Danbury," athletic director Joe Miller said. "The total number of girls we have in grades 9-12 is 75. When you look at the breakdown of those, not everyone is athletic. Some aren't athletic or have the ability to be. "We have 19 girls on the track team and had eight girls committed to play softball. We had 12 girls that are focusing on JO volleyball. We have 39 pretty active in athletics, but just not enough softball numbers." The Lakers were 12-16 last year, losing in a district semifinal to Tiffin Calvert. That came after a home tournament win over Cardinal Stritch. In 2024, Danbury finished 19-11, losing in a district final to Fremont St. Joseph. "We've won three sectional titles in a row and were district qualifiers," Miller said. "Coach (Jim) Fish and his staff have done an excellent job building the program up. This is just a small hiccup in the numbers. They have rallied to work with the kids we have and the kids we have coming up in feeder programs." The eight players that Danbury has out for softball are working hard to improve for next season. "Those eight girls are practicing three days a week and working on their skills," Miller said. "Senior Miranda Evans won't have a chance to have her final season. She was a honorable mention All-Ohio infielder. We feel really bad for her." On the days they're not practicing, the girls are staying busy with youth programs, but numbers can be an issue anywhere. "We have youth clinics for the elementary girls to build numbers in our programs," Miller said. "If you look at our incoming eighth-graders, we only have 10 girls. But, six will play softball. It's another small class. We lose 18 girls, but replace it with 10 girls. We go from 75 girls to 67 girls next year." Danbury decision has left void on many schedules throughout northwest Ohio. The Lakers were scheduled to play St. Mary Central Catholic as members of the Sandusky Bay Conference River Division. SMCC athletic director Steve Ruthsatz said the Panthers haven't been able to find a suitable replacement yet. Sandusky is also looking for another game after being scheduled to take on Danbury, per Blue Streaks AD Robert Sartor. Port Clinton was scheduled to face the Lakers this season. Redskins athletic director Rick Dominick said filling the opening wasn't too difficult. "I took a look at their schedule and noticed they had Ottawa Hills on their schedule," Dominick said. "We had been trying to schedule them anyway, but just hadn't connected. I called their AD, agreed on a date and we were good. I would say within 15 minutes of getting the email from Joe we were back to 27 games. "I feel for Danbury. We've all been there in some way or form. We look forward to getting them back on the schedule next year." Danbury has one of the top facilities and softball fields in the area. It has an all-turf field, meaning it could be open for other schools to use. "That would take a coordination of efforts," Miller said. "We are planning to use that field every night with our kids. I'm not opposed to helping other ADs, but we are still using it for our kids every day." Danbury isn't the only school in northwest Ohio to cancel its season. Mansfield Senior, a Division III school, did the same earlier this week. The Lakers plan to be ready to go for 2027. "Coach Fish and his staff are a bunch of workers," Miller said. "We don't want this to be a problem again. We knew it was going to be close this year and we did numerous things to try to facilitate a season. "We just couldn't wrangle enough ladies to pull a season together. We all feel bad about this hiccup."