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MSU Adds Softball, Moves Equestrian The Racer Insider's Will Aubrey

(June 11, 2008)

Murray State University announced on May 17th that they will be adding women's softball and women's equestrian to their varsity sports lineup. Softball will begin competition in the 2009-10 season.

"The decision to add softball and equestrian was a direct result of the university wanting to better serve the interests of this region and meet our Title IX goals," athletic director Allen Ward said. "Softball is very popular in western Kentucky and in this region. And with equestrian there is already an infrastructure in place and we have a very active and large club team. You're allowed 12 scholarships for softball and 15 for equestrian and we anticipate fully funding both programs."

MSU is the only member of the Ohio Valley Conference that does not currently offer softball. And several area high schools have done well at the state level in recent years with Reidland winning the state championship in 2002 and Calloway County winning it in 2004.

"People were contacting me on a weekly basis wondering why we didn't have softball," Ward said. "When we completed our Title IX review a year or so ago it was noted that there are over 5,000 high school softball players in the state of Kentucky. So there's definitely a lot of interest in the area to support the program."

Calloway County head coach Troy Webb echoes Ward's sentiments.

"I think it's great idea," he said. "There are a lot of good softball players in this end of the state and we have a good fan base in this area too.

"Samantha Butts who played for us this year is going to Austin Peay on a softball scholarship. Kalyn Fox played here at Calloway and she's playing for Eastern Kentucky now. Murray High had Kacee Carpenter who went on to play at Southwestern Oklahoma. And then Marshall County had Leigh Leonard who's at Southeast Missouri."

Murray High's head coach Kyle Smith says he thinks having softball at MSU will make high school programs in the area even stronger than they are now.

"There's always competition for good athletic players and right now soccer and basketball seem to win out," he said "Maybe with a local college team more of those kids will decide to play softball. And it'll be good for our kids to see what it takes to be a college player. They will be able to see firsthand how hard they need to work and what they need to do to play at the next level."

One obstacle to fielding a softball team at MSU was the lack of a field but Ward solved that problem with the help of the local parks and recreation department.

"I've been working with Matt Martin, the Calloway County Parks director and we are entering into a partnership in which we will use their field on Chestnut Street as our home field for the next several years," he noted. "I've had experience with this type of partnership between an athletic department and parks department and it worked very well. I'm extremely grateful to Matt for how hard he's worked to get this done and help us bring softball to Murray State.

"We'll renovate the field and bring it up to NCAA standards so it won't look anything like it looks now. We'll laser-level the infield, maybe install an irrigation system for the outfield, make sure the lighting is adequate and put a lot of blue and gold out there so that people know it's our home field."

Ward expects to hire a coach after the first of the year.

"I'd like someone with western Kentucky ties," he said. "I want someone who knows this area and can recruit this region, someone that can make us competitive fairly quickly.

"They wouldn't necessarily have to have Division I college coaching experience. They could just have college playing experience. Most of the coaches we look for have coached at the college level but I'm not going to limit myself in this case." 

Of course Kentucky is horse country and the sport of equestrian is extremely popular as there are horse shows all around the state. The World Championship Horse Show is held at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville every August. And MSU has had a club team for several years.

"I was amazed that we have over 50 kids on our club team," Ward said. "But this is Kentucky after all. We have a renowned school of agriculture and we have a beautiful new equine center. Adding equestrian is directly related to meeting our goal of proportionality for Title IX. Making that a varsity sport and adding those 50 participants should enable us to accomplish that goal."

One thing that might surprise those unfamiliar with college equestrian events is that the horses do not travel. The host team of an event provides horses for all the competitors.

Many students bring their own horses and stable them at MSU while others are donated to the university. 

It is worth noting that all this can accomplished without any impact on the sports Murray State offers for men.

"This has been part of our plan all along so it won't have any impact on men's basketball or other men's sports," Ward said. "They are fully funded and will stay fully funded. It won't hurt them at all."

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