Local stars continue to boost game’s future
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Jenn Shellhammer-Getz and Jaime Wohlbach recently celebrated their 40th birthdays, which means both have been involved in the game of softball for more than 30 years.
The sport has been good to them. Shellhammer-Getz was a pitching standout at first Central Catholic and later at Radford and the University of Maryland. She was the head coach at Lehigh-Carbon Community College and is now the pitching coach at Northampton High School.
Wohlbach was a stellar catcher at Saucon Valley and Kutztown University and has been coaching trail for nearly 20 years as an assistant at Kutztown, Muhlenberg, Lehigh and the University of Pennsylvania and has a head coach at Iona, Delaware and now she’s in her fourth season at East Stroudsburg University.
The two are longtime friends. In 2008, Wohlbach was the catcher and Shellhammer-Getz the pitcher on a Pennsylvania All-Star team that took on the U.S. Olympic squad in Williamsport.
The two continue to give back to the sport that has given so much to them as evidenced by their trip to Taiwan in late November where they did clinics with the Chinese Taipei team and youth teams, coaching the coaches to bolster the sport.
In a few weeks, seven pitchers from the Chinese Taipei junior national team will be coming into Monroe County to receive tutelage from Shellhammer. Wohlbach will also be helping out as her ESU schedule allows.
“The experience I had in Taiwan last year was amazing,” Shellhammer-Getz said. “The opportunity to pitch against the U.S. Olympic team years ago was amazing, but this was such a humbling experience to work with coaches who were phenomenal players themselves. We were coaching coaches who were national team players and are now national coaches and players. They were nine women who were former Olympians themselves.
“You almost sit there and ask yourself ‘Why am I here?’ if those people now coaching pitched in the Olympics themselves and were the best of the best.”
Shellhammer-Getz said she has attended many coaching clinics where you go simply listen and try to absorb information.
“This was different,” she said. “Here we were physically interacting and doing the things that they’re asking or wondering about. We were giving them techniques and things to take back to their players and teach them. We were out there every single day from 8 to 4 with only one hour off and they wanted to learn. It was 85 degrees there and yet they stayed around extra to work on their skills. You just don’t see that here enough.”
Wolhbach, who has lived in 18 countries for at least six months to play or coach the game, said the Chinese Taipei coaches were eager to learn.
“Sometimes you go to different countries and they just want you to run practices,” Wohlbach said. “But here they asked lots of questions. We had to have an official interpreter for all communications so there was always a delay in what questions were asked and what our answers, so you really had to stay focused.”
Wohlbach said the cool thing for her and Shellhammer-Getz was that most softball players grow up dreaming of playing professionally or in the Olympics and here they were teaching coaches who were Olympians.
“There were seven former Olympians who were coaches and another was a present national team player and we’re training them.” Wohlbach said. “So it really comes full circle when you realize your dream as a little kid was to be an Olympian and here we are training the best of the best internationally.”
Of course, Shellhammer-Getz and Wohlbach want to boost the game in this country as well. Wohlbach will be coaching for the third time a 12U Northeast region team at the 2019 USA Softball All-American Games. at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City from June 8-10. This year’s tournament will immediately follow the Division I College World Series. Shellhammer-Getz will join her as an assistant coach.
Softball is back for the first time since 2008 in the Summer Olympics in 2020 and Wohlbach and Shellhammer-Getz will be there, but softball has already been pulled again for 2024.
“We want to have an avenue to dream,” Wohlbach said. “One of those dreams for softball players is to play for the USA team and play in the Olympics and it’s hard to dream big if it’s not there. There are petitions and hopefully it will be reinstated.”
Wohlbach said softball remains popular in this country, Japan and Australia, but adds: “Unfortunately, in other countries, it’s not as popular as we think it may be. So we’ve got to keep fighting for our sport. It’s really important for us as American citizens and coaches that we go overseas and hope to develop the sport and bring the younger generation in. We need to get out there and help grow the sport in our own country and
Gillian Walsh, Easton’s senior catcher
internationally. We want to be back in the Olympics in 2024.”
ESU held ribboncutting ceremonies for its new field on Friday. The new softball facility is a short distance from campus at the Creekview Park Complex in Stroudsburg.
The complex also features a new baseball field.
The ESU Foundation’s $1.8 million fundraising campaign provided installation of artificial turf, dugouts, batting cages, and bleachers. ESU, the Stroud Township Board of Supervisors, Stroudsburg Little League, and the ESU Foundation broke ground last May.
In addition to the Warriors’ baseball and softball teams, the fields will accommodate the troudsburg Little League.
“It’s a beautiful place where you can catch a baseball game, a softball game, it’s gorgeous,” Wohlbach said. “It has turf for the outfield and it has restrooms, a refreshment stand, batting cages, bullpens, full dugouts. It’s really nice. The fact that the little league will also use it means we can help build the future generation of players.”
Southern Lehigh coach Brian Neefe entered play on Friday needing four wins for 800 in his legendary career. The milestone coule come as early as Friday at Pen Argyl.
Keith Groller can be reached at 610-820-6740 or at kgroller@mcall.com