St. Charles High School is celebrating a huge milestone this year, 50 years of SCHS softball. With Coach Jones at the helm, this season was a big deal, especially for senior leaders Bryten Kendrick and Attyson O’Keeffe. Coach Jones, who’s been coaching softball for 17 years, says he’s loved every minute of it, especially practices. “I have been coaching for 17 years, all at High. My favorite part of softball has been the practices, it’s been fun teaching them while practicing.”

When asked if he enjoyed the actual softball games, Jones stated that the practices were more preferable to him.

“Games are fun too, but practice I think is where we’ve grown.”

Kendrick, who’s been playing since she was just 6 or 7 years old, has softball in her blood. Her mom and dad both played, and Kendrick’s taken the game to the next level. She’s been part of SCHS since her freshman year and has been a major player.

“Softball’s been part of my family, my mom played softball, my dad played slow-pitch….I’ve played club softball, as well as High School Softball.”

O’Keeffe has been playing softball since she was 4, up until today at 17. She has played numerous varieties of softball, as well as playing for SCHS all 4 years.

“I’ve been playing [softball] for 13 years. I played T-ball,then  I played Rec Ball, then I played Club Softball for 5 years, and High School for 4.”

O’Keeffe had also designed the shirts for the 50th anniversary, being requested by Coach Jones to do so. According to her, Alumni and former players were also invited to the event, consisting of a large barbecue and fun meet-up.

“I didn’t even realize it was 50 years until a month beforehand, and then he [Coach Jones] asked if I could design shirts for the event… I was also surprised by the amount of people that came in; there was Alumni and parents who came, and we had a barbecue with hot dog.”

During the event, they also had a victorious game against West, winning their last game of the season, and the season of 50 years.

“It was nice to have a crowd watching, and the game was against West which we won.”

Coach Jones had great things to say about the two ladies, as well as his own thoughts on the 50th year of SCHS Softball.

“Bryten and Attyson are phenomenal leaders on and off the field, great young ladies…