From SDPB:
Sanctioned high school softball will be a spring sport in South Dakota, beginning next school year. On Wednesday, the board of directors for the South Dakota High School Activities Association unanimously passed a recommendation from its executive staff to have the sport take place in the spring.
“It passed 9-0 and there wasn’t a lot of discussion. I think [the board] appreciated the work that had been done in the process and I think they all were leaning that direction,” SDHSAA assistant executive director Jo Auch stated. “I think we all knew that spring was the best time based on the number of sports that we have in the fall for girls and spring for the girls.”
There are currently six girls’ sports in the fall, while only three in the spring. However, there still was some debate, especially amongst some of the bigger schools in the state, that fall was the way to go. Among the nineteen AA schools, based on a vote amongst the athletic directors, ten were in favor of a spring season, while nine wanted it in the fall. Yesterday, the four Sioux Falls public schools changed their vote to spring.
“They had visited with some of the colleges and the club areas around, and said yeah, we really feel that spring is going to be the best for us as well and that we could make that work,” explained Auch. “That made going into the board meeting a little easier, although, nothing changed on my end as it pertains to the AA vote.”
South Dakota officially sanctioned softball at their November board meeting. They were the last state in the union to sanction the sport. In total, forty-five states in the nation now have their high school softball season in the spring, while just four have a fall season. Iowa is the lone state who does their softball season in the summer.
