Any impact Shawn Summe made on the St. Louis Community College softball program was going to have to be immediate. The STLCC athletic director, who took over coaching the softball program on an interim basis this spring, made sure that was the case by posting the program’s first winning season in three years. The Archers clinched that distinction last weekend, finishing 27-23 at the conclusion of the Region XVI tournament.
The 27-win season was an eight-win improvement over last year, and marked the highest win total for the program since moving to a district-wide athletics department in 2011, besting the 26-23 record posted in 2012.
"I think the biggest thing is that they handled adversity well, and handled change well,” Summe said. “They were really resilient. We had 13 girls who all got a lot of playing time, and we really got better as we went along. We talked early in the year about wanting to be a better team at the end of the year than the start.”
Despite the first-year success, Summe has no reservations over handing over the reins to a new coach for the 2017 season.
“No, not at all. We’re going to get someone in here who is ready to give it a lot of time and effort, and it will be a good thing for the girls to get someone who can devote all their energy to this program. We’re going to get the right person for the job, and we’ll get that program moving to where it needs to be.”
Summe pointed to the future of not only the 2016 team, but the individuals that comprised it, as encouragement for the future of the program.
“We’ve got five girls committed to colleges for next year, and that’s a positive,” Summe said. “They’re getting their education and they’ll get to play ball while they do it.
Five Archers named to All-Region Team