Catching up with Danielle Humble Kerr takes some good timing and a bit of serendipity – her job with CNX takes her out of the county every weekday until at least 2 pm and then there’s the matter of contractors working on the kitchen at home… when can we meet for coffee somewhere?
We’re in luck! Ben McMillian is still working on his new coffee shop with the new logo Roast Grind Brew (RGB) branded on all the signage at 30 N. Washington Street, Waynesburg. The grand opening is days away but today the doors are open. Friends are popping in to say hello, look around, give thumbs up and sample the extensive lineup of coffee drinks being brewed up while we wait. There’s local artwork on the walls that Ben has bought, along with great old photos of the town and county that tell the history of our little corner of the world better than any words.
I think I’ve found my new office when I’m in town, I tell him and we both laugh. It’s coffee shops like this that become the ultimate hangout for the creative heart of any community.
Danielle texts “are you there?” then makes it in just a little after 3 pm: “We picked up trash all day for CNX and I had to go home and take a shower before I came over!” She has a phone full of photos of kids running bases and some great stories to share about what’s going on with Smash Fast Pitch Softball, a dream come true athletic organization Danielle helped build from scratch in 2020.
If the necessity of girls playing softball in every season is the mother of invention, Danielle was the mom to do it. When her daughter Bre graduated middle school at Central Greene the year the softball seasons shifted from spring to fall for the senior high team, “There would be a year and a half of no school softball for Bre because of the different seasons between middle and high school. That wasn’t going to work!”
Luckily, Chay Lahew, then president of Waynesburg Girls Softball was willing to help – his stepdaughter Dani Stockdale and Bre played for his Rec league. While Chay recruited players for the new dream team, Danielle ordered what the girls needed to come out swinging: bats, balls, uniforms, and gear. She also with began booking tournaments, keeping costs to team players and their families to a bare minimum ($250) for what it took to suit up and go on the road to play local tournaments.
“We didn’t have a field so I approached Bret Moore and said ‘No one’s using that old ball field in the middle of the fairground.’ We leased it and my husband Justin and I along with my sister-in-law Angie Morris spent over a month getting it up and running.”
For Danielle, this was a sweet full circle. “My dad used to play on that field.”
That first season, Terry Meek and his daughter Brooke were the coaches and the team had a few tournaments within 60 miles of home. Their name was a gift from Terry. “He put together a summer travel team when his daughter Brooke was eight and called it Smash, then passed it on to us.”
“People thought it was one and done, but we were into it.” The next year, Chase and Ashton Shaffer had two daughters and wanted to coach. By the next fall, it went from one to three teams, then five in 2022. This year, six teams played and Danielle is still busy handling the contracts, purchasing uniforms and equipment, spearheading fundraisers and finding sponsors.
“CNX has sponsored our teams several times of the years now. This summer they purchased new aluminum benches for our dugouts through their Dream Fields program. They are helping make field improvements to softball and baseball fields in the area. It’s a new program that Amy Hopkins is running for CNX.”
On November 1, the lease was signed for a practice training facility at 1435 Jefferson Road that that was once Walt’s Garage. It now has a batting cage and the girls are indoors in full practice mode. “They pitch in the cage. We also have a pitching machine that is used for batting in the cage. In the pop up nets they hit the ball off the tee into the net and there’s also an area for strength building and conditioning.”
Smash Fast Pitch Softball is open to girls age 8 to 18 with tryouts at the end of July through early August. Teams practice outside until November 1. Fall tournaments are in September and October. Teams practice indoors from November 1 through March and several indoor tournaments are played. In March practice moves outside and tournaments run through the end of July. There’s usually a few weeks off in August before the new teams begin to practice.
For more information about signing up and to see photos of kids having a whole lot of healthy fun, check out Smash Fast Softball on Facebook.
For more information about the Dream Fields program go online:www.cnx.com/about-us/cnx-foundation/dream-fields
