Emily Crawford welcomed as Vice President of OLL’s girls’ softball

In her own words, Owego Little League Vice President Emily Crawford shares how her high school and college education, her dad, elementary teaching and coaching, and a vision for what is essential will significantly help her develop girls within the Owego Apalachin School District to have fun and play fundamental softball against the best for years to come.

Emily Crawford, Owego Little League vice president of girls’ softball, contributes the following.

I graduated from Tioga Central High School and held records in most home runs and most RBI’s in a single season. But they have both been broken since then, I believe. Also was first place all division team in my senior year.

I actually was a competition gymnast for most of my youth, so I did not start playing softball until eighth grade for a town league – with my dad Gene Gill as coach. I didn’t start playing school softball until I was in 10th grade.

My dad is probably my biggest reason for getting into softball. He would spend hours in the front yard throwing batting practice to me. Having some pretty rock solid shoulders from gymnastics also had a little to do with being a good hitter. In addition, Jim Wood and Brent Skinner, both amazing coaches from Tioga Central, kept me going in my high school career.

I was a four-year softball starter at Elmira College.

I started teaching first grade at Apalachin Elementary School, then moved to Owego Apalachin Middle School and have been teaching sixth grade for the past 10 years.

I have coached varsity field hockey at Owego Free Academy and varsity softball, but currently coach both modified teams in addition to being the Vice President of Softball for Owego Little League. So, in a way, I am in charge of girls’ softball from ages seven to 14.

My oldest daughter, Carsten, started playing softball last year in the minors program. There were many good aspects to the league, but there was a lack of player development. So I inquired about holding winter clinics for girls in grades kindergarten through sixth to funnel the same skills and strategies to all of our young girls.

The time was right. Dave York did a fabulous job last year as vice president, but his daughter was aged out, and I said I would take on the job. Along with Mike Aubel at the majors level, and myself at the minors level, we have a strong fundamental skills based philosophy that should benefit our girls long into their careers at the school level.

The decision to move into playing towns in Broome County started at the end of last season. We have always played all-star tournaments in the Broome County area, Vestal, UE and Kirkwood. They have rules that are more progressive and closer related to the rules that the girls need to know when they come to modified.

Owego plays schools like Vestal, Johnson City, Windsor, Binghamton and Maine Endwell throughout the school softball season. It just made sense to take our program into that competition. We are STAC, we play STAC schools, and the Tioga County schools are IAC.

As we prepare to kick off the 2017 season, we did hold winter sessions every Sunday in March. We had between 20 to 30 girls each Sunday, and were able to go over the fundamentals of throwing, catching and base running. We have three minors’ teams and two majors teams, plus a teener team that competes against all Broome County teams as well.

As for my vision of Owego girls’ softball, bringing the fun back into softball is a priority. Moving the game along faster and keeping team numbers small is a secondary priority. We will continue to hold clinics, partnering with the Varsity Softball coach at Owego, Kerri Lavender.

I would also like to get girls in kindergarten through second grade into softball as well. The earlier we can get a softball in their hands, the better we will be in the long run. I would like to have a tee ball / coach pitch division for the girls at this age. My youngest daughter is in kindergarten, so I am in it for the long haul. 

I do want to somehow put a big thank you out to Owego Little League President Scott Rollison. He has been very welcoming to me, and the most supportive. He supports my vision, and is excited to see where the girls can go in the youth program. Hopefully we can bring home some championships to Owego in the very near future.