A new sanctioned sport is about to throw out its first pitch in Aberdeen.

Aberdeen Central has added a softball program for the first time in school history. It coincides with the first time that the sport has been sanctioned by the South Dakota High School Activities Association. Aberdeen will host the first ever state sanctioned tournament later this spring.

While the sport will be new to the Golden Eagles, it will not be anything out of the ordinary for coach Cassidy Schaar, who was a volunteer assistant at Northern State University before spending the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Presentation College. Schaar says the previous softball coaching experience has helped her to see what it takes to be a head coach.

“Nothing could have prepared me more by seeing the game from a different lens and opening my eyes to the game from a coaching role,” Schaar said.

Schaar has been involved in getting the sport of softball implemented at Aberdeen Central.

While it has been a multi-year process, Schaar said it has also been an exciting time for both her and the school.

“It’s been an absolute awesome experience just seeing everything (from) about the last two years going into it, from being part of the steering committee to being named the first-ever head coach, to just all the planning and all the logistics,” Scharr said, “and getting to work together with all the other programs at Aberdeen Central has been absolutely awesome.”

Schaar also noted that there’s been a lot of support that has helped get the program off the ground.

“There’s been a lot of people that look out for us and kind of guided us in the right direction, while making sure we make it as special as we can for girls that want to play softball,” Schaar said. “So, it’s been very, very cool just seeing it all come together in our outstanding turnout we had at tryouts.”

When talking about tryouts, Schaar said the team was fortunate to see many girls interested in playing softball, although not everyone could make the team.

“We were so fortunate to be in the position to have 48 kids show up to tryouts,” Schaar said. “Unfortunately, we can only have so many of them, so that was a very tough day in both of our coaching careers to have to make those decisions.”

Despite the heart-wrenching decision to cut girls from the team, Schaar says she is looking forward to many girls coming back next year, as well as building the sub-varsity programs in the future.

“So right now, we just have a varsity and a JV program,” Schaar said. “Across the state, I know they expect the sport to grow like crazy, just like it has across the country. So, getting that middle school program is our ultimate goal within these next few years, but that is something we’ve gotta work towards and continue to see the growth to support that.”

The beginning of the season has already been impacted. Several games have already been postponed or canceled due to weather or lack of participation across the state. Central was set to host Watertown in its softball debut this past Saturday. However, that game was canceled due to the wintry landscape that still sits across much of the state. Now, Central’s home opening games are set for Saturday at the Presentation College Dome. The Eagles are scheduled to play Pierre at 9 a.m., and Watertown around 1 p.m.

Schaar is not focused on one particular opponent. Instead, she is focused on seeing the talent that South Dakota has to offer in the sport of softball.

“I’m just looking forward to seeing all the different talent out there and exposing these girls to the different softball talent across the state,” Schaar said. “We really don’t have a whole lot of idea what to expect, but I am very confident that the athletes we have are gonna give everyone a run for their money.”

The Golden Eagles have been hard at work during tryouts and the first days of practice. Schaar said she sees a diverse and athletic group of girls heading into the season.

“We’ve been doing a lot of pitching and catching here. We just wrapped up tryouts with those two things and we have quite a bit of pitching,” Schaar said. “We’re working on some of those specialty pitches, but we have hitters that are hitting absolute tanks and really working hard on hitting the ball hard and working on the little things. We have some fast girls and we have a really diverse lineup, which is exactly what you want in softball.”

Schaar says there are still many unknowns in regards to who could stand out for Aberdeen Central, but noted that there will be some talent to keep an eye on this season.

“I would expect to see someone come out of the ductworks, so in all fairness I don’t know if I really want to name names right now,” Schaar said. “But I expect someone to really surprise us, and be on the lookout for some really good talent coming out of Aberdeen Central.”