For 24 years, the Watseka Community High School softball field saw former head coach Barry Bauer lead the Lady Warriors to numerous victories. Now, it will be known going forward as Bauer Field. Watseka dedicated the field's name to Bauer at the end of the annual Porkburger Scrimmage event Friday night.
Bauer, who retired as softball coach and athletic director after last school year, says it is hard to put the moment into words.
"I'm not sure I can come up with the correct words of what I'm feeling. I'm glad it's not Memorial Field. It's just Bauer Field. But it's nice, especially with a lot of the players here tonight. I think we had players here dating all the way back to my first team. So that's kind of nice to see some of those girls that I haven't seen for a while and it's a real testament to Warrior softball because I think when I started, it was only in its third season so Lady Warrior softball came a long way and it's got a bright future."
“I was just thinking about that”, Bauer said when asked about what stood out to him in his 24 years of coaching softball, “A few things popped into my mind. The COVID season was odd. I mean, we didn't get to play. We did some practicing, but we never got to play any games so that kind of stood out a little bit. The 2007 season, we won a regional. My parents were both battling cancer at that time, and that's the last game that they saw me coach was the regional championship so that's always a special one for me. But probably the biggest memory is coaching my three daughters. I got to coach all three of them for four years each and got to spend a lot of time away from home with my daughters and you can never complain about that.”
Bauer added that having the field named after him was something that never really crossed his mind: "I played a lot of fast pitch softball myself and I loved the game, but as far as coaching, my first love was always basketball and still is probably basketball. So I've just been really blessed for 24 years to having the girls and the assistant coaches I had became lifelong friends and really helped me out coaching softball. So no, I never dreamt anything like that."
Bauer finished with 333 career wins as softball head coach. He will still be coaching the Watseka girls’ basketball team in the winter.
