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Michelle Breen was born into a family that already had three sons. Later, a fourth brother came along, which made any resistance to sports pointless.

Breen, a recent Springboro High School graduate, said she has had softballs, footballs, baseballs, etc., tossed her way for most of her life. "My choice was to catch them or get hit in the head."

Because of that early attention to athletics, Breen became part of a generation that has revolutionized girls fast-pitch softball from an any-uniform-goes afterthought to an international interest. That growth will be underscored this week when an all-star team from the Miami Valley XPress club softball program — of which Breen is a member — participates in an exhibition event in Beijing, China, promoting the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Such a trip would've seemed ridiculous 20 years ago, when high school softball was still molding into a serious sport. But because of increased sports participation by females and greater interest in softball as it joined the Olympics and was broadcast more on television, players around the country have made it their focus, with travel teams and greater prep attention.

Fathers who previously loved baseball have also helped this meteoric rise by enlisting their daughters in softball, although many involved with the sport feel its attention doesn't match its interest.

"Even on ESPN during the College World Series," Breen said, "they said they didn't know why softball doesn't get the recognition it should. Look at all the girls that play it."

Humble beginnings

Just a few years before Barry Closser started his 30-years-and-counting softball coaching career at Buckeye Local High School in Rayland, Ohio, high school players wore volleyball shirts and jeans as softball uniforms. Closser, the state's active career wins leader, fielded his first fast-pitch team in 1978, even though some high schools in Ohio only had slow-pitch programs.

"There was no money, and sometimes it was hard finding enough girls to make a team," Closser said. "Things have changed, big time."

In 1979, the first year that the National Federation of State High School Associations listed national participation figures, almost 162,000 girls nationwide were playing high school softball. In 2005-06, that number was 369,094.

Those figures, however, don't measure the aesthetic and monetary growth in softball.

"When I started, the field was just atrocious," said Brian Hoehner, the 16-year Bellbrook High School coach who will lead the XPress team in China. "There was a three-foot hole behind the shortstop, and when it rained we couldn't play for three days."

The quality of play has also changed drastically. In the past, most high school teams had at least one skilled pitcher, and the pitching dominated. While teams previously had one or two good hitters, they now each have four or five.

Those who have been around softball also say that the players are now much faster than they were not long ago, as the game has improved exponentially.

"There are some kids who have instincts you can't teach," Hoehner said. "It's really a fun game to watch."

Growing opportunities

The China trip won't be Megan Lee's first international trek to play softball. Two years ago, she played in tournaments in Amsterdam and Paris.

She has also traveled to California, Florida and states all around the country for club teams.

"I've been mostly living out of a suitcase during weekends in the summer," said Lee, a 2006 Centerville graduate who recently finished her freshman season at the University of Dayton.

Lee, like her XPress teammates, has opportunities to play now that girls didn't have just 15 or 20 years ago, those involved with softball said. When Centerville resident Richard Duncan and a group of trustees started the XPress program in the late 1990s to help local players obtain college scholarships, they had trouble finding tournaments in surrounding states, let alone Ohio.

Because of the limited scheduling chances, the XPress scrimmaged college teams, and beat many of them. Now, there are multiple tournaments in the same city during the same weekend, which provide the current teams with many more opportunities to play.

That hectic schedule means the XPress players will head to Indianapolis for a tournament on June 22, the day after they return from Beijing.

Such is the lifestyle of a skilled player in a growing sport.

"I've had some of the best teams around coaching the 18s for the XPress," Hoehner said. "But this is probably the best team I've had. The girls just keep getting better and better."

XPress Roster
Name	High School (Grad year)	College
Faith Amrein	Colerain (2007)	West Virginia State
Lindsay Bodeker	Lakota West ('06)	Akron
Michelle Breen	Springboro ('07)	Univ. of the			Cumberlands
Mindy Breitholle	Fairfield ('06)	Univ. of the			Cumberlands
Kirsten Gersch	Carroll ('07)	DePauw
Amber Gregory	Batavia ('06)	Northern Kentucky
Megan Lee	Centerville ('06)	Dayton
Jessica Locker	Tippecanoe ('06)	Lincoln Memorial
Rachael Shepherd	Lakota West ('07)	Ohio State
Emily Stegeman	Carroll ('07)	Dayton
Christina Stoffer	Hamilton Ross ('07)	Cleveland State

Softball growth
High school fast-pitch softball participation has more than doubled in the past three decades as the sport's popularity has improved worldwide.
Year	Schools	Players
1978-79	6,888	161,962
1988-89	8,474	203,569
1998-99	12,679	340,480
2005-06	14,710	369,094
Source: National
Federation of State High School Associations

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com

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