A family affair

For some people, softball is a sport. For Shadle Park coach George Lynn and his family, softball is life.

The first year Shadle Park qualified for a state softball tournament there was a Lynn in the lineup. In subsequent Highlanders trips there have been two more, both of them coached by their father.

But the game goes beyond high school for George, his wife Karen and daughters Kirsten, Ashley and, currently, Danielle.

Since he took over the Spokane Sliders select team in 1995, softball is a year-round obsession entailing hours of practice and tons of travel.

“I love it,” said Karen, the family arbiter who became involved as the teams’ scorekeeper. “Some might find it disturbing and sometimes it’s difficult to sleep on another hard hotel bed. But there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

Kirsten, a Shadle Park assistant coach, was the designated hitter as a junior when the Highlanders made their first state appearance in 1998, under coach Teresa Hansen, and second baseman the next year when they again qualified for the end-of-season tournament.

There has been a Lynn involved in some fashion at Shadle Park ever since.

George became the Highlanders assistant for coach Janie Vandeburg, who replaced Hansen in 1999. Vandeburg stepped down after a second trip to state and Lynn took over, all the while maintaining his ties to his summer club.

Middle daughter Ashley took the game to a higher level, although volleyball was her initial love. She started in the infield, playing alongside Kirsten as a freshman and made three state trips.

“We fought like sisters, but never on the field,” Kirsten said. “I’m very, very proud of her.”

Ashley, a four-time All-GSL first-team selection, then played at Wichita State, finishing her career in 2006 on innumerable career hitting-records lists.

Youngest sister Danielle, a sophomore star with the Highlanders, aspires to emulate her older sibling.

“What makes me have a passion for softball was seeing Ashley be as successful as she was,” said Danielle.

She’s been up to the task. In two GSL seasons, Danielle is a .550 hitter and this year drove in a league-leading 48 runs. She also was among the leaders in most other offensive categories.

So how did George Lynn as coach and this family softball dynamic come about?

Kirsten was the start of it all, joining the Sliders at age 13.

“I’d always played Spokane Youth Sports Association softball,” she said. “We talked about getting into something more competitive. There was one position open on the Sliders at the time.”

She made the team and things went from there. When Spokane Sliders coach Larry Decker gave up the program, said George, “he wanted to know if I’d take it over. I thought, ‘why not?’ I didn’t really know it was going to amount to this.”

He and Don Owen, longtime wrestling and softball coach (both as head and assistant) at University, initially worked together. George credits him as an early mentor.

Owen said George, “hadn’t coached much and I’d been at the high school almost 10 years. But he had what it takes to be a good coach – a strong personality and work ethic.”

A “spanking” in a tournament against a team from California, Lynn said, opened his eyes about the nature of fast pitch softball.

“I learned about quickness, power offense and defense. It was more about a style of play,” George said. “From that point on I had an idea of what I wanted.”

After at first “winging it,” he met Tony Murray, who moved here from California and brought with him not only expertise but also a hard-throwing, soon-to-be Shadle pitcher, his daughter Jessica.

“He assured me that Spokane could compete with the rest of the country,” said George. “After his words of wisdom, I never looked back. Our quest for greatness began.”

As George became consumed, softball in the Lynn family took on a life of its own.

“He loves it and is a perfectionist,” Karen said. “He’s probably the hardest working and most driven person I’ve known.”

The Sliders went from being that 14-U select team hoping to win a regional game to an annual national qualifier beginning in 2000, and to playing 18-U Gold, the highest Amateur Softball Association youth level, this year.

Shadle is making its seventh state appearance this week – sixth since George became involved. The Highlanders placed fourth in 2005 and second last year.

Danielle was age 2 and a fixture around softball concession stands when this all began. She made the Sliders 12-U team, she said, when she was age 8 or 9.

“Me, Sam Skillingstad and China Frost (current Shadle teammates) came to tryouts at the same time,” Danielle said. “We’ve been Slider sisters ever since.”

Coaching high school ball and off-season preparation of players for the Sliders summer team can create the perception of conflict. In March 2005, Lynn sat out a suspension for violating a WIAA rule that prohibits out-of-season contact with his high school players. Two current Highlanders and Sliders transferred from other high schools.

But there’s no denying the results of Lynn’s hard work.

Softball in the Lynns’ world is both competitive sport, a quest to find players college scholarships and family vacations rolled into one. The Sliders have been to at least 11 states for tournaments and college coaching showcases over the years.

After finishing up Shadle Park’s season in Tacoma, this summer, said George, the Sliders will play eight tournaments, including a nine-day stay in Colorado.

“I never traveled when I was a kid,” said Karen, a secretary at Finch Elementary. “We went to Florida last fall and it was just awesome. There’s nothing better than playing in Kentucky in August when it’s 115 degrees and 100 percent humidity. I love it when kids make friendships that last a lifetime.”

Danielle said she has never had a free summer but doesn’t mind. “Softball is basically my life,” she said.

A family’s life. Kirsten’s husband Kevin Flerchinger, she said, may not have known what he was getting into when they married, but is now involved.

Ashley, living in California and planning to become an air lines flight attendant, is engaged to an Easton bat representative she met at a tournament when he was coaching an opposing traveling team.

People have speculated that George will cease coaching when Danielle is through in two more years, said his wife. But Kirsten has two young daughters, ages 3 and 1, so the odds are he won’t be finished soon.

“Everything has a challenge and this has been a challenge,” said George, a native of New Jersey and Senior Master Sergeant with the Air National Guard, who found his wife and life in Spokane via the military.

“I’ve had tremendous support from my wife and family,” he said. “I ask myself if I’d have done anything different and the answer is I wouldn’t. We’ll continue to strive to be the best we can be and when we don’t that’s the time for me to get out of the sport.”