Girls’ softball is back at BE

After a two-year hiatus, the Bishop England High School softball program is back in business.

 

The new coach, Blair Crocker, is in charge of rebuilding the once-proud program which was shuttered at the end of the 2022 season due to a lack of interest and perhaps by the lingering effects of the COVID-19 era.

 

This year is not about winning and losing. It’s about learning and surviving. As of last Friday, the Bishops had an 0-8 record, as opponents outscored them, 154-12.

 

That’s a far cry from past glory years including 2004, when the program reached its zenith, posting a 32-5 record en route to winning the Class AA state championship.

 

But that was then, and this is now.

 

Some of the players on the 2025 roster didn’t even have a “minute” of softball experience, Crocker said with a laugh.

 

“We are starting from scratch,” said Crocker, who graduated from the University of Alabama in 2016 with a degree in interior design. “Some of the girls never owned a glove or bat before this season. I’m approaching this like I’m coaching little kids’ softball, making it a learning – and positive – experience.”

 

She said the team’s biggest goal is to play all the games on the schedule. She doesn’t want to have to forfeit any games. There have been a couple of times where the Bishops had only nine players available for games.

 

Crocker played high school softball in Virginia and also played for the Richmond Storm travel team. She was named coach of the Bishops two weeks before the season began and promptly hired her parents, Tiffany and Mark Bartholf, and her sister, Brooke Bartholf, as assistants. They, of course, are volunteer coaches.

 

Crocker said her mother attended every game she played during her career and was also in charge of the scorebook.

 

“This (coaching) situation could have been a little too tough because of our team’s inexperience,” Crocker said. “Going in, our position was that we were starting from scratch. Some of the players didn’t know the rules.”

 

Paul Runey was the BE athletic director when the softball program was shut down.

 

“We held meetings to gauge interest, and the interest just wasn’t there like it is in sports like lacrosse, soccer, or volleyball,” Runey recalled. “There were some students who were interested in playing softball. We even talked to them about recruiting their friends to play. But the interest just wasn’t there.”

 

Crocker is married to Bishop England graduate Logan Crocker, who played sports for the Bishops. The couple lives on Daniel Island.

 

Crocker said she was surprised at the state of the BE program and learned about the need for a softball coach at Blondie’s Bagels, where she occasionally works.

 

A co-worker, Catherine Booth, lamented that her daughter Julia wanted to play softball for the Bishops, telling Crocker about the numbers crunch when it came to the roster and the lack of a coach.

 

Crocker listened and wanted to get involved. She knew it would be a struggle at first. 

 

She says her goal is to have a highly competitive team in four or five years.

 

Stay tuned.