OTTO - The Loews: A fastpitch softball family

June 11, 2009

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The Loews: A fastpitch softball family

By Bob Otto / Freelance Writer

RICE LAKE, WI – If you’re looking for the Loew family, they won’t be
too hard to find. Just swing by Tate Park or the high school softball
field and one, two, or perhaps all six boys and their dad can be
found pitching, catching, or hitting a softball.

And only fastpitch style. You won’t catch this clan playing slowpitch.

Gary Loew - the father of Travis, 32, Tristan, 30, Mike, 22, Mark,
20, Max, 17, and Morgan 15 – proudly states: “We are a fastpitch
softball family.”

This family of athletes, love, live, and breathe fastpitch softball
in this town of 8,320 in the northwest part of Wisconsin. A state
revered for it’s legacy in men’s and boy’s fastpitch softball.

And the boys have dad and their mother Debbie along with the Rice
Lake – Cameron Boy’s Fastpitch Softball League to thank for launching
and nurturing their fastpitch careers.

Gary Loew began playing in the boy’s league when he was 9. But he
figured that was a bit late to start his boys in the sport. So he
launched their careers at the tender ages of 3, 4, and 5. And for 26
years, Gary has coached his boys and hundreds of others in the league.

Currently he has 15-year-old Morgan pitching for his Red’s team that
Morgan says carries a 3-1 record in the early going.

“If it wasn’t for my dad or the league, I would have to look for
somewhere else to pitch,” Morgan said. “With my older brothers
playing, I have shoes to fill. I’m lucky to have a brother like Max
to work with me.”

Learning to pitch hasn’t come easy, Morgan said. It’s hard work,
takes lots of practice and time, with so much to learn and absorb.
He’s got the fastball and change up under control, and now has
focused on making the rise ball hop and the drop ball sink.

Always watching and always coaching are dad and Max. “They started me
the right way learning the pitching mechanics and Max works with me
on my pitches,” Morgan said.

Mark might only be 20 years old, but he’s a veteran of the sport
having played 12 years in the boy’s league and the past six mixing it
up with the men. Last season, Mark and Max played for the Rice Lake
Orangemen. But this year the brothers form the battery for the Rivers
Edge team.

They still play some weekend tournaments for the Orangemen, but for
now it’s just Mark and Max teaming up with some boyhood friends.

“Just about all the guys on our team started in the boy’s league,”
Mark said. “We have players from 17 to 24 with one guy in his 40s.”

While most baseball players shun softball and think of it as only a
“girl’s game,” Mark said the sport did him wonders in developing as a
Rice Lake High School baseball player. He had never played baseball
until his junior year. He went out for the team and anchored third
base and the outfield. In his senior year he carried about a .400
average. The adjustment from fastpitch to baseball was easy, he said.

“In fastpitch your bat speed has to be so much quicker and in
fielding you have much less time to react to the ball,” Mark said.
“Playing fastpitch made the transition a lot easier, but I like
fastpitch better; it’s a much quicker game, a constant up tempo game.”

Next weekend, Mark and Max will either lead their own team into the
29th annual Rice Lake Invitational Tournament, or suit up for the
Orangemen. And dad, Debbie, and Morgan will be at the ball diamond
watching them play. It’s a ritual Gary has enjoyed over the years.

“One time we had five sons playing in the tournament,” Gary said. And
at the ripe old age of 15, Max made his debut in the tourney. “Teams
couldn’t believe he was only 15,” Gary said. And while he was still
playing in the boy’s league and tournaments, Max tossed no hitters in
the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) 10-Under and 12-Under national
tournaments.

“He is pretty devoted to the game,” Gary said.

And so is Gary. “In the history of the boy’s league that started in
1958, Gary is the best coach I’ve ever come across,” said Ronn Kopp,
the city’s Park and Recreation Director, and the man many point to
for the continued success of the boy’s and men’s fastpitch leagues in
Rice Lake. “He can spot the slightest thing and get it squared away.
The kids believe in him.”

With so many of his sons playing fastpitch it was bound to happen
that Gary would eventually coach against one of his boys.

“We have had some sibling rivalries,” Gary said with a chuckle.
“There was one game where I was coaching and Mark hit a walk off home
run off his brother Mike.”

Over the 35 years in the sport, Gary has many fond memories of the
sport. Sure there have been lots of wins and championships. And the
house is filled with trophies the boys have won. But what he
remembers most is the kids themselves and the fun they had playing
the sport he loves to teach them.

“We had one boy who didn’t get a hit all year,” Gary said. “But he
got his first hit in the playoffs. It was like Christmas for him. It
was a cherishing moment that I’ll never forget.”

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