Sue Jones gets softball fields named after her at AIM High Park
Jul. 19—Local legend Sue Jones was honored during closing ceremonies for the Logansport Girls Softball Group on Monday at Julian Ridlen AIM High Park.
The four lower softball fields at the complex will be named the Sue Jones Cloverleaf Fields. Jones, 95, will also be honored in the next few weeks when the monument for the newly named fields is finished.
"It makes me cry," Jones said shortly following the ceremony. "It's embarrassing because when you teach and coach, you're not thinking what's going to happen in the future. You're doing it because you love it and you love the people you work with. And it's all for the kids. And this turnout for girls softball that they've got out here is tremendous. It's the best thing that I could ever see happening in Logansport.
"You don't coach those kids because you have to. You do it because you love it. They benefit and so do you."
One of Jones' former players, Laura Bailey, spoke during the ceremony.
"There really aren't enough words to explain all that Sue Jones has done to promote and impact girls sports in Cass County and Indiana," Bailey said. "It started as a girl who wanted to play ball. Her dad worked with her and she got better and better and brought a lot of talented friends with her. Flash forward 30 or 40 years and my parents were watching her play down at Riverside Park. Her games got a lot more viewers than the guys' games did.
"She was in business for awhile for her career and then she went into teaching. From that point on she spent the whole time being a role model as an athlete, as a coach, as a teacher, fighting tooth and nail for every game the GAA got, for every little program that was available for girls until there actually became girls sports. And what you have now is because of what she did."
Jones began her softball career at age 13 in 1941. She graduated from LHS in 1946, well before the IHSAA's first-ever softball tournament in 1985. When she was hired by the Logansport school system in 1964, all the girls had was the GAA.
She recalled in a previous Pharos-Tribune article that Logansport won back-to-back fastpitch state championships in 1939 and 1940 which sparked her interest. The pitcher on those teams, Marilyn Burns, taught her how to pitch in the alley behind Burns' house on Front Street. Burns was a whirlwind pitcher and would wind up to three rotations and you never knew which rotation she would let loose with the ball. Jones tried that delivery but could never master it. But she did master the slingshot delivery.
Jones went on to play at an elite level as one of the best pitchers in Indiana for 31 years. She played her last competitive game in 1984. In 1978 she was one of the first three women to be inducted into the Indiana Fastpitch Softball Hall of Fame.
Bailey asked those in the audience how many had been coached by Jones. Several women raised their hands.
"She wanted to make sure that everybody had fun," Bailey said. "It was great to win, it was great to play well. But she wanted everyone to enjoy what they were doing. But to have sportsmanship and to understand the honor of participating in girls sports as you represent your coach, your teacher, your school, your sponsor, your family, it was always good fun and sportsmanship."
Mayor Chris Martin proclaimed that Monday, July 17, 2023 was Sue Jones Day.
Brent Kepner, vice president of the Logansport Girls Softball Group, also spoke during the ceremony.
"These girls wouldn't be playing here if it wasn't for Sue. She's literally a pioneer in girls sports," Kepner said. "Just the experience of being around her, I took my girls team after a game one night, we went and visited Sue up at the Neal Home where she lives. They got to ask her questions and they were fascinated by her. She was kind of fascinated by them because of how the game's changed and the $600 bats the girls have. The girls enjoyed it, she enjoyed it, it was just kind of a bridging of the generations. They understood after we walked out of there that she's part of the reason that softball for girls is where it's at now."
Kepner said in his opinion Jones is the greatest of all-time from Logansport.
"I would say yes. I don't know anybody else that's done the things that she's done. To be inducted into the Fastpitch Hall of Fame, that's an honor, not just everybody gets that. The following year her catcher [Annie Savini] did get inducted into it. They were the only pitcher-catcher combo if I remember her telling me to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. She's a character, she's a jewel. She's 95 years old and sharp as a tack.
"We swapped a lot of softball stories because I played myself for 48 years now. We swapped a lot of softball stories. She's a very humble person, she doesn't like to boast about stuff. She loved being a mentor to people, helping kids, helping girls. She's just a great person."
Kepner, 62, added this was his final year of coaching after 30 years in softball and baseball. He won his final game as Kep's won the 12U league title with an undefeated record.
The Logansport Girls Softball Group consisted of four 8U teams, five 12U teams and one 15U team this year.
"It's kind of been up and down," Kepner said. "That's why we're trying to get more people involved, more of the younger 8U parents and stuff, we're trying to get them involved in the board. There for a while it was like rec sports are kind of breaking up. Now we've got a nice place to play. We've played out here for several years. It used to be at Tower Park, then we moved to Melbourne Park, then we merged the 8U teams that was called the Cherub League, they played over at Melbourne Park and we brought them over here a couple years ago and technically merged the leagues together. That way the younger girls could see the older girls play and it kind of inspired them to continue to play."
Trophies for the Joe Krathwohl award for mental attitude and the Sue Jones award for ability, sportsmanship and desire were handed out for each team. League champions were honored with rings.
The inaugural Big Rey-Sue Jones All-Star game was held following the ceremony consisting of the 12U league players.
The Red team defeated the Black team 9-8. Chloe Wicker had a double, single and RBI for the Red team. Sophie Conrad had a double and Grace Cobb, Annika Townsend, Kali Messer and Brooklyn Drummond all had base hits.
Aliyah Quintero, Maddy Munoz, Laney Azpeitia and Mackinley Herr each had base hits for the Black team.
Another highlight of the night was the Logansport 10U All-Star team was honored for winning a Town & Country state championship. Aryan Smith was selected as the tournament MVP.
It was also announced that Jazmin Padilla made the USSSA 2023 All-American Games 10U team. A total of 1,700 girls tried out for the teams at 22 different sites in the US. The games will be held July 31-Aug. 5 in Viera, Florida.
Padilla is a 9-year-old catcher who had the game-winning hit in the Logan 10U team's 8-7 win over Oak Hill in the state championship game. Padilla made the All-American team from a tryout in West Lafayette.
Kepner added the league is thankful to be able to play on the AIM High Fields. There are new bleachers, signs and other improvements at the fields. Kepner also thanked Judge Stephen Roger Kitts II for his role in the league playing at the county-owned fields. Kepner also thanked Deb Waggoner, who is now in charge of the park's improvements. Kepner is hoping the park will have lights and scoreboards soon.
"They need some attention," he said. "There's things over the years and that's because when we've leased them over the years sometimes we just don't have the funds to put back in it. But now that it's a county park, they understand that there's some tweaking that needs to be done. They've got a good vision for it. I don't know exactly what they're going to do. I know they had a consulting firm that came out and looked at it and gave us ideas. We haven't seen the report what they think needs to be done to the fields and how they can use it to draw more people into the community."
