Meadowdale softball coach steps down

Family considerations have prompted Larry Culver to step down as Meadowdale’s softball coach.

Culver, who wrapped up his 10th season as varsity coach last spring, has two granddaughters that play softball.

Because of his commitments to the Mavericks, Culver missed all of their games. One granddaughter is a junior at Bothell High School, while the other is in the seventh grade.

“You look around at all those years,” Culver said. “They’ll be gone soon. I thought I would kind of get involved.”

Culver started pitching with his oldest granddaughter in the seventh grade and has been working with her since then.

Culver was Meadowdale’s junior varsity coach for 10 years prior to assuming the head coaching duties. Culver retired from teaching in 2000 but then returned to work part-time for three years.

His successor has not yet been named but Culver expects whoever takes over will have a strong team coming back.

“I think we have about nine kids with varsity experience,” Culver said. “We have good pitching coming back. We’ve got some good players. We’ve struggled for a couple of years. Last year they were playing pretty well together. We only lost two seniors.

“They’re not going to be starting from scratch.”

Culver won’t be totally out of the softball business. Last summer he started up a U-16 team based out of Bothell and he plans to continue coaching the team this summer.

Meadowdale had several strong teams in the mid-90s soon after Culver took over the varsity squad.

“The early years were kind of nice,” said Culver, who noted Meadowdale advanced to the state tournament in 1995-97. “Those were good times. It’s always nice when you’re doing that.”

The Mavericks have struggled somewhat in recent years, but Culver still enjoyed coaching the players and interacting with the Meadowdale community.

“Even though sometimes, the wins weren’t there, the teams were still fun to be with,” Culver said. “The Meadowdale people are very supportive. The parents are very supportive. I’ve very seldom had problems with parents … I was really appreciative of that. It’s a really great community as far as fastpitch goes.”