The newly reborn softball program has appointed their coach of the future.
Steven Beachler has been hired to lead them into their first year back after a 21-year absence.
Beachler, a former Sinclair graduate, said the chance to get to coach at his alma mater was a chance he could not pass up.
“I was elated,” Beachler said. “I was very humbled to have the opportunity to coach here. This is probably the only job I would take because I graduated from Sinclair and this is like home to me.”
Sinclair’s new coach has been a women’s softball coach for the past 23 years, most recently as a varsity assistant at Miamisburg High School.
Throughout his life, Beachler has been a man of many hats.
During the day, Beachler works in the Montgomery County engineer’s office as the county surveyor.
In addition, Beachler recently retired from his role as a part-time firefighter for the Miamisburg Fire Department, a role that he performed for the past 35 years. He is also a member of Ohio Task Force One, one of 28 FEMA search and rescue units stationed in the U.S.
As the new head coach, he said that he has a long-list of tasks that are facing him before their scrimmages start in fall. Of those appointed tasks, his biggest challenge is getting the team together.
“I think the [biggest] challenge is getting a team put together in such a short amount of time,” Beachler said. “We’re looking at about eight players right now that we’re in the process of signing, which will give us a good core group of players. I think the amount of interest [in the program] is very high, so we shouldn’t have any trouble filling the roster.”
Their out of conference schedule has not been determined yet but is another focus of the first-year head coach.
By his projections, the team will play a total 30 games of which a dozen will be conference games against Cuyahoga, Lakeland and Owens Community Colleges.
Beachler said that he would like to win 75 percent of their conference games in the upcoming year to give his team the best shot at winning a conference title.
“I would like to take three out of four from each team,” Beachler said. “I would love to make it to the regional tournament.”
Another goal of Beachler’s is that all of his players leave Sinclair with a degree in their back pocket.
“I want all of my players to graduate,” Beachler said. “That’s what you’re here for—an education. We’re going to stress that to our team.”
Beachler said that he has seen the game of softball change tremendously and he knows there are a lot of high quality players out there that will fill the Sinclair roster for years to come.
“We have many young women in the area who are talented fast pitch softball players,” Beachler said. “With this talent we plan to put a team together that is competitive and fun to watch.”