By Jacob Mayer
After 27 years as the leader of the Pinckneyville Lady Panthers softball team, Greg Hale is retiring.
Hale said he felt now was a good time to step down because of the talented players currently in the program. Next year the team will have nine seniors and a group of freshmen that has a lot of talent, he said.
Mike Cheek, who has been an assistant coach for Hale the past two years, will take over as the head coach. Hale said this was a good time to change leadership, and his retirement was best for the program at this time.
“I could have coached, but it would have been selfish on my part,” Hale said.
Hale said he would continue to be around the team to help, if needed, but is moving on to other opportunities. Starting July 1, he will serve as the interim executive director for the Southern Illinois Junior High School Athletic Association.
During his time as softball coach, Hale’s teams made nine trips to the state tournament with 20 conference titles and 17 regional titles.
Hale’s first year with the team was 1984, as the softball program was just getting started.
“Back then not everyone had a pitcher,” he said. “If you had a pitcher, you were one of the elite teams.”
With Hale’s guidance, the program continued to grow and made it to the state tournament for the first time in school history in 1987. Hale said that team really put the program on the map.
“We’d never done that before in school history, so it was a big deal,” he said.
Also, in 1990, the team made its first appearance in the state tournament championship game. Hale said he has fond memories of that team, and five or six players went on to play softball at the collegiate level.

Since those seasons, Hale said high school softball has evolved. Today there are better facilities and better technology in the bats and balls that are used.
The Lady Panthers broke seven school records this season alone, including Taylor Cicardi, who hit seven home runs, tying the record set by Jennifer (Thompson) Hagel in 1987.
Hale said the game has changed, but so have things surrounding the game.
“It is much more competitive today,” Hale said. “Everyone has a pitching instructor and a hitting instructor.”
In 2005 the Lady Panthers softball field was named for him.
Hale said he will miss the time he was able to spend with the team, particularly at games, but he will now have more time to spend with his family. However, softball will always remain a part of who he is.
“It’s been a part of my life for 27 years,” Hale said.
Hale said retirement will give him the opportunity to watch his sons play and coach. His younger son, Garrick, plays baseball at Kaskaskia Community College, and his older son, Brian, helped his father coach the Lady Panthers the past two seasons.
Overall, Hale said being able to see what his players went on to do in their lives was very rewarding.
“The most enjoyment I had was helping kids go on to college,” he said. “Hopefully we helped them. We try to do things that make kids better players and better people.”