About East Cobb Fastpitch
The East Cobb Fastpitch Story
The Seeds Get Planted
Things started to change in
the early 90’s. Greg Schnute and his wife Marge were
moving from Birmingham to Marietta. Having a son,
Brock playing baseball, Schnute also had a daughter Kelly
already playing fastpitch, and a younger sister, Brandi just
beginning to play the sport. Having been active in
Birmingham since 1982 helping coach fastpitch teams, he knew
the sport. His oldest daughter, Kim had played
fastpitch, and Kelly eventually played for JoAnn Graf at
Florida State. Fast pitch is in his blood.
Greg was a three sport athlete in rural Indiana, which he
related as a town where part of the movie “Hoosiers” was
filmed. His exploits included being a three year
letterman, and the centerfielder of the Florida State
Seminoles runners up in the College Baseball World Series in
1970. They lost to Southern California 2-1 in 15
innings in the championship game. He has the
understanding of what it takes for excellence.
Since its birth of the East
Cobb program in 1997, many coaches have entered the program.
Some left but most have stayed, however, the driving force
has been Schnute, as he has persevered through the growing
pains to be the leader. Now there are 11 quality teams
in the East Cobb program. With 33 coaches involved,
this is a growing business and is run with class and
organization. Everything is going in the right
direction. I attended a coaches meeting in January and
it looked like a board meeting of a top 50 company.
According to Rick Jaegle,
coach of the 18U Bullets, “Greg is the glue that holds the
organization together. He is organized, competitive,
knowledgeable, and a sound businessman. He surrounds
himself with good people and is a good leader. He knows
about the time, dedication, organization and finances that
are required to make a successful program happen.”
Although, the organization including players, coaches and
parents involve some 400 people, it seems to have a family
atmosphere. One of the methods to raise money is to
work the concession stands at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta.
The coaches and parents work in a cooperative, bonding
atmosphere.
After two years of promoting the sport in the Cobb County
recreation departments and encouraging folks to consider
fast pitch, things started changing. The concept of
having a fast pitch program similar to the existing baseball
program was put in place. Developing youth
through an organized program.
With the high schools going to fast pitch in Georgia, the
time was right and the right people were involved.
Program Goal: When the program was established in
1997, the goal was to become the premier fast pitch program
east of the Mississippi. There were many individual
teams in the Atlanta area but no organized program that
provided a vehicle to let the girls play consistently at the
highest levels.
The development toward that goal has been swift, planned and
organized. Although, the goal may not have been
attained, the mountains ahead are diminishing. Few, if
any programs, remain ahead of the East Cobb fast pitch
program. The Clearwater Bomber program is still
dominant and he neighboring West Cobb Program is strong but
East Cobb is making great strides to become the premier
program in developing players.
The talent has been developed but not all of it stays in the
East Cobb Program. With many top flight travel
teams in the Atlanta area, competition for talent is keen.
The same is true of the East Cobb teams as well. They
don’t always choose the talent from Cobb County but go as
far away as Florida to pick players to enhance their team.
It’s a competitive sport and the talented players are
looking for the best opportunity to compete and get the best
exposure for the future.
When asked why someone would want to join the East Cobb Fast
Pitch program he made three points:
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Tradition Of Excellence East Cobb Fastpitch |