WINSLOW, Maine — Beth LaFountain, a graduate of Winslow High School, has worked her way up to become the school's varsity baseball team's head coach. LaFountain, a former softball player at the high school, is believed to be the first female baseball coach in Maine.
In the past four years, the baseball team at Winslow High School has gone through four coaches. LaFountain has stepped up to the plate to fill in a void.
LaFountain coaches the junior varsity and varsity teams every day after school.
"I went all the way up through little league, junior high, high school, graduated in 2004, started coaching pitching in 2005, eventually went to Thomas College as an assistant coach about four years ago, which I still am," LaFountain said.
"I've been a softball coach up to this point," LaFountain said. "When I tell people that I'm a baseball coach, a lot of the times they correct me. They say, 'You mean softball?' And I say, 'No, baseball.'"
LaFountain is working hard with the team to bring back consistency and pride.
"Just [working to] bring the excitement for baseball back and kind of grow everyone's passion, especially in the younger levels," the coach said.
Students who play for her say she's the coach and guidance they all needed and were striving for.
"She absolutely brings the best out of me. I love playing for her,' Joe Pfingst, a senior at the school, said. "She gives me the attitude and advice I need to keep going and be positive about playing baseball,"
"She really wants you to get the right form and everything. And if not, she'll help you break it down, and she'll go through it with you and over and over until you get it right," David Doughty, a sophomore at the school, said.
"She definitely cracks jokes and gets along with us well, but we definitely know when she is being serious and when it's time to be serious and get focused and get in the game, because just like any other coach you don't want to see her mad," Tyler Brockway, a senior student, said.
LaFountain said she hopes to be a full-time hire for the team and wants more students to get involved and excited about the sport in the school.
"Baseball to me being a game of failures," LaFountain said. "[It] really gives me an opportunity to teach young athletes how to deal with failure, how to hold yourself accountable, how to be supportive and get through adversity together and just kind of prepare them for life."