This year, the Woodland Softball Team is accompanied by a new coach, Coach Christopher Decker. Coach Decker just started coaching the softball team and so far his season is going great. Decker also helps coach the JV team and his goal is to help the underclassmen grow and create the future of Woodland Softball.

“What I am hoping to do is help those new to the program get adjusted to the high school team and develop their skills so that they are ready for Coach Luddy in the varsity team in the future years,” said Decker.

This is Decker’s first experience with coaching softball, but he has coached baseball in the past. He used to play baseball when he was in high school and also played in a travel league. Although he does not have any experience with softball, he worked for ESPN and covered the Olympics and NFL.

In August of 2022, head softball Coach Loren Luddy was diagnosed with breast cancer. When Decker found out about this, he wanted to help in any way that he could so he offered to help coach. Decker did not know what to expect with her cancer, if she was going to be able to coach or not. Luckily, Coach Luddy is now in good health and coaches wonderfully. Decker still helps out with the team but not as much as he thought he would have to.

“When Coach Luddy was diagnosed with cancer, I was nervous that she would not be okay before the season,” said Decker. “As it turns out, she is Superwoman and does not need any help but at the time it was my duty to try and help her out”.

All things aside, the Woodland Softball Team is doing great this season so far. Their regular season just recently ended and they went undefeated. Decker believes that the team is on the road to states and the team deserves that win just like last season.