DUVALL – If you didn’t make the varsity team at Cedarcrest High School this year, you’re out of luck. For the first time ever, the turnout for girls’ fastpitch softball was small enough that a junior-varsity team could not be fielded.

“We had a really, really low turnout,” coach Mandy Johnson said. “We only had enough kids for a varsity team.”

Johnson said participation has been declining for a while, but this is the first time the decline has had such a dramatic effect on the softball program.

“This is the first year there has been absolutely not enough (girls) for a junior varsity team. It’s pretty sad,” she said.

Johnson said that her newcomers are usually inexperienced.

“If they don’t play Little League, and there’s no where to play in junior high, then I get a lot of beginners,” she said. However, next year is supposed to bring in more softball players from Little League and the amateur Softball Association.

Despite the low turnout and lack of experience, Johnson is still looking forward to the return of her core players, which consist of Katelyn Schnaidle at third base, Dorothy Westermann at second base and pitcher, Emily Anderson at first base, Whitney Short playing catcher, Stacey Lousberg and Christine Harder in the outfield and Danielle Brittain as pitcher. Kora Jensen will play shortstop.