Frank Degele was set to come back for a 45th year as coach at Pahoa, but he won’t have the chance. ADVERTISING Frank Degele was set to come back for a 45th year as coach at Pahoa, but he won’t
Frank Degele was set to come back for a 45th year as coach at Pahoa, but he won’t have the chance.
The Daggers are dropping their softball program, for a season, athletic director Hoku Fernandez said, citing a lack of participation.
“The commitment was a struggle for a lot of the girls,” Fernandez said. “We won’t have a team this season, but we are building for the future.”
Degele has been a fixture in Daggers’ dugouts for more than 40 years. He coached the baseball team for 33 years, until the program was dropped, and he coached softball the past 11.
Pahoa had a nice run of success after Degele took over, reaching the HHSAA Division II tournament three consecutive years from 2007-09.
But numbers have waned in recent years.
In 2015, with the threat of the lava flow forcing students to attend Keaau High, Pahoa had to forfeit a handful of BIIF contests. Last season, Pahoa played some games with as few as nine or 10 players.
“There are a lot of challenges,” Fernandez said, “but also many opportunities to be successful.”
Pahoa’s withdrawal means the six remaining teams in Division II as well as four in D-I will play a nine-game round-robin schedule. The season starts next week.
