Wednesday, May 03, 2000

When the Fairland Lady Dragons beat Peebles 3-1 last Saturday in the Northwest Mohawk Classic, it marked career win No. 200 in his 14-year career.

Bailey wasn’t even aware of the milestone until his assistant coach Don Pruitt brought it to his attention.

And Bailey just shrugged.

"All I’m concerned about are the players. The girls are the ones who get the recognition. I just want them to win OVC championships and get to the district (tournament)," said Bailey.

"I always tell the girls that I’ve never won a game. They’re the ones who play. I only keep track because we have to turn in our record into the district each year. This year I’ve just got a good group of kids."

Winning OVC championships began early. Bailey guided Fairland to the first league softball championship in 1985.

Bailey’s teams have won six OVC titles, two of those shared, and the Lady Dragons also won two league titles while he took a three-year sabbatical to watch his son Jared play baseball for the Dragons.

The only coach to win more OVC championships is South Point’s Jan Keatley who has 10 league crowns, six outright.

In fact, Keatley and Bailey have had two of the most dominant softball programs not only in the league, but in the area as well.

While Bailey is currently 202-81 in 14 seasons including 12-4 this season, Keatley has won more than 300 games during her 23 seasons.

But Bailey noted that the gap in the league is closing. Chesapeake has won one title outright and tied for another crown in the past few seasons.

"The league has become very competitive the past five years. It used to be just us and South Point. But now Chesapeake has a strong program and Rock Hill is improved. Now Coal Grove is starting up a team. It’s getting tougher each year," said Bailey.

One of Bailey’s former players is Carrie Hinkle, now an assistant coach for the Lady Dragons. Hinkle played for Fairland when Bailey won his 100th game.

"Carrie was a good player for us. She went on to play at Marshall, and she’s been a nice addition to our team as a coach," said Bailey.

Another assistant for the Lady Dragons was Doug Curry who served under Bailey for 12 years, and Don Pruitt who has been an assistant from since 1994.

"You’ve got to have good help, and I’ve been fortunate over the years to have good assistant coaches," said Bailey. "And looking back to the ’80s and early ’90s, you have to credit the senior league program for getting the kids prepared to play.

"Recently things have shifted more to ASA where there’s better competition and it makes them better players."

Last summer, 10 players on Fairland’s roster played on ASA teams.

Although not coaching from 1993-95 to watch his son might have cost Bailey a few more wins, he said he doesn’t regret it for one second.

"I’m a father first and there comes a time when you have to give up something you enjoy in order to do something that’s important. I was glad I was there to see him play. I never would have wanted to miss that," said Bailey.

Having a career span so many years, Bailey said it’s hard to remember every game. He said that glancing back through past scorebooks helps jog his memory.

"I playing Ironton in a tournament at South Point. I remember it was cold. I went back and looked at my scorebook and saw where I wrote down that the game ended at 1 a.m.," said Bailey. "It’s funny how you write things like that down and and when you go back and read it that it all comes back to you."

And it seems like winning just keeps coming back, too.