H.S. SOFTBALL: Shade becomes Schuylkill League’s all-time winningest coach in Tri-Valley win

HEGINS — It was a moment 36 years and 712 games in the making.

On Monday afternoon, Tri-Valley coach Marty Shade picked up career win 547, making him the winningest coach in Schuylkill League history. Shade with the win surpassing Ken Schneck.

The legendary Minersville coach who won 546 games over 26 seasons and six state championships.

While Shade admittedly was proud of his accomplishment, his first thoughts after the game weren’t about himself but instead were about remembering Schneck.

Schneck passed away in 2011 at 74.

“It makes me think of Kenny a lot,” Shade said to a small group of assembled media. “When I first started coaching, Kenny wasn’t the most liked coach in the league because he beat everybody all the time. But for some reason, he and I hit it off right away.”

“I always talked to him all the time, and I have so much respect for him. His winning percentage and six state titles speak for themselves. He was an all-around good guy.”

Their friendship went well beyond the field, and Shade often paid visits to Schneck towards the end of his life at Tremont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

“When I visit my mom, I always go visit Kenny,” he said. “I always make him laugh. He always liked it when I brought his teams up.”

It’s fitting as a coach who’s given almost four decades of his life to local athletes that he’d immediately be thinking of others.

When it comes to his accomplishment, Shade is grateful

“As for me, I’m proud of myself,” he said. “I’d like to thank God for letting me do this for so long.”

“I’d like to thank the school board and the administration for hiring me every year. I just like to coach. I’m just a coach who likes to coach. I still enjoy it…I like the competitiveness.”

Despite a final score of 13-5, Tri-Valley had to earn every bit of Shade’s record-breaking victory as the Marian Fillies battled to the end.

“Tonight, I’ve got to give Marion a lot of credit. Girls can swing the bats. They can hit. They gave us all we could handle for a while there,” he said.

After Marian started the game by taking a 1-0 lead in the first, the Bulldogs’ bats quickly answered back in the bottom of the inning.

Tri-Valley struck three times in the first and four times in the second to lead 7-1 after two frames.

Starting pitcher Mya Schwalm was the highlight of the quick start with a pair of hits and two RBIs on a day in which she was 3-for-4 at the plate, including a home run and four RBI.

The Fillies struck back for one in the third and four in the fourth, narrowing the deficit to 7-5, but a pair of three-run innings, including a fifth inning that saw Schwalm and Lydia Rodichock go back-to-back, put the game out of Marian’s reach.

The Fillies scratched across a run in the sixth and threatened for more in the seventh, but were unable to narrow the deficit.