ABOVE: Sarah Pauly, a professional fastpitch softball athlete, demonstrates the necessary posture and technique for pitching before several participants of the “Advanced Movement” Pitching Mechanics Clinic on Saturday afternoon at the Fairmont High School gymnasium. The program was presented by Rick Pauly and offered through Community Education and Recreation.

FAIRMONT – Rick Pauly and his pitching clinic returned to town last Saturday looking to help further develop the skills of the young women who take the circle for their respective softball teams. Pauly is a storied coach who wants to continue to see the growth of the sport and the development of softball players around the country.

The courses that were developed by Pauly are designed to foster a love of the game and improve upon the skills of the up-and-coming generation of pitchers. Pauly’s background consists of a National Team spot on the coaching staff, ASA Men’s Major Fastpitch All-American selection, and much more.

The clinic has become a family affair with his daughter, former professional softball player Sarah Pauly, often coming along to assist with teaching and giving the girls a way to connect and meet one of their idols.

“Sarah is a big part of it too,” said Fairmont softball head coach Cory Hainy. “She’s not been here all nine times, but she’s been here most of the time. I would say probably at least six or seven of them. Sarah played professionally for a long time in a number of different places and a number of different countries. Having her there, not only as another really great teacher but somebody the girls can look up to, another female, somebody who’s been a professional. You can see that gravitation, the kids after the clinic, they all want to go up and talk to Sarah and get her autograph and take pictures with her. So that’s a big benefit as well. And not only that, but she can demo the things and make it look super easy. She’s just so fluid. So it’s really, really important that she’s there as well.”

“Rick has spent a lifetime studying pitching. His help in developing several elite-level pitchers is a testament to his knowledge of this art. Rick’s fastpitch roots go back to his playing days with his hometown team in Wisconsin the Menomonie Blues and progressed through his days of playing with the nationally recognized and ASA National Champion Madison Farm team.”

The clinic draws players from multiple states, but primarily south of Fairmont in Iowa and has become a big part of the off-season for a lot of softball players. The clinic has returned for a total of nine years with a big help from the Community Education and Recreation program locally.

“A lot of our people that come to this are from Iowa and sometimes pretty far away,” said Hainy. “We had a girl from Oregon this year. We’ve had people a couple of different times, at least once from Canada and we get some Wisconsin.”

Pauly Girl Fastpitch isn’t just for players but for the coaches as well. The programs seek to develop every aspect of the game but with a primary focus on pitching.

“Even if we don’t have too many kids attending, it’s been instrumental in us learning that methodology,” said Hainy. “And then being able to use that to help train. We do have a couple of local people that do some pitching coaching and they’ve really kind of latched onto this as well, that method and Rick does some online training and you can get certified in his methods. And so that’s a number of people have done that and so the methods are being passed along and that it’s been pretty well received and it’s gone pretty well.”

The clinic is cost-effective for those who participate with the morning session running $150 and primarily focused on mechanics and technique, while the afternoon clinic costs $175 and begins to focus on specific pitches. The clinic is not a one-and-done scenario for some of the players often drawing players back year over year.

“All I can say is we get many, many repeat people back,” said Hainy. “In fact, one of the girls that was here this year, I believe it was her eighth time out of the nine. She keeps coming back. So they feel it’s obviously beneficial and worthwhile. I think that speaks to it more than I ever could verbally.”

This was the ninth time that the clinic has come to Fairmont in the last decade and all started with John Oothoudt reaching out to Pauly and the rest became history.

“John Oothoudt, who is local here at the time was back 10, 11 years ago,” said Hainy. “At the time was involved with our summer association and he reached out to Rick and kind of made contact with him and they kind of became friends and that’s how it ended up starting. Rick does clinics and so John had talked to him about coming here and doing one and he did and it turned out really well and so they keep coming back and we keep asking them and they keep coming.”

With no signs of slowing down Pauly Girl Fastpitch continues to be a staple in the softball world and Fairmont will continue to host the clinic for as long as possible