Never has the sports editor seen a more polarizing issue than softball players wearing face guards.
As with everything, there are pros and cons, and whether to wear a face guard is currently a hot-button issue.
Nocona High School softball player Jessica Vogel wears a mask at the insistence of her mother, Jennifer.
“It’s not for pitchers,” Vogel said. “Pitchers are just 43 feet from home plate, and batters are hitting the ball as hard as they can.”
One reason why Jessica Vogel wears a face guard is because of dental surgery, she is on her second set of braces.
“She started wearing it when she started pitching junior varsity,” Jennifer Vogel said.
Other Nocona players wear the face guard, including Jordan Dingler and Laci Stone, who will be an incoming freshman on the Lady Indian squad.
“She started (to wear it) during summer league this year,” said Chelsi Stone, Laci’s mother. “Last year, she started having seizures, and we still aren’t sure exactly what is causing them.
“But, anything to help at all to help protect her face and head is a plus for us,” Chelsi continued. “We are also about spend a lot of money on braces, and we don’t want anything happening to those.”
Stone will serve as a back-up pitcher for Vogel this season.
The sports editor isn’t the only member of the media talking about this issue, either.
A select travel ball player named Nanas Limon from Georgetown was recently hit square in the face during a recent game.
“It was the championship game,” Limon reported to Fox 7 based in Austin. “I think it was the third inning. The first batter, she actually hit a line drive right at me. I stopped it with my glove, and got her out.
“You know the next thing I was going to get my mask, that’s too close,” Limon continued. “And the next batter hit it right at me.”
Bowie High School head coach Brant Farris chimed in on the use of face guards.
“I think the days are numbered for pitchers having the choice to wear one or not,” the coach commented. “I think the University Interscholastic League will make it mandatory for pitchers.” Read more from this column in the July 1 Bowie News.

Editor’s Note: The Storm Center column is the expressed written views of sports editor Eric Viccaro and not The Bowie News.

One of the dilemmas facing the game of softball today is whether a pitcher should be mandated to wear a face guard or not. Nocona’s Jessica Vogel wears a guard during an Express Summer League game at Bowie on June 22. (News photo by Eric Viccaro)