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GREGORY SOWARDS

YEARS ACTIVE: 2012-CURRENT

BIRTH PLACE: CHARLESTON, WV

BIRTH YEAR: 1987

PRIMARY POSITION: PITCHER

BAT/THROW: RIGHT/RIGHT

CONTRIBUTIONS: EQUIPMENT SPECIALIST, CO-COMMISSIONER (2012-2016), PODCAST CO-HOST, COLUMNIST, & LEAGUE RULES COMMITTEE MEMBER

TEAMS PLAYED FOR:
BEAVER FEVER ('12-'13)
GREEN BEARS ('14)
WIFFLIN' DIXIE ('15)
BEAVER FEVER ('16)
THUNDER DUCKS ('17 - '18)
ACHIEVEMENTS: 
SEASON MVP ('12), CY WIFFLE ('12), SILVER SLUGGER ('12), HR KING ('12) & STRIKEOUT KING ('13)

Greg Sowards has slowly and quietly left his mark on West Virginia wiffleball over the past 15 years. In 2002, he helped found the Garrett Drive Wiffleball League (GDWL) in Hurricane, WV - where he quickly became known as one of the league's star players. Over the span of his GDWL career (9 seasons), Sowards cultivated his unique pitching style that has garnered him some notoriety within the HWL and the NWLA Tournament. This pitching style won him countless Cy Wiffle awards in the GDWL and earned him the 2012 HWL Cy Wiffle and 2013 HWL Strikout King, making him one of the most awarded players in HWL history. He also was among the first class of players inducted into the NWLA Hall of Fame in 2008.

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Sowards has also won many championships in his career. He won 6 titles in the GDWL as the starting pitcher for the Green Bears (which were inducted into the NWLA Team Hall of Fame in 2016) and became something of a legend. When the GDWL disbanded in 2011, he helped Josh Smith found the Huntington Wiffle League the following year where he received the role of Co-Commissioner. He did not take his new role lightly and worked tirelessly to promote the league, recruit players, and wow participants with the field setup. Taking care of the league equipment and becoming a master of field construction has been Greg's league claim-to-fame and earned him much respect among league leaders and players alike. His uncanny ability to set up the fields (usually by himself) was a thankless job that he did gladly and the league benefited from it immensely.

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Greg captained a team every season (except 2017) and became renowned for being a skilled strategist. His lob-pitching style was not always effective but he studied competitors and found weaknesses that he would exploit to his team's advantage. There is no other better example of this than his achievements with his 2015 franchise, Wifflin' Dixie - a team everyone predicted to finish last. Sowards managed the 2013 team the league sent to the NWLA Tournament and often hires himself out to other teams in the league as a "coach." His reputation as a student of the game led to his former teammate, Josh Smith, to say "[Sowards] is the wisest player I have ever played with or against." 

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Ever humbled, Sowards was very thankful to receive the distinction of being inducted in to the league hall of fame. On Episode 29 of the HWL Podcast he took the opportunity to plug the annual Hallowiffle charity tournament - diverting attention away from himself. Later, he thanked "every player who has come and gone, because without them there would be no league." The induction of Sowards into this category of prestige has been long overdue as he has finally been recognized what he has slowly and quietly worked for the past 15 years - propelling this sport in the local area.

CAREER STATISTICS

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