By WESLEY HALLMAN / Sports Editor

Montevallo High School coach Ronnie Holsombeck announced his retirement as the Bulldogs’ head softball coach June 13 following a 27-year coaching career, which included him serving as the head coach of the Bulldogs for the past 12 years.

Holsombeck, who started coaching youth league softball at the age of 21, has coached either youth league, travel league or high school softball consecutively for nearly three decades, including more than a decade at his alma mater.

“I think it is time for me to become a fan of softball rather than a coach,” Holsombeck said. “It has been a long time coming.”

Holsombeck plans to continue teaching at Montevallo Middle School and serving as an assistant coach for the Montevallo High School volleyball and girls’ basketball teams. Holsombeck said he expected his first softball coaching gig, a youth league team, to last only one year.

“I was supposed to help out one of my cousins for one year,” Holsombeck said. “Twenty-seven years later, I’m still coaching.”

Holsombeck said he plans to continue attending the Bulldogs games in the future. Holsombeck said his replacement should inherit a talented squad with several young players.

“It helps to know that the young talent coming back at Montevallo is some of the best we have had in a few years and whoever steps in as the next coach has every opportunity to be successful,” Holsombeck said.

Holsombeck said he will have mixed emotions when he watches the Bulldogs take the field next spring without him in the dugout.

“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Holsombeck said.