Pridgen Appointed to South Carolina Post

Jan. 1, 2009

By Steve Simmons

Softball News Report

LAURENS, S.C. – Jason Pridgen, newly named SSUSA Clubs & Leagues South Carolina state director, becomes the third state director appointed to the Southeast region in the latter half of 2008.

He joins Mark Ogletree (Tennessee) and Mike Caldwell (North Carolina) as Southeast directors. Ogletree, who is also the SSUSA Clubs & Leagues Southeast regional director, asked Pridgen to take on the role and he accepted.

Pridgen has the credentials for the job. In addition to already being the ISA South Carolina state director, he also has played the game for 15 years and has been fortunate enough to have won five world championships and over 25 state, regional and NIT championships. He has been a tournament director for seven years and now sees himself becoming a part-time player and full-time director.

Pridgen resides here with his wife Dallas and sons Aidan (6) and Owen (3). He is the Parks and Recreation director for the city of Laurens and has been in the recreation field for 10 years.

Pridgen joins a growing number of younger (not yet senior playing age, which is 50) ISA directors that have taken on SSUSA Clubs & Leagues directors’ positions. He is the fourth such director in SSUSA’s roster of directors. Conversely, some older SSUSA directors have agreed to also act as ISA directors. This trend of dual directors has been especially gratifying to Bill Ruth, who has ownership interests in both associations, because his vision has been to have both associations utilize the resources of the other.

Here’s how Pridgen sums up the place softball holds in his life when: “Other than my family, softball is where I spend most of my spare time. I enjoy just watching good competitive games and making friends along the way. Softball has been a very important piece of my life not only for recreation but for meeting so many people and now being able to call them friends. I look forward to working with Senior Softball USA.”

For more information on the SSUSA South Carolina Clubs & Leagues program, or to learn more about serving a role in the program, you can reach Pridgen at 864-681-1001 or on his cell phone at 864-275-4766. His email address is playscisa@yahoo.com.