Staff file photo / Preston Byers Champion softball coach Cheryl Weaver smiles as she and the Golden Flashes take photos after her 500th win on March 28, 2024 in Champion.

It’s the end of an era for the Champion softball program.

After 27 years, 540 wins, six state championships in eight appearances and guiding countless players, Golden Flashes coach Cheryl Weaver called it a career on Friday.

Weaver, the 13th-winningest coach in OHSAA history, guided Champion to state titles in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

There’s never a right time to step away from something you love, but a combination of things made Weaver decide that this was the time. Between the retirement of athletic director Tim Cope, a sea of certificate renewals and health concerns, riding off into the sunset just felt right.

“I can’t hit fly balls anymore, I’m 67 years old, and after breaking my hip a couple years ago and trying to cut off my thumb, there’s things I just can’t do,” Weaver said. “Do we ever really know when is the right time? So I just thought, ‘You know what, it’s probably time.’ … (The program probably) needs new blood, because I’ll be honest, sometimes I feel very irregular with these younger kids. I can’t keep up with what all they’re into, and so maybe it’s time to hang up my bat and glove.”

While the state championships, obviously, loom large in Weaver’s mind. Some of the moments that stood out to her the most were what came after those big wins.

“Some of the fun were the bus rides back after winning state,” she said. “Those girls, they just were so excited, and people following the bus and fire trucks and the police bringing you in, that was a blast. Getting invited to dinners, and it was just so exciting. I know the girls will never forget it, and I won’t ever forget that too. We’ve tried to do things after. Once, (after a state championship) we said ‘Let’s go play laser tag.’ We wanted to stay together for as long as we could.”

Weaver leaves the Champion program with a legacy few can match, but she views it as just a chapter of a very storied program.

“I hope they remember all of it, even before my time,” Weaver said. “That 1978 team won the very first girls softball championships. Then they turned around and did it in 1980 and 1994. The people before me already set those building blocks for what was going to happen, and I appreciate that. You just kind of learn from it, and the kids start looking up at these kids that made it to state, and they want to be like them, and then you start to emulate them. I just hope they really remember how Champion won the very first girls fast pitch softball championship in Ohio. It started well before me, and I hope they remember even before me.

“There’s signs down there on the field, and I love that it’s got all those ladies’ names on there. I hope the school always leaves that up there and keeps it in good shape. I’m just proud to be up there with those young ladies that played back then.”

With more time on her hands during the spring, Weaver won’t be staying home doing nothing. The six-time state champion coach has a lot planned.

Between riding on her husband’s motorcycle, a Polaris Slingshot she’s named the “Batmobile,” and her interest in axe throwing, golf and archery, Weaver has plenty to keep herself busy.

“I’m looking forward to (retirement), but it was a fun, wonderful, wonderful ride,” she said.

As for whoever takes the reins of the program, Weaver says “fun” is at the heart of it.

“Have fun while you’re doing it. I think that’s the key,” Weaver said. “I enjoyed it. I mean, I enjoyed even working on the ball field. You have to enjoy the whole thing. There’s so much involved, so you have to enjoy it all, and I did. I really did.

“Don’t be looking up (at the state championship signs at the field) and thinking you got to get there right away, because you got to have the right group of kids. Just be proud that you’re now part of the program too. Have fun and be proud.”