LEBANON — Judy Conrad still remembers the uniforms from that inaugural season.
“They were shorts and a T-shirt,” Conrad said, laughing as she pointed toward faded team photos from 1970 hanging in the Lebanon softball press box.
“We didn’t have any uniforms until a little while later.”
The field was rough. The sport itself was still evolving. Fastpitch softball had not yet fully taken hold in Ohio girls athletics, and Lebanon’s earliest teams often played a hybrid of slow pitch and fast pitch while learning the game on the fly.
Yet inside those grainy photos sits the beginning of one of Ohio’s premier high school softball programs.
More than 50 years later, the Warriors are state champions, six-time state semifinalists and one of southwest Ohio’s most respected Division I programs.
And it all traces back to Conrad.
“She had the courage to go ahead and start this when it wasn’t popular,” Lebanon coach Brian Kindell said. “None of this would be here if it wasn’t for her.”
Conrad, now 79, remains woven into the fabric of Lebanon athletics. The Lebanon Athletic Boosters recently honored her with the school’s annual Impact Award after decades spent as a coach, teacher, mentor and advocate for girls sports.
Long before Lebanon won its first Division I state softball championship in 2025, Conrad was simply trying to give girls an opportunity to play.
Conrad arrived at Lebanon in 1969 after graduating from Wilmington College — stepping into a school district where girls athletics were only beginning to emerge.
She credits fellow educator Gloria Taylor as the true pioneer.
“When I came as a rookie teacher, Gloria had already started girls field hockey, volleyball, basketball, track and field and tennis,” Conrad said. “She said, ‘You can start softball.’”
Taylor’s influence shaped Lebanon athletics for decades before her death in 2017 following a battle with breast cancer. Lebanon now awards the Gloria Taylor Memorial Scholarship annually to a senior female athlete.
Conrad quickly embraced the challenge.
The early years required improvisation. There were no assistant coaches. Few resources. Limited fields. Limited expectations.
“They didn’t think we were capable,” Conrad said. “It’s the honest truth.”
Still, the Warriors steadily improved. Lebanon captured the Mid-Miami League softball championship in 1977 — the first girls team in school history to win a league title.
“That was pretty cool,” Conrad said with a beaming smile.
A short while later, Conrad coached Lebanon’s volleyball team to another league championship — helping legitimize girls athletics inside the district.
The Warriors’ softball roots also produced one of Ohio’s early female softball stars in Elaine Price, a member of Lebanon’s first team who later walked on at Miami University and became a record-setting pitcher.
“She broke all kinds of pitching records then,” Conrad said. “She was declared athlete of the year at Miami.”
Conrad smiles at the irony now. At the time, she admits she was still learning fastpitch herself.
“I played slow pitch on a women’s summer league,” Conrad said. “The rules and all that were different.”
One lesson from Taylor particularly stuck.
Conrad recalled facing powerful Dayton-area programs when Taylor suggested a now-common softball strategy — having the catcher fake a throw to second base before firing home to cut down a runner from third.
“It worked,” Conrad said with a laugh. “Now it happens almost every game.”
Building a powerhouse
Lebanon softball eventually evolved from a startup program into a statewide powerhouse under the coaches who followed Conrad, especially Kindell. He took over in 2005 and transformed the Warriors into a perennial state contender.
Under Kindell, Lebanon has never suffered a losing season, averaging roughly 25 wins per year while winning multiple district championships and making six trips to the state Final Four.
The Warriors finished state runner-up in 2012, 2015 and 2017 before finally breaking through with the program’s first state title in 2025.
Kindell earned his 500th career victory during the Warriors’ 2025 postseason run and was inducted into the Ohio High School Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2022.
Conrad beams when discussing the program’s growth.
“I’m so proud of the whole program from the beginning until now,” Conrad said. “It’s just incredible.”
The transformation is visible everywhere around the facility.
Conrad remembers when the softball field resembled “a cow pasture,” complete with rocks, standing water and makeshift seating.
“We didn’t have dugouts,” Conrad said. “We were sitting on a hard bench from the locker room that we had to carry out to the field.”
At one point, Conrad personally helped lay sod down the right-field line alongside volunteers trying to improve the facility.
Now Lebanon plays inside one of southwest Ohio’s most recognizable softball complexes — complete with permanent dugouts, a press box and upgraded drainage systems.
“It’s turned into a beautiful facility,” Conrad said.
The players who now represent the Warriors continue carrying the program into the national spotlight. Numerous former Lebanon stars have continued their careers at the collegiate level.
Conrad sees continuity between generations.
“There’s so many neat kids on this team right now,” Conrad said. “And there’s so many neat kids who have gone through this program before.”
Still chanting ‘Go Warriors’
The moment that perhaps best illustrated Lebanon softball’s culture came after the Warriors defeated Springboro to clinch its district championship last week.
Conrad walked toward the field, planning to take pictures.
Instead, the players called her into the team celebration.
“They said, ‘Come on over,’” Conrad said. “Then they gave me a medal.”
As the team posed for pictures, Conrad jokingly dropped to the ground for the front row, sprawling out while drawing laughter from players and coaches alike.
“That’s Lebanon softball right there,” Kindell said. “I think it’s important our kids know the history of this program. I want them to appreciate it and take pride in it.”
The current Warriors routinely invite Conrad into pregame huddles. Kindell even asks her to address the team at the start of each season.
Her message has barely changed in half a century.
“Go Warriors,” Conrad still tells them.
Conrad watched Lebanon’s 2025 state championship victory over Centerville from home while caring for her 97-year-old mother, who suffers from dementia.
Every pitch during that game carried emotion.
“I’m glad my mom is hard of hearing because I was screaming,” Conrad said.
When Lebanon secured the final out of its 3-1 state championship victory at Firestone Stadium, Conrad immediately texted Kindell.
“He said he read my text to the team,” Conrad said humbly.
The title represented the culmination of more than five decades of work from coaches, players and supporters who helped build the Warriors into Ohio’s elite.
Lebanon’s championship also carried historical significance beyond softball. The Warriors’ 2025 title marked the school’s first girls team state championship.
And for Conrad, the victory completed a journey that started with T-shirts, muddy fields and a belief that girls deserved the same opportunities as boys.
Earlier this week, Conrad stood inside the press box overlooking the diamond she helped create while the Warriors prepared for another postseason showdown against Centerville — this time in the regional semifinals.
Before practice, she offered one final reminder to the team.
“Get down and dirty, anticipate, think positive,” Conrad told the players.
Then she smiled while bringing the players into a huddle.
“Go Warriors!”
