Owensboro native Todd Lillpop has spent every spring and summer on the baseball diamond for as long as he can remember. But, he’s already been robbed of his 19th season as the head coach at Kentucky Wesleyan College, and his summer season coaching Owensboro Southern Little League is still in limbo.
Under Lillpop, the KWC Panthers baseball program has advanced to the championship game the past three years — winning it in 2017. The 2020 season was destined to have similar success with 18 returning seniors and a core group of underclassmen.
He’s also had success in the summer, as the 11-year-old Southern Little League team advanced to the finals of the state tournament last season. They had high hopes of traveling to Williamsburg for the World Series as 12-year-olds.
Though there is still some hope for a Little League season, the organization has already cancelled the World Series and all regional qualifying events.
So, the last couple of months have been foreign for Lillpop.
For his position at Wesleyan, he and the staff are searching for ways to evolve their recruiting efforts.
“We’re trying to invent new ways to recruit at Wesleyan,” he said. “Nobody is playing ball right now, so we’re forced to rely on relationships formed with coaches to get us through.”
Seniors are able to return for another season after the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibilty, making the recruitment process even more challenging. Of the 18 seniors, 10 elected to return next year, while others are hanging up their gloves to move on to graduate school or enter the workforce.
“I have one kid that was accepted to physical therapy school, another that is set to be a game warden. I instructed all of them as if they were my own kids,” he said. “They and their families have to make the best decision for them.”
The same cannot be said for his Little League team. While his intent remained the same, his message to them was slightly different.
“In everything you do in life, you will face adversity, this is just one roadblock in the middle of their journey,” he said. “They have so many great things ahead of them that they don’t even know yet.”
While Wesleyan baseball is his full-time job and Southern Little League but a volunteer opportunity, his mission is actually quite similar.
“My job is to make sure that Kentucky Wesleyan College is competing at the highest level, graduating men in the real-world and society,” he said. “Little League is fun to me, it’s about developing these kids and giving them an opportunity to compete at the highest level they can.”
As long as organized baseball remains at a stalemate, the Lillpop crew — his sons Ty and Ace play for Southern — is left to work on their game in the backyard. They also pass the time on the par-three course Ben Hawes, hopeful to return to the diamond in the near future.
“I tell all my players to trust in their faith and believe that God has something planned,” he said. “We will play baseball again, we just have to keep moving forward.”
