Over the past few years, people often have asked Mark Zimmerman how much longer he wanted to coach softball at Ligonier Valley.
“I always told them the same thing,” he said. “I will do this as long as it’s fun. Well, it stopped being fun. Plus, there are some other things I want to do.”
Don’t get him wrong. He still enjoyed the game and being around the players and coaches. But the yearly grind wore on a coach who wants to spend his time a different way in his golden years.
“I bought a fly-rod a couple years ago,” he said. “There are some good trout streams up north.”
Discreetly and with little fanfare — just the way he liked it — Zimmerman stepped down before this season, hanging up his familiar straw hat after 26 years as head coach of the Rams.
What a catch he was, now a member of the 2026 Ligonier Valley Athletic Hall of Fame class.
A storied career that began in 2000 quietly came to a close, Zimmerman’s record of 312-139 and 25 playoff appearances neatly tucked into the Ligonier Valley history books.
“I felt like it was time,” Zimmerman said. “Coach (Bob) Kalp called me a few years ago. He was 74 or 75 at the time, and told me he was retiring. That got me thinking about how much longer I wanted to coach.”
Zimmerman became close friends with Kalp, the hall-of-fame coach from Hempfield who died March 20 at age 80. Ligonier Valley often played Hempfield in regular-season games or “bunt scrimmages,” matching two old-school coaches who appreciated fundamentals.
“When we played Kalp, I would watch Kalp coach,” Zimmerman said. “I tried to learn as much as I could from him.
“I remember my AD almost fell of his stool when I said I wanted to play Hempfield. We didn’t care. We wanted to play the better teams. It wasn’t all about winning. Like Chuck Noll said, iron sharpens iron.”
Zimmerman began coaching when his son, Matt, was 8 and playing in Ligonier Little League.
“I had no interest in coaching in the beginning,” Zimmerman said. “I said, I’ll get into it. I started to enjoy it. We won a state championship in all-stars. That’s when the fire grew.”
Softball came calling later when the program faced desperate times.
“They had no coach and were going to fold the program,” Zimmerman said. “Someone came to me about it. I knew nothing about softball, and I thought the interview was over right there.”
But the district took a chance on him and never looked back. Zimmerman, who works for Hoffer’s Ligonier Valley Packing, went on to win nine District 6 Heritage Conference championships, eight district titles and three WPIAL section titles. He made the PIAA playoffs four times, reaching the 2A final in 2021.
The Rams won 65 straight Heritage Conference games over a five-year span.
“It was a fun ride,” Zimmerman said. “This is the first time this century I won’t be coaching. I will miss the kids. You get to know them off the field and build relationships. And I had great relationships with all of my assistants.”
One was Patricia Houpt, a longtime assistant and former Latrobe player who helped him learn the nuances of the game.
Houpt replaced Zimmerman as coach.
“And there are so many relationships with other coaches,” Zimmerman said. “Guys like Tom (Rodriguez) at Belle Vernon and Dutch (Harvey) over at Yough.”
Dozens of college-level players also came through Zimmerman’s program, including Christine Henderson, Maddy Grimm, Kristen Gabelt, Jane Garver, Amber Tutino, Lexi Petrof, Maddie Griffin, Cheyenne Piper and others.
“I always wanted my kids to be fundamentally sound,” he said. “We had a great run of pitchers. It was unbelievable. And we had some outstanding hitters, too. I have been blessed. It was a fun run.”
Zimmerman’s daughter, Morgan, was the Rams’ scorekeeper for two years.
For 15 years, his wife, Denise, cooked meals for the team to take on road trips.