International Hall of Fame Belizean softball coach Raymond Lashley laid to rest last Friday

By Rubén Morales Iglesias: International Hall of Fame Belizean softball coach Raymond Granville Lashley was laid to rest on Friday, September 24, at Eternal Gardens off Mile 13 on the George Price Highway.

Coach Lashley passed away on Monday, September 20, 2021, in Belize City.

Lashley was Belize’s coach of the Belize National Women’s Softball Team that won the gold medal in the 1974 Central American & Caribbean Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He also coached the Belize National Women’s Softball Team to the bronze medal and a win over the mighty United States National Team at the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico in 1979.

For his achievements, Lashley was inducted into the International Softball Hall of Fame.

Lashley, who coached innumerable softball teams, coached players such as Belize’s top softball pitchers, the late Isolene Heath, Consuelo Dougal, Linda Lewis, and Margaret Usher, and worked alongside legendary coaches the late Collet Gill and the late Charles Solis according to Belizean sports researcher Bilal Morris who interviewed Lashley for his YouTube program Belizean Legends.

“Coach Lashley rose to become Belize’s most accomplished coach of Belize, coaching the Belize national softball team to win Belize’s first gold medal ever as a nation in sports in the 1974 Central American & Caribbean Games, and also coached the Belize national softball team to beat the greatest softball team in the world, the United States, and won the bronze medal in the 1979 Pan American Games,” said Bilal Morris in a tribute to the legendary Belizean coach.

According to Morris, Lashley and his wife Gretel played softball in Belize in the 1960’s, and 70’s.

“Gretel Lashley played with the Belize national softball team that won the Caribbean Amateur Softball Tournament (CAST Games) in Jamaica in 1971,” said Morris.

Breaking Belize News extends condolences to the Mrs. Gretel Lashley and family of the great Raymond Lashley.

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