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Green Valley replaces softball coach

Less than a year after leading Green Valley’s softball team to its second state tournament appearance in four seasons, Lauren Taylor was replaced Friday as the team’s head coach.

Taylor guided the Gators to the Sunrise Region title in 2010 and again last season when the team finished 23-11.

“We accepted her resignation,” Green Valley athletic administrator John Scott said. “It’s not any disciplinary action. There’s nothing that she did that warranted this. Lauren is a great person, a great coach.

“It was totally by surprise.”

But sources told the Review-Journal the timing of the resignation wasn’t voluntary, saying the decision was made Thursday night to effectively force Taylor out. One source said the administration had a new coaching staff basically hired Friday morning.

Taylor and her husband Greg, the team’s assistant coach, had planned to coach through the end of this season then step aside to spend more time with their two children, ages 7 and 4.

“The Green Valley administration was aware of our intent to resign at the end of the season,” Lauren Taylor said. “They believed it to be in the best interest of the the team that our resignation be effective immediately. (We wish) good luck to Green Valley softball.”

Taylor teaches physical education and health at Green Valley.

Green Valley is 7-9 this season but is the only Southern Nevada team to beat defending state champion and top-ranked Centennial. The Gators are 2-2 in the Northeast League, having dropped a 4-2 decision to Silverado and a 1-0, eight-inning decision to league-leading Rancho on Wednesday.

Taylor led the Gators to a 158-82 record since the start of the 2007 season, an average of more than 20 wins per full season.

When asked why a successful head coach would suddenly resign in the middle of the season, Scott declined comment.

“I’m not going to go there,” he said. “We’re just moving forward.”

Sources said Green Valley players were stunned by the news.

“They were devastated,” Scott said.

Former Centennial coach Cyndi Castro, the wife of Green Valley athletic director Brian Castro, has been named the team’s head coach.

“We were lucky enough to have ties to another good coach, who agreed within the last 12 hours to step in,” Scott said.

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