Linda Rhinehart began playing softball at age 4 and played competitively throughout her teenage years.
The mom of six and her wife run Turn 2 Softball in Glen Burnie, where they coach two teams and channel their shared passion into empowering local youth. They’ve helped nearly 40 softball players get recruited to play in college.
Rhinehart is also a volunteer firefighter. She lives in Pasadena with her wife, Renee, and children, Joscelinne (17) and Declan (13). Rhinehart also has four adult children.
What inspired you to found Turn 2 Softball?
Renee and I both grew up playing travel softball, and we realized about 10 years ago or so that there wasn’t a lot of quality coaching. It started out with us doing lessons and instructions; then, it turned into us having teams, then grew from there. We’ve both been around sports since we were little. Renee had a scholarship to Tusculum University, a Division II school, to play softball. Her dad was a pretty well-known pitching coach in the area. I grew up on a softball field, so it was just natural for us. We had both coached in the past; then, we decided to coach together and form Turn 2, so it’s kind of a love letter to softball.
Why is it important to you to help youth get recruited to play in college?
Honestly, because there are some kids who need the motivation to go to school. I’ve had kids who have been valedictorian of their high school play for us, and I’ve had kids who barely squeak by — academics is really hard for them, so they have something that drives them academically. A lot of times for some of these kids, it’s softball. They want to play softball so bad at the next level that it helps them with the education part. We have kids who would not have gone to college if it weren’t for softball.
That’s super important because we want [kids] to be empowered. [For] some of these kids, the only thing that keeps them being a good student is having softball in their back pocket. I think everybody should have the opportunity to have a college degree and get educated.
What does a day in your life look like?
It’s a little bit hectic. I get up around 7 [a.m.], 7:30 [a.m.]; I make sure my son is up. Because my son is autistic, we have a list of things he has to do every morning. We get up and work on that list; his responsibility is to take out the dog, feed the dog, make his lunch for school [and] take a shower. We have it laid out for him with the times it should take to do each task because he has severe ADHD and bad anxiety, so it keeps him focused.
Depending on the day of the week, I’m getting up and DoorDash-ing for a little bit to earn extra money part time. Then, I talk to college coaches about my [softball] players, email college coaches [and run] practices. I have practice starting at 5:30 [p.m.]; we usually go until it’s dark. I have to figure out dinner during that time, too. On softball weekends, I’m lucky to be able to go to sleep. But we love softball; we love coaching, so softball doesn’t feel like a job.
How do you balance coaching with being a mom?
It’s really hard. The nice thing is that our oldest kids are pretty much on their own. But I’m about to have a senior in high school and an eighth grader in middle school. It’s hectic, but my older kids help when we need them to. The older kids are always looking out for the younger siblings. We’re a unit as a family, so it all works out.
What do you and your family like to do for fun?
We like to take the kids to Fort Smallwood Park or Sandy Point in the summertime. My son’s sister lives in Salisbury, so we’ll go out and visit them for part of the summer. We like to go to Gettysburg. We like to find new things to do, so it changes all the time. A lot of our vacations revolve around softball, so this year we’ll go to Tennessee and South Carolina.
We’re all about experiences. If there’s a farmers market that we can go walk around for hours, we’ll go walk around. We want our kids to enjoy the little things in life.
Family Favorites
Family Meal: “Mommy burgers” (hamburgers with steak seasoning) or fried chicken
Dessert: Freshly baked cake
Local Spot: Mother’s Peninsula Grille in Arnold
Restaurant: Texas Roadhouse
