Cindy Cowart has a background of over 40 years in softball so she knows a thing or two about every aspect of the sport, but she’s refreshingly self-deprecating and funny when it comes to her past… and her age.
“I’m so old there was no such thing as travel ball when I played!” she cracks. “I was ‘league born and league bred’ and played volleyball in college at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma which back then was called Bethany Nazarene College. Again, I’m so old you could be less than 6-foot tall in volleyball and be a hitter!”
The two-sport athlete played volleyball only college but has been on the softball fields most of her life.
“I played softball starting at the age of 11,” Cindy explains, “and then played major women’s slow-pitch on a national level starting at age 22 for the better part of 25 years.”
Ultimately, she found her way into making fastpitch softball a family business: Cowart Sports Events, Inc. (CSE).
Her husband, Ray, who has a “storied slow-pitch career himself,” according to his wife, handles schedule for the events company while oldest daughter, Kennedy, a senior at West Virginia Wesleyan, serves as a tournament site director when not in school.
Youngest daughter Kolby, a junior at Texas A&M majoring in broadcasting, fills in multiple games as photographer, gate manager or “wherever we need her to be when she is able due to college” per her mom.
That’s today… but Cindy admits it wasn’t always the successful events business that they’ve built over the last decade.
“We have an athletic wear manufacturing business background,” she begins, “and when we started, I had no idea how to sew but had a contract in my hand for an entire school system’s basketball and baseball uniforms.”
“However, the apparel market shifted approximately 10 years ago,” she continues, “and left us all dressed up with no place to go. Our kids started playing a bit of travel ball and I was not impressed with the production of some of these events. I felt they lacked understanding, background and were almost arrogantly messaging that the teams participating should be grateful they were invited and could play in their event.”
Based in Texas, CSE produces highly praised events primarily in the Southwest and Southeast and they’re seemingly getting more popular by the month.
Christa Williams–Yates, the two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and Texas All-American, is one such fan—last week she took her Texas Lookouts club team to The Space City Regional at the Houston Metroplex which was for age divisions 14U, 12U and 10U and came away impressed once again.
“I absolutely love Cindy’s events!” the Hall of Famer told Extra Inning Softball this week. “Cowart events are well organized and managed. What I love about these tournaments is that you get the best of both worlds: you get plenty of games in that still emphasize the value of both winning and learning at the same time.”
As outlined on the Cowart Sports Events website, Cindy and her family stress five key tenets of running their success events:
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GAME TIMES
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“We believe in value for your money and have been producing longer game (we prefer to call them ‘real games.’ Therefore, we don’t believe in games less than one hour 20 minutes at 10U/12U or one and 1/2 hours for 14U/16U/18U.”
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CREATIVE FORMATS
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“We never offer formats ‘like everybody else.’ We pay attention to detail and do our level best to make sure that we build an event around your preferences—and never forget you came to compete!”
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PRIZES YOU CAN USE
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“Who really wants another team medal or trophy? How about equipment for the coaches and the team and cash to help offset travel expenses? All of our events now contain cash prize purses.”
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NO STAY-TO-PLAY
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“In fact, if you stay with our partners, we actually give you something of value (like an extra game) instead of lightening your wallet!”
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CAMPS ARE NCAA COMPLIANT
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“All Cowart Sports Events, Inc. sports camps are NCAA Compliant and open to any and all entrants, limited only by space, age and grade level.”
What are the advantages of CSE events, we asked Cindy, and how do you cut through the noise of so many fastpitch events on the market today?
“We make meaningful competition first and foremost in our presentation,” she answered confidently. “We constantly communicate with our customers and ‘future customers’ about their event experiences both positive and negative through their lens. It’s important to us to have steady messaging regarding our unique competitive platform and we take every opportunity to tell the story that, unlike most of our competitors, we actually played this game and, yeah, I am a woman who is serving a female sport!”
Customer satisfaction and service is why teams continue to combine, the event director stresses.
“Our events provide affordable value yet high satisfaction experiences where teams, managers and players feel confident that if something isn’t right, we will make it so. They know we are here to serve them through our proactive, engaging, and intuitive on-site management and officiating team that understands we are in a service business and we must earn their business each and every time.”
CSE National Digital and SEO Marketing Director Lolo Garcia adds that providing a good experience and every tournament is key in getting repeat business.
“Our No. 1 objective will always be to provide high quality, competitive events that people want to come back to.”
RJ Howerton manages the Texas Glory 2k26 team which has been to several CSE events. He adds there are several reasons his Lone Star State team returns over and over.
“Cowart Sports Events are very well organized and affordable to play in,” the coach says. “The power bracket format Cindy uses allows all teams to play and it sorts it out so that good teams continue playing each other. All of her events are very competitive and the parks/cities she plays in are very accommodating”
Coach RJ agrees that CSE being run by someone who knows the game inside and out makes for a good experience tourney-wise.
“Cindy is an ex-softball player so she can relate to the young ladies and definitely understands what the female athletes are wanting. She also doesn’t run a stay and play event and works with the local hotels to secure a great rate. Cindy also works hard on securing a great umpire staff that is competent and wants to be on the field.”
“Last but not least is, she plays her tournaments using NCAA Fastpitch rules which helps to keep it simple but the athletes can start learning the rules for that level of play.”
One area that has allowed CSE to thrive is going after what Cindy feels is an underserved market, those players and teams that are more likely to go to all college divisions and not just DI.
“We have had great success in being able to have all kinds of teams from all competitive levels be able to converge in one event and everybody finds their place,” Cindy explains, “but, by conscious choice in our 16U/18U portfolio, we chose to craft events to target an underserved market: the DII, DIII, NAIA and JUCO athletes. We consistently see athletes and coaches find their future team at our events and commit on the spot!”
The college coaches are certainly paying attention. One of those, Anthony Whisenhunt, a coach at Eastern Oklahoma State College, says he will never not attend CSE events.
“Cowart Sports puts on quality events that I will continue to attend for as long as Cindy will have me!” he laughs. “They’re very well ran and very structured. The way she has the unique brackets set up, you literally have multiple opportunities to see a ton of athletes- usually in each position they play, before the weekend is up. In my opinion, this set up is extremely valuable to college coaches that are out recruiting.”
“Say there’s an athlete you’re interested in playing at a specific position and there’s little you know about her… You go to watch her play and find out that not only can she pitch (for instance), but she’s also a quality third baseman. It’s a win-win!”
The Lady Mountaineer coach, who oversees recruiting for the NJCAA school, loves how the tournaments give those offering the scholarships the chance to see a lot of players in a short amount of time.
“I’ve been to quite a few CSE weekend events now and they continue to get progressively bigger each time and remain flooded with talent,” Coach Whisenhunt says. “ Athletes should be seeking out events like these due to the fact that they will get maximum exposure in a minimal amount of time.”
One interesting feature the college coaches also rave about is the change to meet the players in person through a meet-and-greet held each Friday before an event so the athletes participating have one-on-one time with their potential recruiters.
Coaches from all levels of play attend these events and athletes are given an opportunity to meet each coach prior to even stepping on the field.
“To me,” continues Coach Whisenhunt, “this seems beneficial to the player in the sense of it takes a bit of the pressure off since the ice is broken a bit, letting the athlete play a bit more loose the next day. As coaches, we get more of a feel for the athlete as a person this way as well.”
Overall, the coach concludes, “These are quality events that are very well run and the structure is at the top of the game.”
For her part, Cindy Cowart feels she and her family subscribe to the “if you build it, they will come” model. Word of mouth has been one of their biggest marketing tools.
“We are fresh and constantly trying to improve the experience and have a unique understanding that can only come from a lifetime of game experience,” she says about how the business has grown organically.
“We also believe in the importance of building for the ‘good of the game’ and using that as our guiding light. By following that principle success will come, yes, but we also owe a lot to this game which makes up a ton of our social and professional relationships and the sport deserves our fierce protection.”
“At CSE, we strongly believe have an obligation to those who paved the way before us to continue to protect the game so the next generations can reap the life benefits just like we have and do.”
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For more on Cowart Sports Events, upcoming schedules and how to sign up, click HERE.
Here is a list of the CSE tournaments in 2021; be sure to scroll down below to see the event graphics!
18U/16U (website)
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- June 11-13: 9th Annual Texas State Championships & Southwest Regionals (College Station TX)
- July 1-4: Midwest Classic (Broken Arrow OK)
- July 22-25:CSE Super Series National Finals (Ft. Myers FL)
14U/12U/10U (website)
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- April 23-25: Southeast Regionals (Brandon MS)
- May 15-16: The Cajun Classic (Ruston LA)
- May 29-31: Mid-South Regional (Little Rock AR)
- June 18-20: 9th Annual Texas State Championships & Southwest Regionals (College Station TX) SOLD OUT
- July 22-25: CSE Super Series National Finals (Ft. Myers FL)
Listed in chronological order…
