Brownstown Central High School will have new baseball and softball coaches next spring as a result of Brandon Tormoehlen and Monte Ault announcing their resignations at the end of the 2021 season.
For Tormoehlen, spending more time with his family was the nucleus of his decision.
Tormoehlen lives in Sellersburg, about 50 minutes south of Brownstown, and he and his wife just had a daughter who is currently 9 months old.
The former Braves head coach, who also taught at BCHS, would leave for work before his daughter would wake up and get home after practice after his daughter already went to bed.
“It was just way too much,” Tormoehlen said. “One of the things we talk about is developing young men. We try to develop them after high school. One of the things we talk about is being a productive citizen when you leave the program, and not sooner than later, but you become a good husband and father. I just felt like I wasn’t being a very good husband and a good father because of the time commitment.”
Tormoehlen took over the Brownstown program in the fall of 2017. He coached four seasons with the Braves — one season was taken away in 2020 due to COVID-19.
In 2019, Tormoehlen helped lead the Braves to a 20-8 record. It was only the fourth time in school history where Brownstown accumulated 20 wins in a single season.
Tormoehlen is a former Brave when he played at BCHS, and most of his coaching staff is made up of former players as well. One of the things he is most proud of during his Brownstown tenure is the improvements they have made to the facilities.
In his first year, they put in the new dugouts. Year two, they put in the turf around home plate. They added a new press box, new restrooms, new seating behind the backstop, new bullpens, so many different things to enhance the playing and viewing experience for Braves baseball.
“We definitely had a lot of momentum going,” Tormoehlen said. “It’s definitely heading in the right direction.”
The Braves went 12-14 this past spring with an inexperienced team that endured injuries to key players that limited what they could do in the latter half of the season.
One of the mottos Tormoehlen talks about with his players is “leave the jersey in a better place.”
“Anywhere that I’ve gone to coach, that was my goal. So, whoever takes over for me, they found a program that’s in better shape than what it was than when I got there,” Tormoehlen said. “It’s just one of those things where as a coach you just want to try to improve it and make it better for the next guy.”
Tormoehlen will be teaching seventh grade math Henryville, and he might continue coaching a team next summer with high school kids. If he chooses to coach next summer, his daughter will be old enough to join him in the dugout, which would be a cool moment for Tormoehlen.
Ault retires after 25 years
Ault is a 1969 graduate of BCHS, where he ran cross country and played basketball and baseball.
He became softball head coach in 1997, and in his 25 years, he won more than 300 games, including a record of 19-11 this spring.
“We got to the championship game of the sectional (this year),” he said. “The future looks bright. Whoever the new coach is, he should have five pitchers. The program is in great shape.”
Ault said in the fall of 1996, he received a phone call from Donal Neal and Harry Rochner about the position of softball head coach.
“They said they wanted somebody that would stay here and build a program up, and I told them I would be interested in doing that,” Ault said.
He said he has been around softball for 40 years and also coached a lot of travel ball.
His 2015 Braves team set the school record for wins with 22. He coached the Braves to sectional titles in 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2010 and to Mid-Southern Conference titles in 2004 and 2005.
Brownstown played in regionals at Forest Park, New Palestine, Beech Grove and at home but did not win any of them.
“We’ve come close a few times. We played North Posey on our diamond and got beat 2-1. We had a couple errors that made a difference in that game,” he said.
“I had some pretty good teams during a 10-year stretch here,” he said. “I’ve had some real good pitching. I’ve always had a really good catcher. We’ve had some really good softball teams.”
Ault got into softball coaching because of his oldest daughter, Amanda, who he coached in Little League.
As varsity coach, Monte coached his youngest daughter, Kirsten, who was a catcher and graduated from BCHS in 2000.
He said to be successful, you have to have a pitcher that can locate pitches and change speeds to get batters out.
Ault recalled Jessica Smith, Cheyenne Riley, Jessica Peters and Kourtney Branaman as some of his outstanding pitchers and said several girls have gone on to play softball in college.