It’s been a slow start to the 2010 softball season, thanks to rainy weather and wet fields, but when the action does get underway, the season figures to be an interesting one.
In fact, it’s been interesting already.
Consider only the fact that Council Rock North pulled off a 3-2 upset of defending district runner-up Central Bucks South on opening day last Friday. Although it was a huge win, Rock North coach Hollie Woodward is not adding her team’s name to the list of district contenders just yet.
“Every once in a while, the blind squirrel gets the nut,” the Indians’ coach said with a laugh. “We’re not getting cocky about this at all.”
That’s not to say, Woodward and her players weren’t excited – they were, but perspective is everything, and it is very, very early in the season. Still, it was impossible to not take the big win as a good sign for the Indians.
While numerous SOL teams have yet to play their first game, the Souderton Indians – under first-year coach Courtney Hughes - have notched a pair of wins. They won the first with their bats and the second with the strong arm of junior Brittany Beebe, who tossed a no-hitter.
Not a bad start for both Indian squads.
Ready for action – The North Penn Maidens have yet to play a game this season, but there is a decidedly positive feeling surrounding this year’s squad.
Part of that good feeling has to do with the return to the lineup of Stephanie Farrar. The senior first baseman got off to a dazzling start last season. Farrar had three game-winning hits in four games when – after hitting a two-run double to put the Maidens on top 5-4 in the sixth inning of their game against Hatboro-Horsham – she broke her wrist in a collision.
The Maidens went on to defeat the defending state champs by that 5-4 score to improve to 4-0 on the season, but that game marked the end of Farrar’s season.
“She was leading the team in hitting and RBIs,” coach Rick Torresani said of his cleanup hitter. “She was our RBI person and our power hitter, and having her back her senior year is unbelievable.”
The Maidens have seven returning players, six who played varsity for at least a part of the last three years.
Leading the way is junior pitcher Kellianna Bradstreet, a three-year starter, as well as seniors Mary Ward, Alyssa Campbell and Miranda Sergas.
Fueling the Maidens is the memory of last year’s season-ending 8-5 loss to Owen J. Roberts in the third round of the district tournament.
“We gave up seven unearned runs, and the girls felt they basically handed it over to them,” Torresani said. “They haven’t forgotten about it, and with the number of returning players who participated in that game back this year, they just will not forget about it. That’s been on their minds since we started in September.”
Adding to the Maidens’ reasons for optimism is the addition of some new talent. Topping the list is sophomore Jess Mower, a converted a baseball player who played for the ninth grade baseball team last spring.
Mower will be anchoring the infield at shortstop.
“You would think she was a junior or senior,” Torresani said. “She knows the game so well.”
Newcomer Steph Kulp, who played junior varsity last year, will be expected to contribute some punch to the Maidens’ lineup. In a preseason scrimmage against Kennedy-Kenrick, Kulp ripped a three-run home run over the fence.
Kulp will also be the team’s back-up pitcher for the Maidens, who will open their season with a non-league contest against St. Pius X on Tuesday.
A promising start – Dom Pinto is not exactly a household word to SOL fans, but the Council Rock North freshman certainly had herself quite a debut in last Friday’s opening day 3-2 win over Central Bucks South.
After striking out in her first two at-bats, Pinto stepped to the plate with runners on second and third and two outs in the sixth and roped a two-run triple down the right field line to put the Indians on top 3-2.
“We were ripping the ball, but C.B. South made some phenomenal plays,” coach Hollie Woodward said. “They made a lot of diving plays, a lot of over-the-shoulder catches, but our girls kept chipping away.
“In the Suburban One League, you can go below .500 and still beat most of the teams in the state. This win is nice to validate that – yes, we can compete.
The game certainly didn’t start out on a promising note when the Titans used a walk, an error and a basehit by Morgan Decker to go on top 1-0. They added an unearned run in the fifth to make it a 2-0 game.
In the fifth, the Indians got on the scoreboard, thanks to back-to-back bunt singles by Alyssa Goldberg and Sarah Bunke – the second a successful suicide squeeze.
One inning later, Pinto delivered a triple that turned out to be the game winner, but the ending was not without its anxious moments for the Indians, who survived what Woodward called a ‘terrifying’ seventh inning.
South sophomore Haileigh Stocks collected a leadoff single, and the next batter reached first on an error.
Both runners moved up on a groundout back to the mound. A bunt (fielder’s choice) loaded the bases with one out, but pitcher Morgan Lewis came up with a huge strikeout, and a win was in the books when Lewis coaxed a groundout to short of the next batter she faced.
In a winning effort, Lewis struck out seven and walked four. Fran Carrullo – who did not lose in the 2009 season – absorbed the loss. The Indians collected four hits but struck out just four times.
While the Indians had several defensive miscues, they turned in a highlight reel play in the second when a South runner tried to score from first on a double by Tyler Vitelli but was gunned down at the plate on a perfect relay throw from left fielder Alyssa Goldberg to shortstop Caitlin Friis to catcher Cindy Catapano for the tag and inning-ending out.
“The ump was like, ‘This is an end-of-the-year type play,” Woodward said. “It was bang-bang.
“It just seemed like everybody was ready to play. It was a great game. You kind of forgot it was 35 degrees.”
Woodward credited her team’s preparation as a key to the win. The Indians, according to their coach, have been opening practice with a routine that is the same as their pre-game routine, and they spend the first hour scrimmaging the jayvee.
“Literally since the start of the season, they have been in game mode because we treat it like a game,” Woodward said. “I think they came out ready to hit as opposed to waiting because they have been doing it all season, so that was a big deal.
“I thought their pitcher did a great job.”
Things don’t get any easier for an Indian squad that faces a tough, tough schedule.
“Our first four games of the season are C.B. South, North Penn, Neshaminy and Pennsbury – that’s a state tournament,” Woodward said.
In truth, it’s a lineup that could easily leave a team 0-4 and has put Rock North in that position on more than one occasion over the past several years.
“Our league is so competitive and our non-league games are just as competitive, so every win we can get helps us to get to that point where we want to make playoffs,” said Woodward, whose team has not made districts since the field has been reduced from 32 to 23. “Any non-league win we can get helps our cause, but when it’s against a team like C.B. South, it does so much more for us.
“It gives us confidence, and it gives us a sense of purpose that we can play against the North Penns, Neshaminys and Pennsburys. We have worked so hard in the offseason as does everybody, and it’s just nice to have a validating win for the effort they put forth.”
The Indians will travel to Neshaminy for their league opener on Tuesday.
Hughes a proven winner – The voice mail message of Souderton coach Courtney Hughes sounds very much like every other message. Until, that is, the very end.
The Indians’ first-year coach closes with a line few athletes can make when Hughes says, “And I’ll always be a national champion.”
Hughes was a key member of Lock Haven University’s 2006 NCAA Division II national championship squad. She wasn’t just part of the team, she was the star of the team. Hughes was named a first team All-American as well as the NCAA Division II National Player of the Year, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Hughes – a second team Division II All-American in field hockey in 2002 – graduated from Lock Haven with the career record in RBIs, doubles, home runs and total bases – only her home run record has been broken. She still holds the single season record in all of those categories as well.
In 2007 and 2009, Hughes played for Storm USA, a major softball team based in California.
“It’s been awesome to be able to come back to this program and to be able to bring back everything I have learned to the girls in the community and to be a woman representing softball – I think that’s what is really neat,” Hughes said. “The girls have shown a lot of respect, and they listen.
“They’re not always given the opportunity to learn the game from someone who has played the game and still plays the game, and that’s something they’re able to do now, which they haven’t in the past. It’s been a really great response by the kids. They’re working hard, they’re listening, they respond well to constructive criticism and instructions. So far, it’s going very well.”
Returning to her alma mater has been a dream come true for Hughes, a math teacher at Indian Valley Middle School.
“Coming back to Souderton has always been my hope because I love our area, I love our community, and I always wanted to be a part of it for as long as I can remember,” she said. “I knew as soon as I was done with college, I wanted to come back and teach in my district because I had such a wonderful experience here, and I love the community.
“It’s an awesome feeling to be able to come back to your alma mater and give back where you got your start.”
Souderton opens new chapter – Courtney Hughes knew only one way to play during a stellar career at Souderton and later at Lock Haven University and that is aggressively. She plans to coach the same way.
So far, so good.
The Indians pounded out 14 hits in their 14-2 win over Upper Dublin in their season opener last Friday. On Thursday, junior hurler Brittany Beebe tossed a no hitter in the Indians’ 1-0 win over Cheltenham.
Hughes will take a win any way she can get it.
“The offense is kind of our wild card,” the first-year coach said. “I have two fantastic pitchers (Beebe and Liz Parkins), but our offense has been the wild card. Is it going to show up consistently? Are we going to consistently be able to score runs? Based on what they showed against Upper Dublin, I was pleased beyond belief.”
In the Indians’ season-opening win over the Flying Cardinals, the Indians were paced by their two, five, six and seven hitters – Taylor Yoder, Alex Faccenda, Mollie Burrell and Liz Sowers. All four collected three hits.
Olivia Shoemaker and Alycia Stiles – who bat out of the three and four holes – figure to be the Indians’ big bats this season, so any production Hughes can get out of the rest of her lineup will be a bonus of sorts.
In the Indians’ 1-0 win over the Panthers, it was Yoder manufacturing a run. The speedy sophomore singled and immediately stole second. She moved up to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a throwing error.
The big story of Thursday’s win was Beebe, who fanned 15 in an overpowering effort and walked just three.
“She did a great job,” Hughes said. “In the first inning, she was struggling to find her location, but even then, she was able to be effective.
“She really started settling in and hitting her location and was really setting up the hitters. She mixes her pitches well, and that’s one of the things she worked on in the offseason. She has some great options, and we were able to use them effectively. She was really trusting her pitches.”
Beebe also received an assist from her defense to preserve the no-hitter in the seventh.
“Alycia Stiles made a huge play and used her arm on a ball hit up the middle,” Hughes said of her shortstop. “Brittany (Beebe) slowed it down, and Alycia fired to first.
“On a swinging bunt, (third baseman) Elysha Sowers charged hard and threw over to first. They both made excellent plays to keep the no-hitter. It was awesome. It was a total team effort.”
Souderton will host Council Rock South in a non-league contest on Monday.
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