Jess Mower had herself quite a Carpenter Cup Tournament.
The North Penn sophomore hit at a torrid .462 clip (6-for-13) with two doubles and three RBIs. Her on-base percentage was .733, and she played every inning of every game, but talk to Mower, and she could care less about personal stats.
The highlight of competing in the all-star classic?
“We all became friends, and that was a lot of fun,” Mower said. “Our team bonded. It would have been really awkward if you went in and no one really talked or anything.
“A lot of us are sophomores and freshmen, so we’ll be back next year, and we’ll get to play together again.”
The SOL American-Continental’s run in Carpenter Cup play came to an end on Monday morning when the SOL fell to Lehigh Valley 3-1 in a game played at FDR Park, but this experience is about more than winning and losing.
“Every year the kids that come to these tryouts are the ones who love the game and really want to play, so you’re getting kids who really want to be there,” Upper Dublin coach Heather Boyer said. “It’s definitely worthwhile.
“I think I say this every year, but it’s fun for the girls because they get to know each other on a different level. They’re so used to competing against each other during the entire regular season in the league, and now they get to know each other.
“You here it all the time, ‘Wow, I have a hard time not liking her anymore because she’s really nice.’ You have such fierce competition during the season, and you think everyone else is a bad guy. Then you get to know them because you’re on the same sideline, and all of a sudden, it’s fine. Next year when these girls see each other within league play, that’s a fun, competitive rivalry.
“It gives you a different appreciation for the game. It’s more than winning or losing. It’s learning how to play the game properly and competitively. There are things beyond the win-loss column.”
Monday’s loss was the second of the double elimination tournament for the SOL American-Continental, which finished tournament play with a 2-2 record and was one of five teams remaining in the 16-team tournament.
Boyer didn’t have to look far to figure out what went wrong on Monday.
“We only had four hits, and two of them didn’t leave the infield,” the Flying Cardinals’ coach said.
The SOL American-Continental scored its only run in the fourth. Norristown’s Stephanie Dinolfi led off the inning with a single and immediately stole second. She advanced to third on Mower’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on a groundout by Michelle Holweger.
“We didn’t hit very well,” Mower said. “We had a lot of strikeouts.”
The only other hits of the game were a double by Mower in the sixth as well as singles by Central Bucks West’s Cassie Zanolini and Upper Dublin’s Ashleigh Sharp.
Mower – who plays for the Warrington Blue Thunder – is hoping she can keep her hot bat the rest of the summer.
“I was in a big batting slump, so it was really good to get out of that,” she said. “It was kind of hard seeing (the tournament) end.”
But for Mower, at least, there’s always next year.
NOTES: While it may be a sacrifice for the players to give up their time to compete in the Carpenter Cup, it’s also a major sacrifice for the coaches. “It is a ton of work,” Boyer said. “You have four weekends of tryouts, and then all the paperwork you have to get organized and trying to recruit kids to come out there – there’s a ton of behind-the-scenes work.” Boyer credited her assistants – North Penn coach Rick Torresani and Norristown’s Jon Kandrick for their help. “They’re great,” she said. “Rick does a fantastic job with the pitchers. He’s very intelligent when it comes to calling pitches and working with kids. Jon is really good about keeping them loose and working on situations – when to call the bunt, when to call hit-and-run. It’s a really good balance.” It all added up to a good experience for players and coaches alike.
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