Softball
Favorite athlete: Carlos Ruiz
Favorite team: Phillies
Favorite memory competing in sports: Winning the Section 2 championship versus Upper Darby when I was nine years old. It was the first game I ever played under the lights – I felt so cool.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: I was running from second to third and tripped, got up, and tripped again. I should have scored, but I was lucky I made it safely to third.
Music on iPod: Country
Future plans: I plan to enroll at Brown University where I will major in Neuroscience and play softball.
Words to live by: “When life throws you a curveball, hit it out of the park.”
One goal before turning 30: Cure Alzheimer’s Disease
One thing people don’t know about me: I like writing essays.
By Mary Jane Souder
Fast forward down the road 12 years.
Julia Shoenewald could well be embarking on a career as neurologist, and if the present is any indication, the Central Bucks East senior will be a comforting figure for those needing her services.
Schoenewald, according to her coach, has an unassuming style of communicating that has made her effective in every setting.
“She’s a really good communicator and keeps me aware of the heartbeat of the team, letting me know if there’s something going on or if there’s something we need to work on,” East softball coach Erin Scott said. “If we’re doing something at practice, I’ll say, ‘Is this getting old? Should we do something else?’ She’ll be like, ‘No, this is good, this is working. We really need to keep doing it.’
“With two young pitchers, if they’re struggling a little bit, I don’t need to call timeout. She’ll step up and go talk to them, calm them down without me having to go out there which is good.
“Julia is a very mature person, and especially this year, I think she’s more confident in her role and more of a leader.”
That confidence has spread to her teammates, and whether or not Shoenewald becomes a neurologist, there’s no mistaking the traits that have made her such an effective leader of this year’s softball squad.
The Patriots find themselves in the state tournament for the first time in more than a decade. That success, according to Scott, can be attributed to Schoenewald – a rare two-year captain - and an extraordinary group of seniors, five of whom has been on the varsity for four years.
“They’re such a great group of kids,” the Patriots’ coach said. “They love each other and get along together. They have really stepped up and made the younger players feel welcome on the team, and they are teaching them and leading them by example.
“I look forward to going to practice and games, and we have a type of chemistry and unity that is hard to build as a coach.”
Talk to Schoenewald, and it doesn’t take long to realize the senior captain understands exactly how special this – her final high school season - has been.
“I was saying to my sister that I feel like the upperclassmen never stressed how much they wanted to win and how special this team is,” she said. “We, as underclassmen, didn’t really know how much it meant, and now we’re in their shoes.
“We’ve known all along that this was a special group, and we could go far, and we have a lot of talent, so we’ve been telling the underclassmen from day one – ‘This is huge. You’re never going to be part of something this special again, so we want to make the best of our season that we have and see what we can do.’”
Schoenewald has been a fixture in the starting lineup since she walked onto the diamond. As a freshman, she played first base, but she has been a rock behind the plate since her sophomore season.
“She’s got a real good arm, and she gets rid of the ball quickly,” said Scott, herself also a catcher. “I think the catcher is the quarterback of the team, and especially this year, I think she’s gotten even more comfortable and confident in her role.”
Schoenewald is the team’s top offensive weapon, hitting at a .500 clip during the regular season and leading the team in RBIs.
“She is a very consistent player, which I think is one of the biggest things in softball,” Scott said. “She doesn’t strike out much, she puts the ball in play.
“She’s also disciplined at the plate. If they’re not throwing strikes, she can pick up a walk. She has power and can hit home runs, and she can hit singles. She can do it all.”
Schoenewald developed a love affair with softball at a young age, although she did play other sports. She swam competitively until ninth grade and was a member of the varsity field hockey team until her senior year when she opted to focus her time and energy into softball.
A veteran of the Warrington Blue Thunder program that is a feeder to the Central Bucks schools, Schoenewald has developed friendships with teammates and opponents alike. She lists her experience with her Carpenter Cup team last summer – which resulted in a championship – as another opportunity to make new acquaintances.
“The North Penn girls – I love all of them,” Schoenewald said. “I was texting them before their Pennridge (district) game wishing them luck. Both of our schools were pulling for each other.”
But it is the chemistry she shares with her teammates that Schoenewald values most.
“It’s been so long that we have all been playing together, and this is kind of like our last hurrah, our last chance to play together because next year we’ll all be going in different directions,” she said. “We’ve shared this bond for so long, and this is our last chance to be teammates.
“I think that’s helped us be so successful this year because we’ve had this amazing team chemistry, and we’ve worked so well together.”
Making her softball experience even more special is the fact that she has shared it with her sister Caroline, the Patriots’ junior second baseman.
“This is my last year playing with her, so I’m loving every second of it,” Schoenewald said. “It’s unbelievable.
“I don’t know what I’d do without her. Having her right behind me in the lineup – we’re always back-to-back, and it’s huge to know she’s coming up next and having all the confidence in the world and being able to cheer her on. I love it.”
Next year, Schoenewald will take her talents to Brown University where she will major in neuroscience.
“The coach at Brown was new, so she was looking for recruits,” Schoenewald said. “It had always been a school I was considering for a long time.
“I started talking to the coach, I went up for a visit, and I just absolutely love it, and everything just fell into place. I got really lucky.”
Softball is just one small piece of Schoenewald’s life. She has been an officer of the East’s student council all through high school and this year is president of the school’s governing body.
For the past two years, Schoenewald has organized and run the Mr. East talent show, one of the year’s biggest events. She is a teen leader of her church youth group, and in the classroom, Schoenewald excels. She is a member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society.
“She’s just a really well-rounded kid,” Scott said. “She works hard, she’s disciplined. She’s involved in lot of different things.
“As a freshman, she was just a really confident player. Also, she brought a lot of other things to the table like her work ethic, her discipline. She was more quiet in the beginning, but she’s really come out of her shell. It’s been neat to see her grow over the years. She will definitely be successful in whatever route she goes.”
