Batter Up! Time to Throw Out the First Pitch of 2016

And so it starts, another high school softball season, my 39^th (I think: #joysofaging) high school team, 21 here at WGHS. I do have a Facebook group (Tiger-Statesmen Softball Players) which will also carry this blog. Our first game is Tuesday against the Cougars of Affton at Affton Athletic on Gravois (game time is 4:15).

We are carrying a large squad this year, 16 girls. That will present a challenge in terms of finding playing time. While we are not playing for world peace or an end to hunger, this is interscholastic, not recreational, softball. Less experienced and/or skilled players may have trouble getting many opportunities. Patience and practice will need to be their watchwords and we’ll work to find chances for them to experience the game and achieve success, either at bat, on the bases, or in the field.

I mentioned it to the girls the other day, but you can help your daughter by reminding her that every day, every practice, every drill, every warm-up, every catch and throw counts, and is a chance to get better and to demonstrate her skills and growth as a player. With so much competition for playing time (and advance warning, there is a large and very talented crop of eighth graders waiting for their chance to join the program), encourage your player to work hard at improving all aspects of her game.

This blog will be updated (theoretically) after each game, complete with a summary, comments, and box score, and often pictures (courtesy of Amy Love) of home games. If a parent wants to take pictures at away games, I have a camera that should allow for that opportunity – or you can use your own. (Note: softball is tough to shoot; in addition to softball teams, I also advised 13 yearbooks and took tens of thousands of pictures over those years.) Also, if we have a parent or two who are scorekeeping nerds, there is a program (Game Changer) that works on an iPhone or iPad (data plan needed) that would allow other parents to follow the game in real time for those who can’t make it to whatever field we’re playing at. Let me know if either of these “opportunities” appeals to you (bobberndt530@gmail.com).

Occasionally I will post and/or tweet (follow either @CoachBerndt or @berndtsbuddies (I don’t want to throw any assistant coach under the bus but I didn’t pick that handle nor will I actually send those tweets) the projected starting lineup for that day’s game, subject to last minute changes due to absence, or injury, of course. Speaking of that, if your daughter will NOT be available for whatever reason, as much advance notice as you can provide will be appreciated. In theory I have set the blog to be tweeted automatically. However, at the top right of the blog is a way for you to subscribe to automatic notifications (again, in theory). 

I’m looking forward to the season, mostly because I like the way this team is coming together, rooting for and supporting each other. I’m lucky to be supported by two strong assistant coaches, Chris Fechtel and Kate Wylie, as well as the varsity team of Head Coach Bryan Gibson, Sam Pitlyk, Dave Knapp and Doug Dickman. That’s a lot of instruction available, although practices will be limited as the games get going. Speaking of which, here’s our schedule (lots of early home cooking) through August:

Playing for Plastic: Successful Defense of Hancock Tourney Championship

I would like to tell you that winning all three games to successfully defend our Hancock Tournament Championship took away the pain from my back. It didn't. But it did at least make the agony worth it.

Game 1: Webster 15, Hancock 0

Taking nothing away from the Tigers, where I began my coaching career, but this was the walkover we expected, although it took taking the foot off the brakes in the 3rd to gain the 15-run mercy win, after Hancock shut us out in the second inning. I was pleased to learn that the school, with an enrollment of about 500, actually had more girls out for softball (28) than we did. Well, not pleased that we only had 27, but, you know. They also have teams in the feeder league for middle schoolers, so there's hope that the program can return to a competitive level. That half the kids on the feeder team, and 2-3 on their JV, are the daughters of former students is more than a little disconcerting, though.

Game 2: Webster 18, Parkway South 5

I expected this to actually be the championship tilt, given the strength of the P. South program. Yes, it was their freshman team, but many of their players come out of west county club ball. But we came out swinging, with quality ABs and our usual running game and the Patriots never quite knew what hit them. The first inning only ended because Jenna Hoffman's bullet up the middle found the pitcher's glove for a bases loaded, inning ending double play with 4 runs already across the plate.

When you pound out 20 hits and 18 runs (almost all earned), there are obviously lots of hitting stars, but for this section let's single out Nicole Preston's 3 for 3 with 4 RBI and Alina Castro's 3-for-3 and 3 RBI; Skyler Jones and Caroline Kinstler each contributed 2 hits, as did Josie Krueger backing her efforts in the circle as she notched her seventh win. Emma Hintze piled on with her first HR of her career. It wasn't just offense, though, as Julia Love slid over to third base and, as the country song goes, "...ripped out [the Patriot heart} and stomped that sucker flat...." with outstanding defensive play.

The Parkway South parents had been loud supporters of their team in its win in the first game over Affton, but were stunned by our offensive onslaught. One complimented our team as we made our way to Field 2 for the final, "Your girls can really hit!" Yes, yes they can.

Game 3: Webster 14, DuBourg 7

And we would need to. This was not the same DuBourg team we had dispatched with ease in the Parkway Central Tournament a few weeks before. And I mean literally not the same team as they brought 4 of their varsity players with them. That's not uncommon with smaller schools that use those players primarily as back-ups. However, I was a little disappointed that the Cavaliers did not take advantage of the opportunity to bat the lineup and left two of their JV players languishing on the bench. One of the reasons we play in this tournament is because it gives ALL our girls one last chance to showcase their skills. Even sophomore Karlee Scholtes, who, unfortunately, was forced to spend most of her season on the bench with a concussion and learning how to work the scoreboard, got to spend time in the first base coaching box and share in our success.

We needed those skills as we quickly fell behind 4-0 after just an inning and a half. One of the character traits of this 2015 squad is their adherence to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Rule #1: Don't panic. We narrowed the gap to 4-2, got a shutdown inning from Josie Krueger, who picked up her eighth win in relief, went ahead 5-4, but fell behind again 7-5 as the DuBourg's varsity stack at the top of their lineup added three more runs. 

The Statesmen were up to the task, however, putting a 6-spot on the board in the fourth and adding three more as the game ended with the time limit and Webster still batting. Becca DeGreeff had a Field 2 HR (If I could hit a 9-iron with that spin and precision, well, I'd still be a bad golfer) and didn't need her usual courtesy runner. (Nicole Preston had hers overturned by a ground rules interpretation that cost us a couple early runs, and had to settle for a double.) Emma Hintze, Julia Love, Skyler Jones, and (the aforementioned) Nicole Preston each had two hits in the championship game. Note that our hits game from our 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 11th batters in our lineup. 

Too snarky? Too bad. We kept running, piling up 12 stolen bases. No apologies. They may be the Cavaliers, but it was Webster who had the horses. It was a great gift on a cold day to see the joy in the girls' faces as they accepted the championship trophy. We'll bring it to the banquet on Monday, October 26 and then it can join its sister from 2013 (the tournament was rained out last year). The three wins pushed our final record to 14-9 and put the cap on a successful JV season.

Coming Soon: The Season Recap. For now, enjoy the last batch of pix from our team photographer, AmyJo Love.

Summit Feeling Blue: Webster 14, Summit 8

If you're ever tempted to complain about bad calls, remember this game. I think we win anyway, but I felt bad for Summit, who came out on the short end of almost every call in the field, including one where I called our runner out from the third-base coaching box, only to be overruled by the field ump. They may have been seeing red more than feeling blue, but they were gracious in the post-game and didn't take their (deserved) hard feelings out on us on a beautiful day for softball.

Despite having two players on the DL (Karlee Scholtes, concussion symptoms, Olivia Weik, flu), we used our speed and aggressive base running to push the agenda and open up a 12-3 lead. We couldn't push it over the 10-run rule, in part because of some curious base running of our own and questionable coaching decisions over in the third-base box.

Nevertheless, Josie Krueger earned her fifth win by taking over in the circle in Inning 2 and finishing out the game, showing good control with only 2 walks. Julia Love had a very strong game at second and the plate and Nicole Preston took advantage of her opportunity with 2 hits, 2 RBI, 2 putouts and an OF assist. Her strong back up allowed our substitute center fielder Alina Castro to be aggressive to the ball, freezing a runner and giving Nicole the chance to make the force out at second. 

Becca DeGreeff knocked in 4 runs with her two hits, including a triple and Josie, Alina, Caroline and Emma (who now has 27 RBI in just 14 games) each added a couple more to pace our 16-hit attack. 

Despite Olivia's absence we continued to see strong OF play and our IF was good, as well. Once again, a solid team effort resulted in our fourth win a row. We travel to Kirkwood Wednesday in another conference game that should present a challenge. Hope to see a lot of orange in the stands that afternoon.

In the meantime, here's today's box and some great shots from AmyJo Love. (Thanks, Amy)

New Location, Same Result: Parkway Central Tournament

We moved this year from the Francis Howell Tournament the last weekend in September to the Parkway Central Tournament closer to the midway mark of the season. The timing is better and we hoped the competition would be a little more balanced. 

There was still some carryover in teams (Timberland and Hazelwood West, both of whom we faced Saturday, of course), and the competition is uneven, but that is the nature of the beast, not just in JV softball but occasionally on the varsity level, as well. We felt like this tournament might allow us a better assessment, a mid-term grade, if you will. It also offers the (unneeded this year) potential to reschedule should weather become an issue.

But most of all, the FH Tourney had stopped being fun. We would travel a long way for a butt-kicking in the first game (ever since we came in second a few years ago we found ourselves in an extremely tough bracket – coincidence?), followed by a lopsided game in the other direction in Game 2, culminating in another butt-kicking in the finale (“consolation championship”). In other words, we weren’t really getting any opportunity to learn anything. A personal conflict that weekend aside, we had already talked to Activities Director Collins about finding a new tournament, and so we jumped at the chance when Parkway Central called.

We opened up against a very weak DuBourg Cavaliers squad. That program has made progress recently, but apparently took a step back this year. Josie Krueger pitched a 3-inning no hitter, walks were abundant, and the game ended with 2 outs in the bottom of the third, 15-0. The only real upside was the chance to give every play an AB, some of which weren’t planned.

It also gave us (too much) time to wait for the end of the game to determine our next opponent, a match of Kirkwood vs. Hazelwood West that went into extra innings. Hazelwood West took advantage of the rematch (we had defeated them 8-4 earlier) and with the help of a generous strike zone, and won easily, 10-1, as their pitched notched 11 of the 15 outs via KO. We played okay but never really mounted a threat. Had we been able to put the ball in play, as we did at our house a couple weeks ago, the result might have been different.

That set us up to play a new opponent, Fort Zumwalt West, in the third place game. They had just lost a tough contest to Timberland and were in a foul mood, thinking that game had cost them a chance to influence the course of world events or something. In any case, despite a 2-run bomb by Zoe Schulz, they broke the contest open with a 7-run fourth inning and scored the 10-run victory one out shy of finishing the 5^th inning. Not that it would have mattered, because we ran out of time, as well.

We were able to keep our promise that every girl would get one full game of batting and fielding, and the inevitability of the first and last game allowed us to provide playing time for the bench, as well. Even though we finished with a 1-2 record for the tournament (the same as the past few years out at Francis Howell), we felt like we had more competitive, balanced games, even if the outcomes were pretty clear early.

As far as mid-term grades go, Coach Cerutti and I feel like we may have turned the corner in team energy. The girls seem to be coming together in terms of commitment and team identity. We are pleased with their progress, both as softball players and teammates and look forward to the last three weeks, finishing up with the Hancock Tournament. Once again, we guarantee every girl will have at least one complete game at which to show her (hopefully improved) skills. Hancock is a little bit of an oddity (the tournament, although as a 37-year veteran of that high school, the school and district also fit that description), in that it offers us the option to “bat the lineup” like some summer leagues, and we take advantage of that.

So mark your calendars for the weekend of October 3 at Affton Athletic Association (no bus: some of you could walk there faster than the bus anyway), where we will try to defend our 2013 Championship (we were rained out last year). In the meantime, enjoy the box scores and AmyJo Love’s pictures from this weekend’s games.