Another Unsuccessful Crusade: WG 11, CJ 0

Can you play a good game against a not good team? Yes, you can. You do it by playing your game at your speed and not playing down to their level, which is what we did today against the Crusaders of Cor Jesu. Like most of the battles of the real Crusades, the battles were kind of one-sided and generally the Crusaders didn’t fare so well. Which sort of begs the question of why pick that as your mascot….

In any case, I suggested to the girls that they should put BTO’s “Taking Care of Business” on their warm up playlist. I only suggested the song; Coach Cerutti knew the group. He also gets credit for calling the play that resulted in the defensive highlight, a “strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out” double play to end the second inning and curtail a first-and-third threat with a strong throw from Marko to T. Smith at second.

Strong pitching in the circle from O and Nic. Our biggest struggle was waiting on the s-l-o-w offerings of CJ’s (not Muggs) pitcher. Friday and Morgan (helpfully batting in the 2 & 3 holes) stung the ball all four times, accounting for 7 hits and 7 runs between. Friday was our POG.

I apologize for not getting more pix on the blog. Please check back, maybe tomorrow, for today’s game and yesterday’s, but my energy is slipping away faster than the hours on the clock. So, far now, here’s the box score and the brackets for Saturday’s Fox JV Tournament. Friday will be a short practice, focusing on hitting. Given that weather is turning cooler, it may not mean as much but the girls can wear shorts for practice on Friday.

Declawedl Cats: WG 15, Hazelwood West 0

Two programs going in opposite directions. It wasn’t that long ago that Hazelwood West was a serious competitor, but while we’re adding teams and talent, the declawed Wildcats are struggling to find players at all, much less players with experience. I credit the Feeder League for that.

Here’s the main takeaway from today’s 15-0 win over Hazelwood West. It’s not news to me or Coach Cerutti or Coach Wylie, but it’s something I shared with the girls today, and now with you, the readers. 

Of the many things I like about this team, perhaps what I like best is how they take care of their business, take responsibility for their preparation. They don’t need us to yell at them to get going, or warm up, or take care of their own or the team equipment. They know what they need to do and go about doing it. While we’re talking about a softball team, this is a valuable life skill that these young women are growing.

There really wasn’t much to the game. We probably could have scored our needed 15 runs in the first inning or two, but there was no need so we put on the brakes and the mercy rule wasn’t triggered until 2 outs in the bottom of the third. We hit what could, played solid defense and went home early.

Tomorrow might be something similar as we take on the Crusaders of Cor Jesu over at Affton. We are looking forward to evening up the playing time and ABs (no, spell-check, not abs) of our valuable reserves – which brings up one final point and another thing I really like about the players on this team. They are good, unselfish teammates, willingly giving up time, without complaint, for their teammates when asked, understanding that we are more than a group, we’re a team.

Did I mention how much I like these girls? Yeah, thought so. Check back for pictures.

Surfin' Safari, Riding the Waves to an Easy Win: WG 21, Festus 3

It’s JV Softball and the one thing you know is that you never know. We travelled south to Festus down a player (freshman 3B Morgan Lawrence, who was ill), prepared to try to cage some tough Tigers. 

The safari ended quickly, if not officially, when we put up a 7-spot in the top of the first and Olivia Leaver, with defensive help from Taylor Smith who slid over to third from short, put up a quick zero. We added on each inning, and except for a field goal in the second quarter, I mean inning, clamped down on defense and walked, ran and hit our way to a 21-3 win, as Nicola Rikand threw two hitless innings to close things out. 

With hits up and down the lineup and speed putting pressure on the Tigers’ defense, it was just a matter of time before we decamped back to STL with our eighth win and pushed our record back over the .500 mark.

Hazelwood West comes to visit Tuesday and we head over to Affton Athletic Association to take on Cor Jesu in what we expect to be competitive games before prepping for the Fox JV Tournament next weekend. But the girls get this weekend, a long one because we’re including tomorrow in it, off and resume practice on Monday. Lots of noise and energy today as the girls cheered and supported each other and made Coach Kate’s bus ride a worthwhile trip.

The camera never escaped the backpack today, so the only pic we have is from a warm up game the girls invented (to practice their ABCs) as we waited for the bus.

This game, getting all the way through the alphabet song before the crumpled paper bag hit the ground proved slightly more challenging than our opponents today. See you at the field on Tuesday.

Webster (14) Lights Up Chargers (5)

I don’t know that “Wednesday Night Lights” has the ring to make it a TV series or movie, but there were some “Must See” moments as we took on Cor Jesu under the lights at Affton Athletic as we followed the varsity contest against the same team. 

Taylor Knapp racked up her 21^st JV victory to break Olivia Collins old 2-season mark of 20; it was also TK’s 12^th win of the year as she led the JV into Friday’s Kirkwood game with a 12-1 mark. We were thankful for a challenge as we expect the Pioneers to be a tough team as we finish out our week. Join us at Plymouth Field as we take on our rivals.

Heady, aggressive baserunning put pressure on the CJ defense and Myah King put pressure on the limited number of softballs the Chargers brought to the party by powering two (yes, count ‘em, two) over the fence. We may have been the visitors but we ended up contributing a couple balls to the cause – and were happy to do so. The Cor Jesu coach decided she was convinced and called for intentional walks for Myah’s last two ABs. But Marko foiled that strategy in the seventh as she drove in two with a line single, then scored herself.

In the field, Myah also helped turn one of the two double plays (Nicola Rikand got the other) that blunted both threats Cor Jesu mounted. Venus Moran (2 hits) made another great catch and Taylor Smith (3 hits) snared a couple liners.

Their team featured their JV plus a couple back-end varsity bench players, including their second pitcher, from their varsity squad. However, they approached the game the right way and didn’t try to sneak in a regular position player, but that we handled them with a minimum of drama speaks well to our team’s abilities and preparation. Once again, all eleven available players contributed to a well-deserved team victory.

TK shows the form that has helped her set a new JV Career Wins Record, 21, breaking Olivia Collins' old mark.

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Shortstop Nicola Rikand takes a strong throw but the CJ base thief just beats Marko's peg.

Catcher Nora Marcinkiewicz catches one of TK's five strikeouts on the way to a 14-5 win.

We teach "Find the fence" and third sacker Myah King did a good job of that. Unfortunately, the fence found the ball before she could make the play.

When you have three players (Myah King, Nicola Rikand, and Emmy Gary) all converging on a short pop up, the out will be recorded more often than not. This one was.

No chance for the Charger runner to beat the throw to first.

Exit Laughing (with Tears): Webster 17, Cor Jesu 0

The only games all season to be threatened by rain were the first and last, and we had to play through some light sprinkles today. Not that the weather was going to slow down this team!

Last year, facing Cor Jesu in our last game, we had trouble regaining our momentum from the Hancock tournament and thus finished our season with a loss. A couple factors kept that from happening this year, including the minor detail that this year’s edition of CJ wasn’t very good. However, we also kept our focus, took care of business, and quickly dispatched the Chargers by a 17-0 score.

I’d feel worse for them except for a minor incident as we were cruising in what was clearly going to be our last at bat (in the bottom of the second inning). We had not only taken our foot off the gas, we had even slammed on the brakes, leaving base early to end the first inning, stopping stealing, not scoring on the multitude of passed balls and wild pitches, etc.

We wanted to make sure every player participated in the last game of this magical season and were freely substituting. Apparently the umpire did not hear me call out the substitution. (I was pretty casual, although loud enough to be heard by most everyone else, by this time.) Apparently not trusting us to not run up the score, the CJ coach complained that we had made an illegal substitution (of our #4 hitter and clean-up batter) because the umpire had not reported the change to her, thus generating an out for “batting out of order” and depriving our sub of a walk and RBI. The umpire apologized after the game for not hearing the change. Irksome, but not a real problem. We just started scoring on passed balls and wild pitches to ensure we ended the game as quickly as possible. Karma is a real thing.

At the end the girls presented Coach Kate with her own spirit animal (unicorn), shed a tear or six, enjoyed one last break (“WEBSTER!!”), applauded their parents and fans for the season-long support, and headed for what I hope remains a tradition long after my last game, a trip to Serendipity for ice cream and more memories. I’ll have more to say in a day or two, with photos from the tournament and this game, a season wrap up, and perhaps another article of observation, but for now, 22-2 will stand as a record for a long, long time.

Taking Care of Business: Webster 16, Fox 2

We travelled to Fox (of the $2 gate ticket and artificial turf) with two objectives in mind: 1) win the game to tie the record for most JV wins in a season; 2) provide opportunities to play to girls who have worked hard and improved their game but have not had the chance to show it as much as we all would have liked. Check and check. Behind strong pitching, defense (Megan Hayes!), and 20 hits (including a Kelly Collins homer and a Hannah Jansen triple), we jumped out early and added on steadily en route to a 16-2 6-inning victory.

I know this starts to get old (does winning ever get old? Really? Uh, no.), and I admit, wordsmith that I am, that I’m having trouble coming up with new ways to praise this team. After this game I was talking to a former student whose daughter plays for Fox (she’s injured, out for the season) and told him how great the girls were (not how good of players they were). I said, “And they’re pretty good….” at which point his daughter interjected, “No, they’re VERY good.”

We’ll just leave it there. Join us at home for a grudge rematch against Kirkwood (this year it’s their grudge) and the wrap up of our first JV conference championship when we take on Ritenour on Thursday. That leaves our 3-game Hancock tournament and the finale against Cor Jesu Tuesday. Thanks for your support.

Reminder: please let me know about your decision on the photobooks as soon as you can. These are just a few from today because it is late.

Falcon Wings Clipped: Webster 14, Summit 3

Heading into this afternoon’s conference tilt against the Summit Falcons we had a 3-0 conference record and a 14-2 overall mark.

We clipped the Falcons’ wings in the top of the first, turning a sacrifice bunt into a double play thanks to heads up play by Megan Hayes (2B) and Carissa Castro (who moved from 2B to LF for this game) and then flew around the bases ourselves, running Summit out of the game and ourselves into contention for an undefeated conference season. (Ritenour will visit on Thursday to complete our conference schedule.)

Behind Taylor Knapp’s consistent pitching in the circle and Kelly Collins four straight hits at the top of the lineup, we jumped out with a 6-run first and were never really threatened again, giving us a chance to let all our players the opportunity to contribute. One of the joys of this team, for me as a coach, is the unselfishness I see every game. That attitude is a tribute the character of these 14 good players and great young women.

Thanks to the girls for the pictures of today’s contest. We travel to Fox on Monday, and will try to give the girls who have been role players, for the most part, a chance to shine. We are lucky enough to be able to field a competitive team no matter who is in uniform.

We will practice Tuesday in preparation for “Sophomore Day” against the added Wednesday home game against Kirkwood, a chance to honor our six super sophs and the leadership they have brought to the 2017 Statesmen. Thursday against Ritenour wraps up our conference schedule and a real chance to celebrate a conference championship (unofficial, of course). We have the Hancock Tournament next weekend, at Affton Athletic, where we will try to defend our 3 straight championships.

We close the season on Tuesday, Oct. 4 with a final home game against Cor Jesu, followed by a visit to Serendipity and a team celebration of what I expect will be a record-setting season. I am collecting orders for the photobooks, a chance to support the program and get a great souvenir of your daughter’s season. You’ve only seen a few of the many pictures from which our editors will be choosing.

2016 Season in Review

This one always takes me a while to write. That is in part because I need time to decompress after the season. It would seem I internalize a lot of stress. My post-season massage never got to my legs because the entire hour was spent getting the knots out of my back, neck and shoulders. But it’s time to move the page views from the Cor Jesu game to something new.

Anyway, had you told me we would finish the season 16-4 with another trophy to display at the banquet, my only disappointment would have been not with the four games in which we were defeated but in the four games we lost (to weather and other things beyond our control).

Put it on a loop, because I say it at the beginning and end of every season: "JV Softball is like a box of chocolates...."  Sorry, could not pass it up, but suffice to say I make no predictions.


We do, of course, set expectations for our program, but those expectations have nothing to do with wins, losses, or any other statistic. However, our goals are fairly consistent from year to year:

     1 -  There should be a noticeable improvement in each girl's individual skill level as we compare the first practice in August to the last game in October.

     2 -  There should be an obvious growth in team culture, and, although that may look different from year to year, a team bond and commitment to teammates must be part of that culture.

     3 -  Our JV Statesmen should maintain a high level of sportsmanship and competitiveness that reflects positively on the school and the district. We want to be a respected and sought after opponent.

     4 -  We should produce at least 5 varsity-ready players that Coach Gibson can think about as part of the mix for the next season.

     5 -  Every player should be able to look back on the season as a worthwhile and enjoyable investment of her time, and at least 80% (dead minimum) should be looking forward and committed to continuing in the program next season, including participating in the off-season activities and workouts.


I think I can safely speak for my invaluable assistant coaches, Chris Fechtel and Kate Wylie, when I declare this season a success. We are lucky to have such a large and talented coaching staff, from the contracted staff to the many volunteers. I respect and enjoy working with all of them.

Parental involvement and support is never something I take for granted, although it's been consistently outstanding every year. But I started my coaching career at Hancock High School. By the fourth game of a Statesman season, I have met and almost always seen at a game virtually every parent of every player. I can tell you that by the end of any four year stretch at Hancock, I hadn't met every parent with a senior in the program. The support and sportsmanship the parents modeled for their daughters is an integral part of our success. Thank you for that.

The girls just voted today on their award winners, and to tell you the truth, I didn't even look at the ballots, mostly because I don't care who won what. We carried 16 girls, perhaps a few too many, but we carried 16 winners, 16 fine young women who represented their school, their team, their families, but most importantly, themselves with class. What a pleasure to work with them and watch them grow as players and people.


Softball is a stats-driven game, and I, having been raised with a scorecard in my hand, baseball cards next to my bed, and Strato-Matic players hidden away for midnight (and later) games with my brother, am a self-confessed numbers nerd. I don't post statistics during the season for a variety of reasons. First, I don't want to get into discussions about whether something was or was not a hit or an error, either at bat or afield. Second, I don't want to have discussions about who is playing when or where based on stats that may not reflect performance and/or ability. Finally, those parents who really want to keep track can do their own math based on the box scores, and I tried to keep those accurate and up to date.


As has become a tradition, below are the season totals. For comparison purposes, I am also including the stats from the seven previous years. For a better view, you can open/double click each year separately. I do want to give a shout out to our pitching staff (who, incidentally gave their own shout out to our three catchers and their improvement over the course of season): 26 walks in 20 games, a 3:1 KO to BB ratio. Combine that with a fielding percentage of over .900, and you have an explanation for our success. In short, we played good softball. 


    Again, many thanks to all involved, coaches, parents, district administration, but especially the girls who never gave us less than their best, for a great season. Looking forward to another great year in 2017.