Put the Hood on that Falcon: Webster 9, Summit 3

Was this a perfect game? No, but it was awfully good as we beat Summit, a team that had been improving steadily, according to their coach, for the second time this year. I think she expected this game to be closer, given the 12-8 loss the Falcons had taken when they visited us in August.

Our pitchers continue to impress, as we improved our overall record to 11-2. In those 13 games, our pitchers have walked 15 BATTERS TOTAL. That unbelievable statistic actually improved as our tandem of freshman Megan Hayes (3-0) and sophomore Josie Krueger (2 saves, 4 in her career) gave zero (0, nada, not one, none, etc.) free passes to Summit.

That kind of pitching deserves, and received, excellent defense, with 10 infield assists and a strong patrol of CF by Rebekah Riefle. Add in a balanced offense (each spot in batting order scored a run), with 10 hits spread across the lineup, paced by 2 each from our 4-5 hitters, sophomore Allyson Peters and freshman Claire Kellick, and the result is a 9-3 win. The umpire told Coach Fechtel he had never seen so many hard hit balls in a JV game. 

We still have room to improve in our baserunning, but on the defensive side of the ball we clearly had superior focus and concentration, as we (literally stole two runs and took advantage of Summit mistakes for three more. I cannot think of a single mental mistake behind our pitchers. That’s good softball.

Believe it or not, we have just one week left in our JV season, although it’s a busy one. Our last home game (Sophomore Start) is Tuesday against Fox, followed by a non-starter start game against Ritenour, a tilt against perhaps our toughest foe to date, Marquette, and the season-ending Hancock Tournament on Saturday, when we will go for the 3-peat and try to bring home the gold (plastic trophy).

Four of our JV sophomores, Josie Krueger, Julia Love, Allyson Peters and Zoe Schultz, will get to play with the varsity this weekend in the Parkway Central tournament, the sole benefit our tournament rainout last week. This team has a chance to break some records, including most wins and best winning percentage. I’d offer some incentive to them if they needed it to finish strong, but that’s just who they are.

Freshman Megan Hayes notched her third win against her toughest opponent to date. 

Julia Love continues to anchor the hot corner with consistently sold defense.

Noel Spatola did a great job calling pitchers and keeping our hurlers in the zone (the strike zone, that is).

Allyson Peters had two hits, played flawless defense and even converted an unassisted double play.

Freshman Rebekah Riefle recorded three big outs in CF, made a strong throw on a Sac Fly in the 6th.

Josie Krueger followed Megan with three strong innings to record her second save this year and fourth overall.

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.

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.