Late Start, Quick Finish: WG 20, Hazelwood West 0

It was almost 3:45 by the time we were on our way to Hazelwood West to take on the Wildcats. Although the game didn’t start until a little after 4:30 we were on our way home by 5:30, even spending time celebrating Friday’s birthday with cookies, cake, and a 20-0 (her number is 20) shutout. It takes a little time to score that many runs, and the final inning featured two “Code Blue” calls (our runner leaves early to generate an out).

Taylor Knapp was extremely efficient, throwing 27 strikes out of the 30 pitches it took to finish her three innings. Our defense wasn’t really tested but made the plays to score the three other outs besides strikeouts. Our batters adjusted to the slow tosses of the ‘Cats hurler and, well, the game was essentially over quickly. The girls showed a lot of class, played their game, but treated their opponents with respect. “Win with class, lose with class” is the WG mantra and our players do a great job with that.

We have the “late” game tomorrow against Cor Jesu at Affton, then finish the week at home against arch-rival Kirkwood.

Myah King gets the first out of the game with a strong throw to Lydia Beggs.

Taylor Knapp tied the school record for career JV pitching victories, notching her 20th in the circle.

Sophomore Caitlyn Boyle, in her first year of softball, is developing her bunting/slapping skills, and batting over .600. Today she had three hits and a walk.

Lydia Beggs plays a variety of roles, both corner IF spots, DP, and team leader.

Myah King and Taylor Smith go for a shot looper. Myah got the ball and a bit of Taylor's face.

Play Ball! Webster v. Affton Tomorrow

Weather permitting and the (Gravois) Creek don’t rise, we have our first pitch tomorrow at Affton Athletic Association fields, immediately following the varsity contest. The Cougars are a little short on players, but rather than cancel the JV, they will try to supplement with leftover or little used varsity players. I’m hopeful that will make the game more competitive. The JV will take the bus with the varsity (around 3 p.m.) and have the opportunity to cheer on their teammates for a while before getting ready for our own first pitch. I would expect we would start no sooner than 5:30, and, of course, perhaps later.

Before revealing the tentative (always tentative) starting lineup, let’s share some news. The Thursday game against Nerinx Hall at Kirkwood Athletic will apparently start around 5 p.m., assuming logistics can be worked out with the umpires. We have added a September 20 game at home vs. the Oakville Tigers. Expect that one to be competitive and a challenge. We are also looking to add a second game with Kirkwood, details to be announced.

Those games are to compensate for two others teams, Parkway North and Parkway West who will also be fielding hybrid JV squads, but without the Affton advantage of lights those games may be curtailed. It also kind of builds in insurance in the event of a rainout that cannot be rescheduled. Activities Director Jerry Collins has done a good job trying to ensure we get to play a full schedule.

The girls have done a great job in running a supportive but competitive preseason, making our job as coaches very difficult in deciding the lineup for this first game. In all my years of coaching (30+ years now), the starting lineup for Game 1 has never been the starting lineup for the season finale. I don’t expect 2017 to be any different. But below is (probably) what we’ll look like as we take the field tomorrow. Join us for another exciting season of Webster softball.

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:

Making Mush (of the Huskies) Webster 23, Ritenour 8

Not our best game, by far. We played down to the competition, a little, but Ritenour is a tough place to play -- lots of distractions and noise (football in the background), an uncertain field and a floating strike zone. A "lost bus" (the company's explanation, which I'm not buying; in this age of radio communication and GPS, how lost could a bus get?!?) also put the rush on game prep as we didn't arrive at RHS until 4:15 and got started on just past 4:30. We were able to do a thorough inspection of the area in front of Roberts Gym at WGHS, however, and did not find any safety issues.

The first inning was only one of the four we didn't bat around; we scored just 3 runs with 8 batters. After that we did a generally good job of adjusting to the slower speed of their pitchers and, while we stopped stealing after the second inning, still put pressure on their very shaky defense with aggressive base running.

Every player again saw significant playing time again, always a good thing. Josie Krueger won her fourth game and joined Olivia Weik, Zoe Schulz, Emma Hintze and Julia Love with multi-hit games. We got our first put-out at first base with a throw from RF (Karlee Scholtes), proving why we practice that particular play. The conference win evens our record at 1-1 with another conference foe on the agenda for Wednesday as we travel to Parkway North. Road Warrior Week concludes with a trip to Festus on Thursday. We'll see who takes on the role of Imperator Furiosa for that game.

Congratulations to Olivia Weik who earned a well-served promotion and will travel with varsity to the Liberty Tournament this weekend as a potential courtesy runner.