Fledgling Softball Teams Advance In Experience

PRISCILLA GREEAR, Staff Writer

Published: October 7, 2004

ATLANTA—The nascent yet synergistic softball teams at both Blessed Trinity High School and Our Lady of Mercy High School are on the upswing. These varsity girls are excited to be establishing solid programs and are striving to thrive in upcoming regional and state competitions.

The schools, founded in 2000, both have teams coached by men named Mark who teach A.P. calculus.

The softball team at Our Lady of Mercy High School is in its third year of existence, and members of the team are hitting hard, staying alert and determined and analyzing their strategies in hopes of coming out of regional competition as one of the top four teams to qualify for the first time for state sectional competition in the A division.

Mercy, located south of the airport in Fairburn, is coached by Mark Waxmonsky and assistant coach Tony Caruso. This year the team has a record, as of Oct. 4, of five wins and 10 losses, putting them at third in their region.

Mercy co-captain Robyn Keuler spoke of the “amazing difference” in the team since last year when they won only three games, as girls have pulled together and benefited from experience. They’re also having fun.

“I’m at home. I can be one with God out there because it’s what I love to do. I’m happy,” said Keuler, whose sister Amanda is now a freshman and the team’s centerfielder. “We just want to go to state. Last year we went to regional but missed going to state by one run by Landmark Christian, so that stung a little bit and we’d like to do it this time around.”

At Blessed Trinity High School in Roswell, the softball players are also discovering their potential and having a breakthrough season—as of Oct. 4 having won 15 games and lost two, making them fifth ranked in the state. The team is aiming high as the players prepare for AAA regional competition Oct. 12. The team broke into the rankings for the first time on Sept. 1 at number 9, after having made it to state sectional competition the two previous seasons. They’ve had eight shutouts this year. One of their best players, Liz Walker, is batting .447 and several others are above or approaching .400.

“The program has come a long way over the last three years,” said head coach Mark Bagwell. “Our goal is to win every game we play, period. We feel we’ve got a good enough team to make some noise. We feel there are so many good teams out there we’re trying to just get better one game at a time. We believe that we got a chance to do some special stuff this year.”

He loves how his Titans battle hard and don’t let anything frustrate them. “If the other team scores a run, they say ‘we will score two.’ The self-confidence they have developed is phenomenal,” he added.

Mercy Falls, But Hopes Remain High

At Mercy, on a pleasant afternoon on Sept. 28, it was a home game against Eagles Landing Christian School. As the sun began to cast a shadow on the baseball field, pitcher LaMonica Moreland began warming up with the catcher for that day’s game, Robyn Keuler, who is normally the second baseman. Inside the field Coach Waxmonsky, Mercy’s A.P. calculus teacher and technology coordinator, led the warm-up by tossing up the ball and hitting it to different players. After finishing practice, Moreland spoke of how she decided to join the team last year, out of her love of watching the Braves. Braves player Andruw Jones especially inspires her with his dedication, and she knows “everything about him.”

“He just seems so dedicated to his game and has gotten better every year. Hopefully I can do that.”

When she first joined the team, the coach asked her if she wanted to try pitching, and as it turns out she’s the only pitcher now on the team.

“I think we’re going to go to state … Last year we only won a few games and this year we have won five in a row… we’re doing really good,” she said. “I enjoy just the people on the team. They are so friendly to be around, and the coaches are really good coaching, and we have a lot of fun in practice and that makes it a lot more fun. And we’re having a really good season so that makes it better too.”

Sitting on the grass in her red Bobcats uniform, she said the coaches work well with and don’t yell at them, while demanding a lot. This summer they started practicing twice a week. They run a mile before and after practice.

She appreciates that the team goes to Communion service together at lunch and prays before games, and she believes prayer makes a difference, noting how that positive energy helped them to come back in a recent game after being 10 runs behind. She recalled the first time she stepped on the mound feeling “like ‘no I can’t do this.’ But I got a lot better as did our team … This year I have gotten better at pitching, and we pulled ourselves together, and we’re like a real team. We’ve worked so hard,” she said. “It’s great. I love it. I love Mercy. I love the softball team. When softball season ends, I’m gonna be so sad.”

But this was not Moreland’s day, as the score in the top half of the first inning was 6-0. Moreland was taken out for a foot problem. The team’s shortstop, Marina Flemming, took over as pitcher.

At the bottom of the first inning, co-captain Keuler spoke more of the team’s improvement. “We’ve gotten a lot more competitive over the last few years because last year we only won three games so we’ve already beaten our record right there. We’ve never had a winning record so we’re looking forward to holding onto it—and this game will not help,” she said, before returning to the grim reality of the second inning.

She started playing ball in fourth grade and “my favorite part is running the bases and when you actually make contact and run the bases it’s just a good feeling. I’m very competitive.”

However forced, girls chanted phrases like “While you were brushing your hair we were already there we stole on you!” Over in the bleachers, Johnny Scott remained positive and rooted on his daughter Brittani and the team. He noted the difference in the skill level of the girls who came back from last year. For his daughter the sport “raises her self-confidence in taking risks, and of course the exercise value associated with the sport (is good). And it involves team play, to work together,” he said. At the school, overall Brittani’s experience “has been excellent. The teachers here are very good, as far as the course of study, as far as having the one-on-one interaction. I think they challenge them a lot with the homework and the curriculum and you can see … they care about the students and the school.”

The game ended with a score of 16-1. Each team formed a line to slap hands with the other team, before the Bobcats made it over to the other end of the field for a powwow. One player said, “We have to realize what we did wrong before (the coach) gets over here.”

Coach Waxmonsky then came over and told the girls that they could have “chipped away a couple of runs each inning” if they had focused more on adjusting their hitting to the slower speed of the pitches of this team. “If you don’t have a good at-bat, you start to adjust it. We didn’t put enough pressure on them with our offense,” he said. “We need to worry about winning our next couple of games.”

After the talk, the coach explained that the top four teams in their region five competition, starting Oct. 9, will go to the state sectional tournament, with the top four from each sectional going to the state championship tournament. With 24 girls in the program, they had a junior varsity team that played two games but didn’t have enough to continue. “Right now the biggest thing is we’re trying to build a program. A lot of these girls had never played before coming here. Right now we have four or five girls who played softball as kids. Now this year, having a core group from last year, we didn’t have to start from scratch and are able to come and have fun and learn and try to improve, with these girls who have never played before,” he said. “Last year they won their second game of the season. That kind of recharged us for the season … They won three games and two regional games. They went from not being competitive at all to winning a couple of pretty good games at the end of the season.”

He added that “we’re trying to create more pitchers so if LaMonica is sick or hurt we’ll have somebody to pitch.” The coach said Flemming, who is also running cross country this season, is “used to excelling and pitching is tough and takes a lot to learn.”

Flemming had the right attitude that day regarding her lack of pitching experience. “It’s not my strong point. You can either laugh or cry about it, and I choose to laugh.”

Trinity Titans Battle For Victory

The next day at Blessed Trinity, Bagwell, in his second year of coaching at Blessed Trinity, prepared the varsity girls for their last home game against Westminster School, a big rival with whom they’ve alternated for the number one spot in their region (Blessed Trinity went on to win 6-5). Listening to the country tunes of Kenny Chesney, they practiced batting and catching, many wearingT-shirts publicizing college sports programs from the likes of Notre Dame and Georgia Tech. Two members then picked teams to play a practice game in which the coaches played, with girls cheering on “coach-a-roo” at bat. The coach, stepping aside to the bleachers, said right now they’re working on making more batting contact with the ball and on getting runs scored. He spoke of the responsibility of coaches.

“We try to be positive about everything because softball is half of it. We teach these girls in the classroom. We’re there for them no matter what. I can’t tell you how many times they come to us with some situation. We are the people they can look up to and ask us questions,” he said. “There are times when we hate each other and like each other, but we’re like a family and whatever help is needed we’ll be there.”

The campus chaplain, Father Kevin Peek, often comes to games and has a positive influence. “He comes out and prays with us and that makes a big difference when they see him out there,” Bagwell said.

Bagwell feels fortunate to have joined a strong team established by Helenanne Seaman. There is also a junior varsity team. And when Jan Podhorez, an A.P. psychology, English and sociology teacher, who was on a state championship team herself at St. Pius X High School, began as assistant coach last year for the varsity girls, “she helped us tremendously to take that next step,” Bagwell said. “So many factors contributed to our success: hard work, attending camp together this past summer, (being) close as a family, strong pitching, Coach Podhorez.”

Rosanne Cannizzo, a junior, is a key player on the team as the only catcher. She loves the healthy spirit of competition. And if they get down, the coaches always make them laugh. “It’s the thrill of having natural competition going on between two teams and the fact we all like getting dirty and we are happy about it. We cheer and shout, and nobody ever gets down on themselves … For me when I get sad or have a bad day, I know I can come down here to practice and … can have a good time no matter what,” she said. “The fact that we represent a Catholic high school, it keeps our attitude good and pure. Everyone treats everyone like we’re all seniors.”

As catcher she enjoys being able to build up the team, particularly the pitcher, in a position she compares to a set builder for a play.

“I get in on the action,” she said. “If I know what I’m doing behind the plate it sort of gives (pitchers) the confidence to know what they’re doing. If she’s just having a hard time pitching or with hits, I’ll call time out and just help calm her down and to take one pitch at a time.”

She’s excited about upcoming games. “I’m really excited because I really feel we have the best shot to win state this year. A lot of the team is the same, but it’s the perfect mixture of girls.”

Amber Hamilton, one of two pitchers for Blessed Trinity, has joined the team as a freshman and has found the team a good way to become involved at the school. Together the pitchers have given up a total of four earned runs with a combined earned run average of .36. That day she, with her long blond hair pulled up in a high pony tail, pitched in the practice game, hurling her body in a hop forward as she circled her arm backwards to whip out underhanded pitches. One of the top players, she’s been playing since she was 8 and takes weekly lessons at the Atlanta Fast Pitch & Baseball Academy. Hamilton will also be playing next year in national competition with the Georgia Fire 16-and-under team. She, too, likes being in on all the action.

“You’re in every play, and it feels like you have a lot of control over the game. The whole team builds you up and supports you,” said Hamilton, who exudes strength and sturdiness.

She and Cannizzo noted the important role the coaches play. “They push us really hard, set high expectations for us and believe we can reach them,” Hamilton said.

The pitcher has found that thinking about her faith helps her to keep a sense of perspective when she’s playing and to remember “it’s just a game and not the most important thing in my life.” When pitching “I just try to stay serious and focused and not to get sidetracked by (things) going on in any other part of my life,” she continued. “Faith is above everything—faith, family, school and softball.”

She hopes the team can keep it up in heightened AAA competition. “I feel we’ve been doing really well this season, and I hope as it comes to an end in the tournaments and more important games we can keep playing like we can and hopefully it will turn out good.”