http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/
FROM KEITH GROLLER
First-year Bangor softball coach Rich Kessler said he had a plan, both for this season and for Thursday night's Colonial League championship game.
The plan for the season was to use the best players, regardless of class.
The plan for the game was to prepare for the outside pitches of Pen Argyl ace Emily Smull.
Both youth and strategy were served as the Slaters made plenty of contact in a 7-5 win over Pen Argyl in the all-Slate Belt battle before a huge crowd at Pates Park.
A Bangor lineup that featured just two seniors pounded out eight hits and benefitted from four Green Knights errors as the Slaters won their first league title since 2008.
The Slaters scored two runs in the first inning and never looked back, although they never could quite completely shake the Green Knights who were in the finals for the fourth straight year.
Freshman Kaitlyn Caleen paced the attack with three hits, a RBI single in the first and triples in both the third and sixth.
"In practice all we worked on was her outside pitches and that work paid off," Caleen said. "I was definitely nervous because Emily Smull is a great pitcher. She definitely is. But it's awesome that we can dominate and hit. From the first practice, we knew we could do this and we went out and did it. We want to do this three more years."
There were rumblings of discontent when Kessler was first getting started with the team in March. He's the program's third coach in three seasons.
Those who questioned him should be silenced now, however, because perhaps no one has done a better coaching job in area softball.
Kessler, a 1982 Bangor grad, played football for legendary coach Paul Farnan. He said he learned a lot from Farnan about formulating a game plan and sticking to it.
"We had a plan coming in and everybody had to earn their spots and had to continue to earn their spots," Kessler said. "People can feel the way they want, but we're happy."
Kessler was happy that his team's approach paid off.
"We know Emily lives on the outside of the plate, so we worked hard on going the other way with the ball," he said. "We played against her twice and that helped and our pitcher [junior Melissa Langdon] pitched a great game. They all played great."
It was a great disappointment for Pen Argyl, which lost in the finals for the third time in four years.
"Our defense definitely left us down," Green Knights coach Bill Schankel said. "I don't know how many earned runs they had, but not too many. Defense is usually our strong point, but we just didn't play today. I don't know. We didn't get our bats going until the later innings and then we hit it right at people."
Pen Argyl went just 1-2-3 once, but left nine runners on base.
Meanwhile, Slaters leadoff batter Lexi Kessler, another ninth-grader, was a thorn in the Knights' side with two hits, a walk and three runs scored.
After two previous defeats to their rivals, Bangor wouldn't be denied. And considering the team's youth, a dynasty may have been born.
"That's what we're hoping for," Rich Kessler said. "I just enjoying coaching these kids. I have an excellent coaching staff and we're all on the same page. The girls see how we handle things and communicate and it's all about bringing things together."
Bangor 202 201 0 -- 7 8 3
Pen Argyl 101 100 2 -- 5 5 4
Langdon and Smith; Smull and Kresch.
No comments:
Post a Comment