Star Beacon
April 11, 2007 07:23 am
—
Edgewood
is favored
to win sixth
straight title
With Mother Nature finally allowing the area to slip past the vice-like grip of her frigid fingers, the 2007 Northeastern Conference title chase finally got under way Tuesday in Painesville, with the defending champion Edgewood Warriors outscoring Harvey, 33-0, in sweeping a doubleheader at Recreation Park.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Edgewood is the favorite to win a fourth straight undisputed conference crown, and a sixth straight overall (the Warriors shared the 2003 championship with Conneaut).
With every position player - save one - returning from last year's squad that stormed it's way to Division II sectional, district and regional championships and a spot in the Final Four at Brookside Park in Ashland, it's not difficult to fathom why Edgewood has been tabbed the favorite to win another NEC title in the Star Beacon's annual Coaches' Poll.
The Warriors received four of six first-place votes, compiling 33 out of a possible 36 points.
Still, coach Shelley Monas, who led Edgewood to a 25-3 finish, 14-1 in the NEC, isn't taking anything for granted.
"The NEC is strong," she said. "Any team can beat any other team. I've been telling our girls that we have to bring our 'A' game every time we play. We have a lot of respect for every coach and every player in the league. We can never take anyone for granted.
"We have got to play our best against everybody in the league. We cannot take anybody lightly."
Monas admitted last season's Final Four berth has raised the bar to previously unforeseen heights for the Warriors.
"Oh, absolutely," she said. "We've got this huge, huge target on our backs. But we teach the kids, first things first. Concentrate on the task at hand, play one game at a time and worry about the present."
Which means the first "task at hand" is trying to defend their NEC crown.
"It's definitely a priority for us," Monas said. "In fact, it's our first goal - take care of the NEC again."
Jefferson, which last won the NEC back in 1998 when coach Rod Holmes led the Falcons to the second of back-to-back outright championships behind flamethrowing pitcher Kristin Ettinger, received the other two first-place votes. Coach Paul Bodnar's Falcons, who finished third in the conference in 2006 with a league mark of 10-5, totaled 30 points.
Conneaut, which last won the league when it shared the 2003 championship with Edgewood, was voted to finish third this spring with 22 points. The Spartans handed Edgewood it's only conference loss a year ago, finishing as league runners-up as coach Mary Holdson's squad went 10-4 in league play in her first season at the helm.
Not surprisingly, starting in the spring of 1997, either Edgewood, Conneaut or Jefferson has won every NEC championship.
Lakeside, which has not won an NEC championship, is tabbed to finish fourth this spring after tying Geneva for fourth place a year ago with a 4-10 league mark. Second-year coach Kerri Weir's Dragons will attempt to become the first Ashtabula Area City Schools team to win an NEC championship this spring in Lakeside's final year in the league. Ashtabula and Harbor, charter members of the NEC when it began awarding softball championships in 1975, never won a league title before consolidating into Lakeside in the 2001-02 school year. Lakeside will head to the Premier Athletic Conference in 2008.
Geneva, which laid claim to it's one and only NEC championship in 1993 with current Riverside coach Tiffany (Leonard) Lindberg leading the way both on the mound and at the plate, is tabbed to finish fifth this spring with 14 points. Coach Tony Markijohn's Eagles tied with Lakeside for fourth a year ago with a 4-10 league record.
Rounding out our annual poll is Harvey. Veteran coach Mike Scullin led the Red Raiders to their only NEC championships in their first two seasons as a member of the conference - 1987 and 1988 - behind the dominating efforts of ace pitcher Donna Wheeler. The Red Raiders, who totaled six points in this year's coaches' poll, finished sixth last spring with an NEC record of 3-12.
In the 32 years the NEC has been awarding softball championships, of the current six league members, Edgewood leads the way with nine titles, followed by Conneaut with five, Jefferson (which entered the NEC in 1988) with four, Harvey with two, Geneva with one and Lakeside with none.
Former league members Riverside and Madison won nine and five conference crowns, respectively.
Hoping to hurl
The two teams the NEC coaches expect to threaten defending champion Edgewood the most - Jefferson and Conneaut - are both hoping to get the aces of their pitching staffs back soon.
Falcon Kari Rouzer and Spartan April Holdson - each first-team Star Beacon All-Ashtabula County hurlers last spring - have both missed time because of injuries.
Rouzer, a junior, has been bothered by a sore back. She missed time a year ago with a sore throwing arm.
"Kari missed a couple days last week, but I think she's OK," Bodnar said. "It's a back problem, but we're hoping Kari will be ready to go.
"If she's not quite ready, (sophomore) Megan (Gochneaur) has pitched very well for us and (freshman) Hannah (Francis) pitched a couple of innings and threw very well, too."
Holdson, a sophomore, has been hampered by a sore throwing arm. She missed the second half of the basketball season because of a sore back.
"April has had a strain in her arm and biceps," her mom, Coach Holdson, said. "She seems to be feeling much better, though. She threw for the first time since she started feeling it on Saturday and again (Monday)."
Coach Holdson, whose squad is 3-3 so far this season, said she and her daughter feared the worst.
"At first, we thought she might have torn something," she said. "But, fortunately, that was not the case."
Jefferson is slated to begin NEC play Thursday at Geneva (4:30), while Conneaut is scheduled to play at Ledgemont today and begins league play Thursday against visiting Harvey.
The Spartans and Falcons are scheduled to play a doubleheader at the JAGS Complex on Friday, with the first game slated to begin at 1 p.m.
Some Cocoa, please
One area team found a way to escape our winter blast this week.
Coach Michelle Carino's Perry Pirates are taking part in a tournament in Cocoa Beach, Fla.
Pitcher Brooke Hobson, one of seven seniors on Carino's roster in what is her fourth season at the helm, fired a gem for the Pirates against Reynoldsburg, a Division I team from Ohio, on Monday.
Hobson threw a no-hitter, leading the Pirates to a 3-1 victory against the Raiders, who hail from Franklin County, striking out eight and walking two. Reynoldsburg's only run, which came in the home half of the first inning, was unearned.
Senior Jessica Kardos had a triple and senior Sarah Slaper had an RBI double for the Pirates, who improved to 5-1 with the win. Senior Hope Cowoski and junior Rachel Grdina both pilfered a pair of bags in the victory.
The Pirates improved to 6-1 on the season Tuesday with an 8-1 victory over Bishop McNamara, Md., with Christy Corfias (1-0) picking up the win in relief of starter Ally Fortney.
Carino's crew is slated to play in sunny F-L-A through Thursday and return to action locally Monday with a Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division clash at Kenston (4:30). The Pirates are 2-0 in league play to this point.
Sign on the dotted line
NDCL standout Jamie Preseren recently signed a letter of intent to continue her education and play softball at Mercyhurst College, located in Erie.
The senior four-year shortstop, a co-captain for the Lions, credits her father, Ken, and her coach, Jack McParland, for her success.
"My dad put so much time in helping me become a better player, and he has always believed in me," Preseren said. "Both Coach McParland and my dad taught me everything about the game and made me the player that I am."
A South Euclid resident, the daughter of Ken and Lisa Preseren, plans to study interior design at Mercyhurst.
She plays travel ball for Go North Coast.
Getting ready
The Berkshire Bdagers have enjoyed a great deal of success in recent seasons, to the tune of back-to-back Division III regional appearances and three Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division championships in the past four seasons.
Coach Dave List, now in his sixth season at the helm, has a simple explanation.
"We've had a lot of good players," he said. "I've been fortunate to have been blessed with a lot of talented girls who are willing to work."
Knowing that, List continuously puts together a challenging schedule for the Badgers, who will take a 3-3 record into today's game at harvey (11 a.m.), which was originally slated to be contested in Burton but moved to Recreation Park because Berkshire's home field is not ready.
"We do try to load up the scheduled," List, who has 98 victories at Berkshire, said. "We play the likes of Edgewood, Champion, LaBrae and Garfield. Our philosophy is, play as tough a non-league schedule as possible, which should help us in our league play and help get us ready to have a chance to make a nice run in the tournament in May."
Take a break
Having played only one game in the first week of the season (a 10-0 shutout of visiting Mentor on Monday) before the white stuff started flying, Monas' Edgewood squad had plenty of time to practice, albeit indoors. So much so, in fact, she gave her Warriors the holiday weekend off.
"We went at it hard for a few days inside," she said. "But then we gave the girls Friday, Saturday and Sunday off before getting back to practice (on Monday)."
Calling all coaches
With the horrific weather wiping out most of last week's games, we will begin taking individual and team statistics next Monday, April 16.
For hitting, we want batting average, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, homers, RBI and stolen bases.
For pitching, we are looking for earned run average, innings pitched, earned runs allowed, hits allowed, strikeouts, walks, wins, losses and saves.
This year, we are also adding a category for catchers - stolen bases allowed and caught stealings.
Statistics will be taken from 6-9:30 p.m. and can be reported by telephone at 998-2323 (extensions 244, 280, 268, 247), by fax at 998-7938 or by email at preps@starbeacon.com or donmac@suite224.net (no attachments, please).
While statistics will be taken by phone on Mondays, they can be faxed or emailed any time over the weekend.
Star Beacon Print Edition: 4/11/2007
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