Thu, Nov 26 2009
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NEC coaches tab Warriors Softball Insider... Star BeaconJefferson, 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. 
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