ADAM RAEDER
Star Beacon
July 19, 2008 01:43 am
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The girls on the Ashtabula Junior Softball All Stars are used to winning.
Most of them have played together over the last five years, taking one district title after another.
But now they’ve got their sights set on the one that’s gotten away.
“It’s time to get the state championship,” manager Brian Elliott said.
They’ll start their title bid at 11 a.m. today when they take on the District 2, the Youngstown area, champion at Cederquist Park in Ashtabula.
“These girls have been there before and know what it takes,” Elliott said.
And just what will it take for Ashtabula to succeed when the pressure is on?
“The keys are to get on base, to put our hits together and our pitching to hold up,” Elliott said. “With Little League rules, there are only so many innings you can pitch. We’ve got to go deep into the pitching rotation.”
Specifically, a pitcher can’t throw one pitch over four innings in one game if she wants to pitch in another game that day.
That means Ashtabula will have to go deep into its rotation, which consists of Kara Norman, Megan Richey, Gabriella Patete and Katie Stillman.
Norman stands as the ace of the group, and will likely shoulder the majority of the workload.
“She throws with speed with a good fastball and a real good riseball,” Elliott said.
Richey boasts a strong array of offspeed pitches and enters the tournament in the No. 2 spot in the rotation.
And Elliott said he’s confident in Patete and Stillman should they have to step into the circle.
“They’ve played a lot of travel ball together,” Elliott said. “We got to practice over the winter and we got a lot of innings in in travel ball season.”
Ashtabula could have been even deeper from the circle, but Brianna Elliott tore her ACL playing basketball.
Helping the pitchers out, though, is a strong defensive squad backing them.
“Most of these girls have been together for about five years, and they’ve got four district championships in five years,” Elliott said. “We’ve just stressed that over the years — good defense. The strength is our defense. We have a good defensive team and we have a few power hitters.”
More than a few, in fact.
Norman packs a punch with the stick, as does Taylor Lampela, Koree Runyon, Krista Johnston and Sydney McCaleb.
Johnston serves as the team’s catcher and is one of the leaders, while Lampela is the shortstop and a rare newcomer to the squad.
Lampela and her mother moved back to Ashtabula from Las Vegas.
“She’s a disciplined hitter and plays very hard,” Elliott said of the shortstop.
McCaleb plays right field, and Runyon provides Elliott with strong glovework at third base.
Complementing the power hitters are the speedsters — Patete, who also plays second base, Rosie Messner and center fielder Kayla Patterson.
“You definitely need the bunters,” Elliott, who’s joined on the coaching staff by Richard Patterson and Joe Richey, said.
Betsy Slebodnick provides power and speed off the bench and Andrea Miller rounds out the roster as the alternate.
It’s a roster that has tournament experience. Now, they’re looking for that elusive crown.
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