One cool customer: Junior Melissa Hess limited Little Flower’s bats to one run over seven innings in a 3–1 win for St. Hubert. The Bambies are 10–1 in Catholic League play, second only to reigning champion Archbishop Ryan, who defeated St. Hubert 8–0 on April 28. Hess expressed her desire for a rematch, and the entire softball program is excited to be back in the championship hunt after last year’s early playoff exit. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTO
While the I-95 rush hour traffic was crawling on the highway behind her, Melissa Hess was on cruise control.
In the St. Hubert softball universe, all seems right again.
Hess scattered seven hits (six singles) and lost her shutout bid with two outs in the seventh inning in Monday afternoon’s home 3–1 victory over Little Flower. She struck out and walked one apiece and was aided by spectacular defense behind her, namely on consecutive plays to open the sixth with the Bambies clinging to a 1–0 lead. First, senior shortstop Jazmin Ortiz snared a grounder on a dive to her right and threw Little Flower’s Cailey Plath out from her knees; Alison Corson and Tori Sherwood followed with consecutive singles, and the Bambies cut down Corson at third on a perfect throw from right-center. After escaping the inning unscathed, Ortiz singled home two runs on a well-placed blooper to left.
The win — and a subsequent 3–2 win the next day over Lansdale Catholic — improved the Bambies to 10–1 in Catholic League play (trailing only undefeated reigning champion Archbishop Ryan), and head coach Dave Schafer’s often-dominant program has returned to championship form after exiting in the first round of the playoffs a season ago. Prior to that, the Bambies had appeared in seven consecutive championship games, winning four league titles; the team, from Schafer all the way down to the JV players, has made getting back to that game a top priority this season.
“We’re feeling great,” Schafer said. “Character is our main goal … show character and resilience and fortitude, and they’ve done that. We go into our gym and we look at all the (championship softball) banners and ask ourselves, ‘When will the next one be hung?’ They know, because we’ve talked about it since the first day of tryouts. It’s part of their motivation, and they are more driven. Last year, as far as they’re concerned, never happened. We’re moving forward.”
Ryan is the class of the league, having not lost a Catholic League contest since 2013. That said, even despite an 8–0 loss to the Ragdolls on April 28, St. Hubert is confident in a potential return to glory. With Hess and fellow pitching stalwart Jess Baker (as well as Dana Dougherty and Kate Jaworski) limiting opposing lineups on a consistent basis, the team believes it’s not far off, and the play on the field is proof positive.
“I think what’s working for us is the girls picking each other up,” Hess said. “Jazz and (senior third baseman) Nicole Vandermay have done an amazing job of motivating us as captains. Last year, we may have lacked confidence, but not this season. It’s been unbelievable, just so much better.”
If last year was a wake-up call, the Bambies certainly have not hit the snooze button. Past players who have won championships have been in the current team’s ears about getting the program back to where it belongs. To do so, the team has needed excellent pitching, strong defense that doesn’t give extra at-bats to the opponent and timely hitting. All three were on full display on Monday, with Hess oozing confidence while twirling a gem, the defense making every play when she pitched to contact and Ortiz’s huge two-run single that erased the frustration of not being able to muster much else with the bats off Little Flower (5–5) ace Emily Shellenberger, who was fantastic in her own right.
On the surface, Hess doesn’t scream dominant simply because she pitches to contact. But that, the junior hurler says, is an advantage in and of itself.
“In my opinion, the more strikeouts you have is worse, because your pitch count goes up and you throw less innings,” she said. “The defense making plays in the field behind me is far more important than a strikeout. When you have strong defense behind you and know the players will do their jobs, it’s phenomenal. I have confidence in them, and I know that no matter where I throw a strike, they’ll be making the plays. It’s unbelievable. That’s why my confidence is so high out there … because of them behind me.”
“Confidence” is a word Hess used repeatedly during a postgame conversation. She called Ortiz “one of the best players I’ve seen in this league, one who deserves all the praise she gets.” The Bambies were scheduled to conclude the regular season league campaign for Thursday’s Senior Day against Bonner-Prendie and on Saturday they’ll have a nonleague tune-up against Chichester before the playoffs begin next week.
And make no mistake about it: Hess and the Bambies are hoping they cross paths with Ryan again, rather than hoping to avoid them en route to a championship.
“Our main focus is on beating Ryan,” she said. “I think maybe we psyched ourselves out a little the last time we played them, but we know what we need to do better. I can’t wait to play them.”
Hess meant no disrespect to the Ragdolls, either, nor was she out to provide any bulletin board material, especially considering Ryan knows full well it is being hunted and chased by every team in the league. Rather, it was more out of excitement due to the fact that the program has reformed itself into championship-caliber form after a disappointing 2014.
“It is so exciting, because when you look at where we are compared to last year, it’s just unbelievable,” she said. “I don’t think teams have expected such a difference, so it’s sort of been like, ‘Where did this team come from?’ The captains have helped us improve over the summer, and past players who have graduated have all pushed us to see what we used to be. We know we need to get back there.”
Whether a titillating Ryan-St. Hubert championship contest comes to fruition remains to be seen; after all, this is the Catholic League, so there are several other solid softball teams in the hunt chasing the same end game as those two teams. But at the end of the day, the Bambies love where they presently stand, making 2014 seem like ancient history.
“Anything that anybody gets from us, they’ve had to earn,” Schafer said. “This is the best part, because this is what we do.”
Hess echoed that sentiment.
“It’s beyond exciting,” she said. “I wouldn’t be able to be pitching like this — and neither would Jess and the others — without the defense making plays behind us and the offense hitting the way it mostly has. It’s great to see how much we’ve improved and how we’ve all come together at once.” ••
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