Lady Rockets proving they’re still formidable
Jefferson-Morgan lost a majority of its starters from last year’s WPIAL championship softball team so a repeat of that magical run wasn’t expected.
Nevertheless, the Lady Rockets have turned things around after a slow start and look to be playoff contenders again in 2016.
After tough one-run home losses to Monessen and Carmichaels in their the first two games after their field was renamed in honor of assistant coach Chris Dugan, the Lady Rockets went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to take part in the Ripken Experience.
A third loss left them at 0-3 but then perhaps another bit of magic helped head coach Tony Barbetta’s squad get back on track.
“We were at a barbecue place in Myrtle Beach and this singer/waiter blessed out team,” Barbetta said with a smile. “We won the next four games after that.”
Thursday’s 13-3, five-inning win over visiting Mapletown extended the winning streak to five.
After winning their final two games at the Ripken Experience, the Lady Rockets returned home and swept a doubleheader against Avella, 11-0 and 11-1, on Wednesday to pick up their first two wins at what is now officially Chris Dugan Memorial Field. Dugan died of cancer just as the playoffs were beginning last season.
“We’re coming together,” said Barbetta, whose Lady Rockets were scheduled to take on the team they defeated in the 2015 WPIAL championship game, Chartiers-Houston, on Friday.
While there are several new faces in the lineup this year, there still are a few key players back from 2015, most notably Camryn Dugan, Autumn Tedrow, Kayla Yorko and Morgan Simkovic, who homered in both game’s of the twinbill.
One player who has stepped up significantly since last season is Nikki Venick, was went a combined 5 for 7 in the sweep of the Lady Eagles. She was 3 for 3 with two doubles in the opener and 2 for 4 with a lead-off homer in the first inning and three RBIs in the second game.
“Nikki has gone from not batting for us — I used her as a flex player in the outfield and we’d hit for her — to a strong hitter with good bat speed,” Barbetta said. “Nikki’s problem was she put so much pressure on herself but now she’s gotten a little bit of confidence. She’s got 10 hits already this season. I’ve had starters go entire seasons without 10 hits.”
Jefferson-Morgan’s offensive explosion against Avella helped Barbetta rest Dugan’s arm a bit.
“Camryn has been our main pitcher but we’ve been using her a little too much, so we used Autumn a lot today,” Barbetta said. “We’ll be better for it.”
Dugan started the first game against the Lady Eagles and pitched two scoreless, hitless innings with two strikeouts.
Krista McCartney ignited a three-run first inning with a two-run single and J-M added four more runs in the second.
With a 7-0 lead, Barbetta inserted Tedrow on the mound and she finished up a five-inning combined no-hitter with eight strikeouts.
The only negative was that Avella still got three base runners as Brooke Burchianti, Emily Pollock and Paige Allen each reached on an error.
The Lady Rockets made two more errors in the second game.
“That’s something we have to improve on, and I think we will,” Barbetta said.
Sami Dunkle took the loss for Avella.
Tedrow pitched all five innings of the second game and Venick hit a lead-off homer in the first off losing pitcher Emily Pollock.
The Lady Rockets pushed across five more in the second, added two in the third and Simkovic’s two-run homer in the fourth made it 10-0.
Pollock singled in the fourth for Avella’s only hit on the day, and Allen reached on an error and eventually scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to give the Lady Eagles their lone run on the day.
“Avella has better pitching than they had last year in that they make you earn it, they don’t walk as many batters,” Barbetta said. “I thought our pitching was very good today and we kept the innings down, which is good with all the games we have this week.”
Avella coach Tammy Simonelli was impressed with J-M.
“They have that (WPIAL championship) banner hanging out there, and they’re still very competitive,” Simonelli said. “They have very good pitching. We both have a lot of freshmen but theirs are on the ball more than ours. We’re working hard to get better. But Jefferson-Morgan is a really good team again.”
The Lady Rockets could be even better but they’re missing a key piece that was supposed to be back from last year in Morgan Gamble, who suffered an ACL injury before the season began.
“That was a blow to us,” Barbetta said. “Obviously we lost a lot of talent from last year. This is a whole different team. We have to make the plays.”
Early indications, though, are that J-M will be right in the thick of the Section 1-A title race once again this season.