RSS Feed
|
|
Links: |
 |
Bee Home Page |
|
WNY Events |
|
Classifieds |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
North softball loaded with talent Top to bottom, there may not be a better softball team in ECIC Division I this season than Williamsville North. Lady Spartans coach Rick Bubar returns arguably the best pitcher in the league, junior Tricia Kennery, and most of the infield, including Canisius College bound senior first baseman Kerry Ulmer. Kennery, Ulmer and senior Kaitlyn McNally, who moves from second to center field, are the team's tri-captains. Kennery, an ECIC I first team selection last year, was 9-6 with a 2.10 ERA. She had a 5 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio, throwing 106 strikeouts and walking 21 batters in 102 innings. "She throws hard and can launch any one of five different pitches with accuracy," said Bubar. Senior Morgan McDowell and sophomore Kayleigh Galliher can also pitch. Kennery is as deadly at the plate as she is on the mound. Last season, she hit .367 with a .633 slugging percentage and led the team with 16 RBIs. Bubar said she is the second girl to hit a home run over the fence at North Tonawanda's Edward Belbas Fields. Ulmer, 5-foot-11, is great at the plate and in the field. In the last two years, she has hit .361, a slugging percentage over .400 and been selected as an ECIC I second team all-star. "She hits the gap and outside pitching really well," said Bubar. "She's very hard to pitch around." In the field, Ulmer uses her 5-foot-11 frame to perform a complete stretch to catch a throw. She's also completed at a high level with her travel team, Amherst Lightning Gold PONY 16U, which won a national title last summer. Joining Ulmer in the infield is senior leadoff hitter Lauren O'Brien at shortstop and junior Kristen Weber, both returning players, and either Galliher, and juniors Erica Stricko and Jennifer Pawlak at second. O'Brien, an ECIC I second team all-star, led North with 24 hits and batted .312. Bubar said O'Brien's speed helps her cover a lot of ground in the field. Weber only had six hits last year but two were triples. Sophomore Amanda Maraschiello, a transfer from Nardin Academy, and junior Kristin Ball, a JV callup, are vying for the starting catcher duties, replacing Danielle Abbarno, who graduated and is playing at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. Senior Krissy Flierl, who had the fourth highest batting average on the team last year (.326), and McDowell will start in left and right field, respectively. Senior Elizabeth Dutweiler (.273 last year) and Bubar's daughter, Kerri, a junior, are reserve outfielders. North finished 13-10 last year and lost 3-0 to North Tonawanda in the Section VI Class AA quarterfinals. This season, Bubar sees Frontier and Lancaster as North's toughest competition. North opened its season on Monday with a 5-1 loss at Jamestown. They played a non-league game on Tuesday at Transit Middle School against Williamsville East but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. They host Frontier at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
They are playing in three tournaments beginning with the team's first trip to Herkimer on April 14 to face Queensbury and Holy Trinity. They are also in the Victor and Depew Tournaments. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
News
