ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
By: Justin Feil
Doug Ruhlman remembers Katie Brennan as an eighth-grader who threw hard but wild.
Over the next four years on the Montgomery High softball team, however, Brennan molded herself into a control pitcher that kept the power. She’s been a key to the team’s success throughout her varsity career.
“Katie’s come a long way, even since she was a freshman,” said Ruhlman, who is co-coaching this season with Johnny Rooney. “She’s a perfect example of someone working hard all-year round.”
Brennan’s hard work showed as she shut out South Hunterdon, 5-0, Tuesday and Hackettstown, 6-0, Thursday to improve to 12-4 on the mound this season. Against South Hunterdon, she rang up 12 strikeouts to pass a rare high school milestone — 500 career strikeouts.
“She’s very capable of shutting teams out,” Ruhlman said. “She’s done it for us in states. For two years in a row, we were playing in the Central Jersey championship because of her. She can do it against anyone. Five hundred strikeouts is quite an accomplishment. It’s a pretty tough conference in softball. It’s really incredible.”
Katie Brennan is the Princeton Packet Athlete of the Week.
“I felt like I was on those days,” the Cougar left hander said. “When I’m on, I can throw anything for a strike. Everything seems to go my way in those days. Whatever I throw, it usually works out.
“My mind set is to always be perfect. I’ve never had a perfect game, but it’s always my goal. Sometimes I’ve been into the fifth inning, but there’s always a hit, or a walk, or an error. I’m never satisfied, even if I only give up one or two hits. I put a lot of pressure on myself. It’s been that way since freshman year. So far, it’s worked.”
Brennan pitched the Cougars to back-to-back Central Jersey Group I championship games the past two seasons. She’s concentrating now on guiding her team to its first-ever CJ II title. In Thursday’s 3-0 quarterfinal win over Hopewell Valley, Brennan pitched a complete game one-hitter and had three hits for the 15-5 Cougars.
It will close out what has been another solid year, even if it hasn’t been the ideal senior season.
Brennan had surgery just before the season to remove a cyst from her right ovary. It wasn’t life-threatening, she said, but it set her back.
“In the beginning I was a little off because of the whole surgery thing,” Brennan said. “It took me a while to come back. I couldn’t do any of the preseason stuff, but I was able to play the first game.
“The first game I was tentative because I wasn’t sure about how it would affect me. My body was fine, but my mind was thinking about it, whether it was going to hurt me. It was more mental than physical. But after the first two or three games, it was over.
Even Brennan herself has noticed the improvement in her game during her career.
“I think I’m a much smarter pitcher now,” she said. “I know when to throw pitches and where. I’ve developed more intelligence. It’s been great, being here with a group of girls you know really well. I’ll miss Johnny and Ruhl’ a lot. They’ve taught me a lot over four years, more than any of my summer coaches could have ever.
“I thought my senior year would be better though. My junior year has probably been my best so far, and I’d rank my senior year second. But it doesn’t seem like it’s been four years.”
Brennan, who also handles one of the few bats in the Montgomery lineup with a lot of power, will try to extend her playing days at Manhattan College. She’ll try out, she said, so there aren’t regrets later. The only regret the Cougars will have after this season is that Brennan couldn’t stay longer.
“She deserves a lot of credit for our success,” Ruhlman said. “There are times when she keeps us in games where we don’t have a lot of runs. She’s always been like that for us. And she’s a great leader and such a nice girl. We’re really going to miss her.”