Freshman makes sparkling debut for Cougar softball squad
By: Justin Feil
The three-year evolution of the Montgomery High softball pitchers is in reverse.
Two seasons ago, powerful Katie Brennan blew away opponents with a rocket left arm. Last season, tall and lean Danielle Wyckoff used an effective mix of pitches to help the Cougars defy expectations while going 13-8 and advancing to the Somerset County semifinals for the first time in school history.
Now, Amanda Heller has stepped into the circle, looking every bit the part of the freshman, except in the way she’s pitched.
Barely over 100 pounds and "maybe 5-foot-3 if I’m wearing my cleats," Heller said, she has been every bit as effective in her first two varsity games as her predecessors were in their careers.
Heller allowed just six hits and a sacrifice fly in a 1-0 loss to Delaware Valley in the Cougars’ opener last Tuesday. She shook off the initial disappointment from that loss and Thursday the freshman left-hander picked up her first win in a 5-0 one-hit shutout of South Hunterdon. It’s a start that has shown how quickly she has made an adjustment and fit right in at the high school level.
"It feels good," Heller said of her win. "I haven’t been nervous really with (playing with MHS in) fall ball. It hasn’t been bad.
"I’ve been playing with travel teams and I played with the 16-year-olds last year so they’re about the same age as a lot of the girls here," she added. "Just as long as I pitch my game it doesn’t matter how big they are or how old they are."
The 14-year-old’s pitching game had South Hunterdon looking like the inexperienced varsity squad. Heller gave up just one hit, in the first inning. Twice, batters looked caught so off-balance by change-ups that they might have been able to swing twice at the pitch, like in an old Bugs Bunny episode.
"It’s just like last year with Danielle," said MHS head coach Doug Ruhlman, whose team plays at Hackettstown 3:45 p.m. today. "You don’t have to overpower hitters if you can change speeds."
And changing speeds wouldn’t do anything if it weren’t for her control. In her first two games, she’s walked just one total batter.
"Her composure has been really good," Ruhlman said. "One walk in two games for a freshman, that’s really good."
Maybe even better than he had dreamed. Ruhlman first heard about Heller when she was just in seventh grade. It’s worked out that Heller moved up to the high school level just as MHS needed a pitcher. Heller is already a prized player, one who gets the royal treatment.
"I don’t want to take the bat out of her hands," Ruhlman said, "but we don’t really have another pitcher. If she gets on base, I have to (pinch) run for her. I can’t afford to have her go down. She’s all we have."
The Cougars gave their new pitcher all the run support she would need with a run in the first inning and three more in the second inning. By the fourth inning, Ruhlman was giving his substitutes some valuable playing time.
"This is going to be a nice group," he said. "We finished up with all sophomores and freshmen and Cortney (Engelmann, a senior) out there. We don’t have a JV this year. We play (JV) on off days. We only have 22 and I need 13 for varsity at least. Next year, we’ll have plenty. This ninth grade class is small. We only have four, but they’re all solid."
It leaves the seniors with a bigger role. Engelmann and Megan Hover, the Cougars’ catcher, were instrumental in the win. Engelmann scored twice and added an RBI double while Hover drove in a pair of runs while completing the perfect battery with Heller through the first six innings.
"It’s nice not having to really think about what to throw," Heller said of the veteran catcher. "Megan can read how the batter is standing and knows what to call. Plus, we have a great relationship which really helps."
Heller has been playing for as long as she can remember. She began developing her pitching four years ago, the last three pretty seriously and that has shown in her control and ability to mix her pitches.
"I’ve worked so long on it. I can move the ball around," she said. "I can put the ball in spots where it should be a strike."
So far, Heller has found plenty of strikes. One of the keys Thursday was her ability to get ahead of the South Hunterdon hitters. The Cougars’ solid start has the freshman feeling relaxed and confident.
"I just tried to set some goals I could achieve," she said. "I didn’t want to have to have a perfect game every time. I wanted to move the ball around and not try to strike everyone out. I wanted to do my best for everyone behind me, all the seniors and everyone on the team."
So far, she’s done just that in filling in as Montgomery’s main pitcher this season, even if she doesn’t exactly fit the mold of the Cougars’ two previous hurlers.