Cougars enjoy wealth of early contributions
By: Justin Feil
It’s only the first week of the season, but the Montgomery High School softball team wouldn’t mind if it was the last.
Not that the Cougars are looking forward to the end of the season. Quite the contrary. They’re wishing they were in some more meaningful games now, when they’re playing like a championship team.
"We’re just really happy with the way it’s going," said Cougars outfielder Melissa D’Ercole. "From Day One, we knew we had something special. It all clicked. We were having a fun time. We know our potential. We’re glad with the way it’s started off."
MHS improved to 4-0 with Wednesday’s 14-0 shellacking of last year’s Central Jersey Group III finalist Hamilton West in five innings due to the 10-run rule. The win came on the heels of a 4-0 win over Voorhees on Tuesday and 7-1 win over Hun on Monday.
"In 2004, I remember we were playing our best softball at the end," said MHS coach Johnny Rooney, whose team was scheduled to play Ridge on Thursday before resuming a busy schedule at Delaware Valley on Monday. "I have that vibe again. I scheduled five games in six days because I figured we’d get rainouts in April. But we got them all in. Everybody is excited. We only got five innings in (Wednesday) and everyone wanted to play more. We’ve won all our games on the road. They can’t wait to play at home (Thursday). Hopefully there’ll be some people there.
"They don’t want to leave practices," he added. "I’m lucky to have the girls we have. The girls just love to play and we’re doing well. But it’s still early. I’ve played on a team that started 8-0 and finished 8-9. I’m not opening up any spots in the trophy case yet."
If the Cougars have their way, though, they will have to clear some shelf space. D’Ercole is one of four seniors who have kept the focus on building toward their big goals.
"We want to win a county championship," she said. "We want to beat Hillsborough. We want to win 20 games. And we don’t want to lose any game that should be a win in our book."
If the Cougars keep getting contributions as they have in the first four games of the season, that shouldn’t be a problem. MHS hasn’t shown a weakness yet. They haven’t given up an earned run, and the defense figures to get even better as the season goes on behind starting pitcher Kim Dougherty. At the plate, the Cougars have been hard to contain.
"I know Coach Rooney has a saying, hitting is contagious," D’Ercole noted. "It really is the truth. The last couple games, Anu Rimal has been the firecracker in our lineup. She comes up with a big hit and everyone follows."
How strong is the Cougar lineup? D’Ercole, who is considering trying out for the James Madison University team next year, bats sixth. She’s enjoying her fastest start ever to a season.
"I hope it keeps up," she said. "As long as we keep on winning, I’m fine with whatever happens.
"It just really comes from the team. We four seniors, we’ve been best friends our whole life, and we do it for each other. If we don’t get a hit, it’s fine if we still win."
D’Ercole, Dougherty, Annie O’Toole and Kelly Dubin give the Cougars a strong backbone to the team. Rooney did not name one of them a captain, but it’s not as though MHS doesn’t have leadership from them.
"It works out really well," D’Ercole said. "We have two senior outfielders and two senior infielders. I’ve been starting in outfield since sophomore year so I’ve been there a while. Annie just moved out there, but she is kind of a natural out there. We all contribute in different ways. I have more experience but Annie is more of a natural born leader.
"In the infield, Kim is the pitcher, and that’s a natural leadership position. We have kind of a young team, and Kelly takes the lead with them. They all go to her if they have questions."
The only question now is how good is MHS this season. They are two years removed from a Group III state championship, one in which several of the older players had a hand in. Even though they are playing like a championship team now, they aren’t looking that far ahead.
"We don’t think far into the future," D’Ercole said. "We’re a real superstitious team. What keeps our heads up is, we’re a close group. We love to play for each other. Some teams play for the seniors, or play for the coach. We all play for each other.
"From the first week of preseason we were talking. We noticed that this team, it’s been the core group that we’ve grown up with. We can’t see our chemistry getting broken up."
Everything seemed to come together against Hamilton West. The Cougars in the past two seasons had not gotten even one hit against their ace pitcher Melissa Hodge. With Hodge’s graduation, it opened the floodgates.
"We played them my sophomore year and lost 1-0 and it was upsetting," D’Ercole recalled. "We played them last year and lost, 8-0. We haven’t gotten a hit off them because of Hodge.
"After Voorhees, the seniors got the team together in the outfield. We said to get a lot of sleep. We’re looking forward to tomorrow. We need to beat this team. They all showed up."
The Cougars have still found little things they could do better, even as they’ve opened up with an impressive streak. It’s why Rooney believes that this team has special potential.
"I have no idea how good we are," he said. "I know we’re very disciplined but aggressive at the plate. We’re running the bases well. Everybody is contributing. Every kid, senior through freshman, gets along.
"They know we still haven’t played our A-plus game," he added. "I’m excited to see that game."
Some unfortunate MHS opponent won’t be as thrilled.

