BORDENTOWN: Bordentown softball opens with tough week

Wilson is new Scotties coach

By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
   It’s quite a challenging first week to the season for the young Bordentown Regional High School softball team.
   After being the victims of a perfect game against arguably the state’s top pitcher, Emily Bausher of New Egypt, the Scotties evened their record at 1-1 with an 8-2 win over Northern Burlington on Monday night. The Scotties’ new state-of-the-art lighted turf field saw its first win.
   ”This is a fun team to coach,” said Bob Wilson, who is in his first year as BRHS head coach. “They’re very receptive. They’re excited about what they’re doing. We have a lot of momentum. We’re just going to get a little better every day. That’s what we’re working on.”
   The schedule will get no easier as BRHS hosts Holy Cross on Friday, then opens play at the Red Devils Tournament on Saturday against host Rancocas Valley.
   ”It’s very tough,” Wilson said. “The way they set it up, they have Group I, II and III schools in there. To win that, you have to beat Cherokee and some of the major schools.
   ”Dr. Wendy O’Neal is our athletic director. She set up a great schedule for us. We don’t have a lot of back-to-backs so we can practice. This is a tough week. For a new team, new program, we’re learning something every day. I like the competition. The kids like the competition. They don’t want to play teams that aren’t competitive. They set goals and want to achieve them.”
   Things improved significantly for the Scotties after Bausher threw a perfect game in a 14-0 win for defending Group I state champion New Egypt on Saturday.
   ”She’s probably the best I’ve ever seen,” said Wilson, who has specialized as a pitching coach for 25 years. “We worked hard that week to try to hit her rise ball. When she found out we weren’t going for rise ball, she switched to her curve and her screwball. She did us in. She was very good.”
   Facing the best only helped BRHS in its second game of the season. Jessica Dixon and Allyson Potts each went 2-for-3, and each drove in a run for the Scotties, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead after two innings, then built it to 6-0 after the third inning. That was more than enough to support the pitching of Nicole Sheppard, who surrendered just four hits and one earned run.
   ”The kids hit really well,” Wilson said. “I’ve got a young team. I don’t have any seniors starting on the team. Usually with the younger players, as a good as they are, they don’t have the at bats, the experience. We’ve been playing small ball and hitting the ball hard. It was a mix of offense.
   ”My team is really fast. We have some good runners on the team. It’s exciting to see them run the bases. We’ve been working on that too.”
   The defense, too, is coming along. They made a couple of errors in Monday’s win, but they are showing improvements.
   ”The defense is very good,” Wilson said. “Playing New Egypt, they’re not just a pitching team. They hit the ball hard at us. They’re well rounded. When the ball’s getting smashed at you, you’re going to make some errors.
   ”We had two errors (Monday), and one was a dropped third strike. Other than that, they played very well with the defense. They had some hits to the outfield. My outfield is strong and quick. We played real well in all aspects of the game. We worked hard on our defense.”
   Assisting Wilson this season are Katie Ashe and Lisa Sabo, the latter who leads a large junior varsity squad. Members of the Scotties are: sophomore pitcher/infielder Robin Antozzeski, freshman utility Leighanne Carter, freshman utility Morgan Decker, junior catcher Jessica Dixon, sophomore infielder Dominique Douthit, senior outfielder Natasha Gomez, sophomore infielder Sarah Lyons, junior outfielder Allison Lynne, junior outfielder Samantha Martinez, junior infielder Emilia Paciotti, sophomore outfielder Ashley Pandolf, sophomore pitcher/infielder Allyson Potts, junior pitcher Nicole Sheppard and junior infielder Leyla Wirtz.
   ”I knew it would be a young team, and we’d have a lot of work to do,” Wilson said. “But they’ve responded well. They’re young, but they’re experienced. A lot of them play travel ball in local travel teams. We have kids playing on all different travel teams, so there’s quite a bit of experience there.”
   Wilson is working on building up the Scotties. He’s keep the varsity team small so that the players on it get plenty of playing time, and the rest of the program can improve by playing with the JV.
   ”We’ve been talking about the core values – hard work, loyalty and team work,” Wilson said. “We just keep pressing on those three core values. Hopefully we’ll continue to be competitive throughout the season.”
   Keeping the small team healthy will be important for Bordentown in order to build success. As the first week showed, there will be plenty of competition for the Scotties, and as their first win showed, they’re up for it.
   ”We definitely like the competition,” Wilson said. “We’re looking forward to it. We know we have long-term goals here.”