By John Tredrea, Special Writer
WEST AMWELL — With a team of just 11 players — that means there were only two players left on the bench after the team had taken the field — the South Hunterdon Regional High School softball team did itself proud this season.
The team won a share of the Skyland Conference’s Valley Division title. Like North Warren and Belvidere, South Hunterdon won nine conference games while losing three.
South Hunterdon’s overall record this spring was 15 wins and six losses.
”We’re from a small school, so we had a small team in terms of the numbers of players we had,” said first-year coach, Holly Abitz. “Hopefully we’ll get more of a draw of players next year.”
Steadily improving defensive play was a major factor in the team’s strong finish. “Some coaches yell at players when they make an error,” the coach said. “I don’t. If a player makes an error, I tell her to put it in the past and move on — to concentrate on what’s going on now.”
Ms. Abitz was the team’s batting practice pitcher. “The second time we played each team, we had usually seen their pitcher before,” she said. “So, during batting practice, I would try to pitch to our hitters at the same speed the opposing pitcher threw. I think it helped.”
It certainly looks like it helped. The team compiled an excellent .355 batting average for the season and finished rocking the ball hard. “In our last game against Manville, we had 17 hits and won 11-0,” Ms. Abitz said. That win clinched a share of the Valley title for South Hunterdon.
The members of the team are Jasmine Assad, a senior pitcher; Kaycree Zelkovsky, a sophomore catcher; Megan Donnelly, a sophomore catcher; Courtney Cole, a sophomore who played both first and third base; Amber Dey, a sophomore second baseman; Roxanne Kreider, a junior shortstop; Daniellle Lelie, a senior third baseman; Jessica MacGregor, a sophomore left fielder; Rachel Slovark, a senior right fielder; Kelly Albanir, a senior centerfielder; and Elyse Williams, a freshman utility player who was used where needed.
”Jasmine Assad is very talented player,” the coach said. “She hit .500 for the season, with six home runs, 13 doubles, 26 runs batted in and nine stolen bases. She was our ace pitcher, too. She had a 1.58 earned run average and 147 strikeouts and only 31 walks.”
Jessica MacGregor also was a force at the plate. She had eight doubles, 13 runs batted in and a slugging percentage of .606.
Kelly Albanir was outstanding at bat and on the bases. “She’s one of our best runners,” Coach Abitz said. “She had 17 stolen bases, two home runs, 12 runs batted in and a .603 slugging percentage.”
Amber Dey also was a terror on the basepaths. The speedy sophomore stole 18 bases.
What their coach really admired about this team was its determination.
”These girls never gave up when we were behind in the game,” she said. “We came from behind to beat Belvidere, Burlington City and Bound Brook. And we made it to the second round of the state tournament. It was a good season. We are losing five seniors this year. We’ll bring up some people from the junior varsity and look for another good year in 2013.”