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2008 WRAP-UP GUIDE Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2008
DIANA PEPIN JOINS PRO FASTPITCH LEAGUE AS HITTING COACH Eastern head coach fills summer coaching vacancy with NPF’s New England Riptide
WILLIMANTIC, Conn. -- In a softball league comprised exclusively of professionals and dominated by former Division I players and current Division I coaches, the New England franchise in National Pro Fastpitch has dipped into the Division III ranks in order to put the Rip back into Riptide. Based in Lowell, Mass., the Riptide appointed Eastern Connecticut State University head softball coach Diana Pepin hitting coach two months into their three-month summer season after a coaching shakeup left the club in immediate need of an assistant coach. Pepin was recommended for the vacancy by former Eastern softball assistant coach Normand Pariseau, a first-year assistant coach at Quinnipiac University. Riptide head coach Germaine Fairchild, who serves as head coach at Quinnipiac during the collegiate season, then contacted New England general manager Joe Adlman, who phoned Pepin with the offer. The position is a part-time one and does not impact upon Pepin’s current status as Eastern’s head coach. “Norm recommended me. He said that I would really help with the hitting aspect, because I’ve worked with him so much and I’ve really brought Eastern along,” remembers Pepin, who was assisted by Pariseau for three seasons through the 2007 campaign. “Germaine said that she agreed and would love to have me work with the hitters.”
New England struggled offensively through the first half of the season, but managed to score a total of 14 runs in its recent four-game road series with Chicago. The Riptide were hitting .255 with four regular-season games remaining, with three hitters at .300 or better. “Some of the (Riptide) hitters have a plan and they know what they need to do, and you don’t have to tell them a lot,” said Pepin. “Some are really struggling and you have to work in the mental approach. When I showed them the (hitting) video, they really liked that and they continued to ask me questions about hitting and how they can get better, and what they need to do to perform.” The team entertains the defending playoff champion Washington Glory in its final regular-season series August 14-17, with the outcome to determine its post-season fate. The 2006 Cowles Cup champion, New England enters that final series tied with Akron for the fourth and final playoff spot in the six-team league. While 15 of the 17 players on the Riptide’s roster played for many of the Division I national powerhouse programs –Michigan, Arizona State and Northwestern among them -- Pepin said that her suggestions and teaching methods were well-received.when she arrived on the scene in July. “The majority of the players are very coachable and very receptive,” noted Pepin, who indicated that a six-day stretch of practice prior to the Illinois road trip was essential in helping her implement her theories. “They didn’t look at me as a Division III coach – they just looked at me as a hitting coach. Their reaction was that ‘she’s our coach, she’s going to work with us on hitting, and that’s what it is… and we’re happy to have her.’” “I felt very comfortable (with the Riptide) because of the season that we had (at Eastern),” added Pepin. “And I feel comfortable in what I’m teaching. The Warriors were among the most lethal offensive teams in Division III this past year, posting a team batting average of .344 and averaging nearly seven runs per game, smacking 29 home runs, and collecting nearly 600 total bases. They shared the Little East Conference regular-season championship and later knocked off the top seed in the NCAA regional tournament (Montclair State) en route to their winningest season in 14 years. Saturday, May 10, 2008
DEFENSE, WARRIORS FALTER IN NCAA SOFTBALL TOURNEY St. John Fisher capitalizes on errors for 5-4, eight-inning win that ends their season
At left: Kate Livingston Fifth-seeded Eastern (28-14) led twice in the game on two-run home runs by junior first baseman Rachel Denny (East Haddam) and senior rightfielder Kate Livingston (West Hartford), but an outfield error helped third-seeded St. John Fisher (26-20) score three runs in the third and the game-ending run with two out in the bottom of the eighth inning. The loss ends Eastern’s winningest season in 14 years, while St. John Fisher advanced in the losers’ bracket to face second-seeded Endicott College Saturday at 2 p.m. Fourth-seeded Cortland State, the only remaining unbeaten team, needs one win Sunday to capture the regional championship. The Warriors were coming off consecutive one-run wins over seventh-seeded Keuka College and top-seeded and No. 5 nationally-ranked Montclair State University Friday – victories which kept Eastern alive after an opening-round 14-5 setback at the hands of Cortland. Saturday, St. John Fisher stranded 14 runners through the first seven innings. In the eighth, the Warriors commited their fourth error of the game on Jamie Harmon’s sacrifice bunt. On that error – which allowed Harmon to reach safely with none out -- Nicole Middleton raced from first to third, and scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly to left by Kristi Bradley. The program’s season RBI record-holder with 50, Rachel Denny gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead with her team-leading 11th home run of the year. An inning-opening error, three hits and a sacrifice bunt accounted for three St. John Fisher runs in the third before the Warriors re-gained a 4-3 lead when Livingston launched a two-out, two-run home run just over the fence in left. Rachel Denny had opened the inning with a first-pitch single. In the fourth, Middleton’s sacrifice fly plated Nicole Watkins from third to tie the game, 4-4. After seeing limited action over the second half of the season, junior right-hander Lisa Cody (Webster, MA) allowed only the game-winning (unearned) run over her four-inning relief stint. The third of three Eastern pitchers, Cody (3-4) allowed five his and only one walk after replacing freshman righty Caitlin Cravens (Ellsworth, ME) while the Cardinals were scoring the game-tying run in the fourth. Cody escaped jams in the fifth, sixth and seventh before the Empire-8 champions broke through in the eighth. Cody saved both of Eastern’s one-run wins Friday, giving up only one hit over 2 2/3 innings. Opposing batters managed only six hits in 6 2/3 tournament innings against Cody, who walked only two and was not charged with an earned run. St. John Fisher, which did not commit an error for the third straight tournament game, threatened in every inning against Eastern, leaving two runners aboard five times and the bases loaded once. The Cardinals could not break a 4-4 tie in the sixth when a single, walk and error loaded the bases, but Cody got a weak infield pop to end the threat. The Warriors also came up empty in the sixth. With two out and none on, Livingston singled to center on the first pitch from complete-game winner Amanda Shevchuk (16-13), and was advanced to third on junior Kelly Finlay’s (Thomaston) third pinch hit in four tournament at-bats. Finlay took second on the play, but both runners were stranded in scoring position when Shevchuk got a swinging strikeout to end the inning. All-region sophomore centerfielder Ashley Sullivan (Trumbull) had a 14-game hitting streak snapped by going 0-for-4, and finished the season with a .456 batting average, three hundredths of a percentage point shy of Sarah Marchetti’s season mark of .459. Denny and Livingston had two hits each in Eastern’s seven-hit offense. Four players had two hits, five players scored a run, and four were credited with at least one RBI in SJF’s 12-hit attack. The top four hitters combined for six hits and four runs scored. Notes: Rachel Denny, Ashley Sullivan, and Kate Livingston were named to the Plattsburgh (NY) Regional All-Tournament Team Record-setting season:
Both Rachel and senior catcher Krystle Denny (West Haven) broke the 20-year-old progam record for slugging percentage. Rachel Denny finished at .783, Krystle Denny at .725. The old record of .693 was held by Eastern Hall of Famer Mariann Sumbo. Krystle Denny was hitless in four at-bats and finished one shy of tying Trish Wodatch’s 22-year-old record of 98 total bases. With 11 and eight home runs, respectively, both Rachel and Krystle Denny broke the previous season record of six, set last year by Rachel Denny and Kim Church (Farmington). Rachel Denny also broke Shumbo’s (both are graduates of Nathan Hale-Ray HS) career home run record of eight. She has 19 in three years. With 16 doubles, Krystle Denny also broke by one Michelle Cunningham’s 1998 season record of 15. Cravens came out of the bullpen in all four regional tournament games and completed her first season with a program season record 20 relief appearances, eight more than the old record. The Dennys also tied the program game record when they each smacked two home runs in a game, becoming the fifth and sixth players in program history to do so. Freshman utility player Brittany Soucy (Terryville) became the first player in program history to be hit by a pitch as many as three times in a game. With 85 doubles, 28 home runs and a .533 slugging average, the Warriors broke the season records in those categories for the second straight year. The team's 586 total bases were the highest since the 1988 team established the current season record of 615. Three pitchers also combined for a season record seven saves. St. John Fisher 5, Eastern Conn. 4 Eastern Conn. (28-14) 200 200 00 -- 4 7 4 St. John Fisher (26-20) 003 100 01 -- 5 12 0 One out when winning run scored Katie Pensiero, Caitlin Cravens (3), Lisa Cody (4) and Krystle Denny. Amanda Shevchuk (16-13) and Jamie Harmon. HR-Rachel Denny (11), Kate Livingston (3) (E). |
Pepin, who led the Warriors to a 28-14 record and a berth in the NCAA Division III tournament in her seventh season this past spring, joined New England more than halfway through its 40-game regular-season league schedule. Pepin joined the club July 19 in the final game of a four-game set with the visiting Akron Racers at Martin Softball Field in Lowell. Following a four-game series the next weekend against the visiting Chicago Bandits, Pepin recently accompanied the Riptide to Illinois for their final regular-season road trip – four games against the Rockford Thunder and four against the Bandits.
