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Thursday, July 31, 2008

High Schooler Steps Up To Coach

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
       Alison Shuert has a whole new perspective.
    Shuert, a Moriarty High junior this year, is the first-year coach of the Moriarty Pistols, a 14-and-under softball team. The prep center fielder, a floater on the high school squad this past spring, has been coaching the Pistols during the Moriarty Girls Fast-Pitch Association season this summer at the city's sports complex.
    "The coach couldn't do it, so she asked me if I would do it," said Shuert, whose 17th birthday is today. "I played at the high school, and I like kids and I like coaching and I like softball. This team is like I was in middle school."
    Shuert knows now that coaching and playing are two different balls of wax. Most of the league's coaches are women in their 30s with some (sorry, ladies) possibly in their 40s.
    "I didn't know before that being a coach was this much work, that it could be so hard," Shuert said. "When I played, I was always the funny one, and the coach would get mad. Now, I'm the one going, ‘What am I going to do with you?' "
    About half the Pistols' roster is comprised of former 12U Moriarty Super Chix's players. The Chix's beat Moriarty TNT 16-12 for third place in the 12U league tournament last year.
    "But their (the Super Chix's) coach, Vicki Connelley, she passed away unexpectedly," said Joel Delgadillo, an MGFPA board member. "It was right about the time we were trying to put the league together for this season. She was going to do it again. It was like, ‘What? Oh, no,' when we heard. It was a shock. She was a good coach for the girls."
    Victoria "Vicki" Pulis-Connelley, 60, died at her home in Edgewood on May 9, according to her obituary. She was enthusiastic about her Super Chix's.
    "Three players on this team played last year," Connelley said in 2007. "The rest of the team never played before in their life. But it's going good. They're learning. They're doing a good job."
    Ultimately, it was Shuert, in a roundabout way, who filled the vacancy after Connelley's death.
    "There was another high school girl (Rebecca Moncayo) who started the (Pistols), but then she couldn't do it," Delgadillo said. "So, Alison stepped up and said, ‘I'll do it, if you'll let me.'
    "It's been kind of up and down for (Shuert)," Delgadillo continued. "The good thing is she's close to the girls, and they listen to her. But toward the end of the season, some of the girls started dropping out. ..."
    Other teams, like TNT, have had similar issues, mostly due to family vacations conflicting with the league's end-of-season tournament. The 14U tourney's first-round game between TNT and the Pistols is scheduled to be played today at 6 p.m. at the complex — if the Pistols can field a full squad.
    TNT, which defeated the Pistols 36-11 in the teams' final regular-season game on Tuesday, might be short a player or two if it advances to Saturday's 9 a.m. title contest against Moriarty's High Maintenance, the 12U champion last year.
    "I think we can do it (win) this year," TNT coach Mary Bell said. "I've got some pretty good players this year, but I'll be short of players (for Saturday). But I've been given permission to pick up a couple of players from the Pistols, like two or three."
    High Maintenance is the favorite.
    "But it's always difficult; it's never easy," High Maintenance coach Michelle Santrock said. "It just depends on who comes to play that morning."
    12-and-Under
    The Moriarty Dolphins will battle the Estancia Elite for the 2008 league title. The championship game is set for Saturday at 9 a.m. at the sports complex.
    10-and-Under
    Moriarty's Whitaker Electric Stars will play the Estancia Wildcats in a league tournament first-round game today at 6 p.m. at the complex. The winner will advance to play the league-leading Estancia Lady Bears on Saturday at 10 a.m.
    The Bears, 7-3 after their 13-10 regular-season victory over the Stars on Tuesday, were the 8U champions last year. But Bears coach Heather Aday said the change from machine pitch to girl pitch has been a big adjustment for her players.
    "We changed after the Fourth of July ..." Aday said. "They don't get as many hits now, but it's good for them in the long run."
    The Stars are making progress.
    "Our record is 5-5," Stars coach Kathy Sours said. "Last year, they were the Lil' Boogers and were 0-10. They've come a long way."
    T-Ball
    Teams in the 6-and-under division don't keep score.
    "It's going good," said Estancia Wildcats coach Shauna Branch, who also is Estancia Middle School's principal. "We're hitting home runs. They're running, hitting and having fun. Most of them will be 8-and-under next year, and they're ready for it."
    A T-ball coach, at times, needs the patience of a saint.
    "They've showed a lot of improvement during the season ..." Moriarty Pink Ponies coach Shannon Ortega said. "I love the kids. I love seeing them smile, and I like seeing them active."