‘Mighty’ Rochester softball team wins Town & Country 10U softball title

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

The Rochester 10-and-under softball won the Town & Country state championship on their home field, winning a 12-team tournament from July 11-14. They outscored their opposition by a combined score off 66-7 over five games. Front, kneeling from left – Teagan Showley, Ireland Showley, Vanessa Sroufe, Maggie Helt, Charli Haughs, Quinley Zent. Back – coach J.D. Showley, coach Brantlyn Showley, Kenzie Rensberger, Eva Mulligan, McKenna Field, Kinley Fincher, Lera Barts, coach Oscar Haughs (kneeling). Not pictured: Alex Parks. (photo provided)

The Rochester 10-and-under softball team might be building a dynasty.

They won the state championship in the 8-and-under age group last summer. Now they have won the 10-and-under Town & Country state title.

The team won the 12-team state tournament on their home field at Rochester from July 11-14. Four teams received byes, but Rochester was not one of them. They outscored Whitko, Norwell, Madison-Grant, Oak Hill and Fairfield by a combined score of 66-7 over a three-day span.

Of the 12 girls on this year’s state champs, nine were on last year’s 8-and-under team.

The team would appear to be close-knit. Eleven of the 12 play on a travel team called the Manitou Mighty, and all 12 play rec league ball prior to the Town & County All-Star Tournament. When two chose to play down at the 8-and-under level, they picked up another girl who was not on the travel team.

“They’ve been playing softball together since you could say last year for sure, but we started in January with winter practices and went all the way up until the end of July,” coach Oscar Haughs explained. “I think with the Mighty, we played close to 30 games and then we played the rec season which I think we played 12 to 15 depending on which team it was due to rainouts, and then we played in that Town & Country state tournament.”

Haughs said the team chemistry extended from players all the way to parents.

“The parents deserve a pretty good shout-out for raising a great group of girls who are coachable and willing to take criticism on top of the praise that they receive when we have the success that we have,” Haughs said.

Haughs coached the team with brothers Brantlyn and J.D. Showley. Chris Barnett kept the scorebook.

“He was a big part of what we did,” Haughs said of Barnett.

Haughs praised the team’s pitching and defense. The main difference between the 8-and-under and 10-and-under Town & Country softball is that 8-and-under has pitching machines and 10-and-under has live pitching.

With young pitchers facing top competition, Haughs said they were able to throw strikes.

“Kinley Fincher and Ireland Showley just caught fire from the circle,” Haughs said. “Over the three-day weekend, we walked only six girls in five games.”

Pitching was not always so easy for this group, according to Haughs.

“We started playing some games in March, and we really struggled from the circle,” Haughs said. “I’ll be honest. And then, Janell Mulligan, our (rec league) president, put on some pitching clinics. And then the girls have partnered with Abbie Malchow (Overmyer), who has worked wonders with Ireland and Kinley in getting them to be consistent from the circle.”

Haughs said the team focuses on defense in practice. While some teams might put their weakest fielders in the outfield, Haughs said his team’s outfield defense is a strength.

“The girls always want to do hitting practice, but I love coaching defense,” Haughs said. “So we do a lot of situational defense as a team and individual drills with the circle. What really set us apart during this Town & Country tournament is (on) line drives to the gap, Maggie Helt, Vanessa Sroufe, Charli Haughs, Quinley Zent and Lera Barts were running down the fly balls, so there weren’t balls dropping in the outfield, and if we’re catching balls in the outfield, that means our infield was really solid. So we just had girls making routine plays whenever the ball was put in play.”

Haughs also said that the team was known for its team speed. He said he was good with the players taking chances on the bases.

“We run the bases pretty aggressively,” Haughs said. “We coach it. We practice it. Probably second most to what we do on defense, we practice baserunning. We encourage the girls that if you get thrown out, it’s Brantlyn and my fault. And if you’re safe, you ran the bases great, and we manufactured a lot of runs by our aggressiveness on the basepaths.”

As hitters, Haughs said he preaches plate discipline.

“One ball, one location,” Haughs said. “Know what your pitch is, and look for it until you have two strikes.”