By SPENCER BATES
OLEAN — It was a tough day at the plate for the Olean softball team as it remains in search of its first win of the new campaign.
The Huskies only managed the sporadic hit against a strong Depew side and, in turn, was never truly able to get its offense producing at the rate coach Steve Anastasia would have liked. But where the offense struggled, a solid effort defensively prevented the visiting Wildcats from running away with the game as the Huskies were shutout 3-0.
The biggest obstacle that stood in the path of Olean was the caliber of pitching it faced from Depew’s Bella Hill, who recorded 15 strikeouts and just one walk throughout the full seven innings.
“She had a little movement on her ball,” Anastasia said. “She was throwing a rise ball. And when you see a rise ball, you have two choices: you can move up in the box, or you can keep your hands up. That’s the only two choices and we didn’t do a good job doing either. So yeah, we struggled with that pitch. But hopefully we’ll see this team down the road in the playoffs.”
But what only compounded the problem for the Huskies was that they did not adjust to Hill’s pitching over the course of the game. And having only tallied five hits on the night, according to Anastasia, that was what did the most damage and what he will hope his players can change in the games to come
“We had three problems: we weren’t keeping our hands up, we weren’t moved up in the box — and with a rise ball, that’s what you got to do — (and) they got to keep their eye on it. Some of (our players) were pulling their heads. They have to move up in the box or keep their hands up. That’s all. We just got to make an adjustment when it doesn’t work the first time. You can’t do the same thing. You got to adjust.”
But as for the production that Olean did manage to get at the plate, two of its five hits came from the bottom of the lineup. Amelia Jones and Riley Sudbrook, a freshman and eighth-grader respectively, were the first two Huskies to put a ball in play, a positive sign for Anastasia who noted just how difficult the jump straight into varsity can be for those on the younger side.
“Being an eighth-grader and playing in this, it’s tough, (these are) tough situations they’re being thrown in,” Anastasia said. “Riley Sudbrook hasn’t played JV, she just moved right up to varsity. That’s a huge jump. People don’t understand, even from JV ball to varsity ball, what it is. The pitches are faster, everything just moves faster. Situations are different, situations happen quicker. But I’m liking what I’m seeing out of the young girls.”
But on a positive note, Anastasia knows that it is very early in the year, and while he has been pleased with the production from the younger members of his team, he knows there is plenty of room for them, and the rest of his roster for that matter, to grow.
“I tell everybody on the team, ‘you’re going to make a mistake,’” Anastasia said. “You’re going to strike out. It is what it is. You just got to play the next play. And we seem to be doing a good job of that, even though we make some mistakes here and there. We’re still young, we have people in new positions. We’ll learn what to do. … These non-league games are kind of like scrimmages just to get us ready for the league next week. So, yeah, I like the way they are progressing. We just got to start getting more hits in key situations.”
Olean’s Anna Bates (15) just misses on a pitch against Depew. (Spencer Bates)
The Huskies were out-hit on the night 12-5, but if they had simply dropped their heads and given up on the result, that tally would have ended 12-3.
Olean managed to get two runners on base and bring the tying run to the plate, in an attempt to rally, in the bottom of the seventh inning. While their efforts eventually fell short, that fight and perseverance was exactly what Anastasia was looking for.
“I tell them right at the beginning every game, we play seven innings, no matter what,” Anastasia said. “Even if we’re way down, we try to win each inning after that, it doesn’t matter. I said, ‘your effort, your attitude, your body language, speaks volumes.’ So we preach that, and the girls have been doing a good job. The leaders have been leading.”
Anastasia will hope the positive signs that he did see against Depew will continue to compound and turn into tallies in the win column. His team’s next chance at picking up its first win of the year will be in another non-league “tune-up” game at home against East Aurora on April 7 at 5:30 p.m.
AT OLEAN
Depew 000 201 0 3 12 0
Olean 000 000 0 0 5 1
Depew: Bella Hill (15 SO, 1 BB) and Avery Smolarek
Olean: Emma Edwards (6 SO, 1 BB) and Anna Bates
