Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Lady Pirates are at peace heading into state playoffs

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Wednesday, May 30, 2001
Lady Pirates are at peace heading into state playoffs

By George Vondracek
Caller-Times

Stevens

SINTON - Success comes with more than a modicum of effort and cooperation.
   The softball players at Sinton High School can attest to that.
   The Lady Pirates' road to the Class 3A semifinals was as bumpy a playoff journey as a coach could envision. Internal strife and player defections made for a tumultuous trek through the season.
   On the eve of the Lady Pirates' semifinal game against Sanger, thinking back on the trying times is almost laughable for the players.
   "I think it was good for us," said catcher Samantha Marcum, one of but four seniors on Sinton's roster. "It taught us to pull together and work through the hard things."
   The difficulties also were having an effect on senior left-handed pitcher Amanda Stevens, the top offensive player who has pitched the Lady Pirates into the semis.
   "We'd argue over the stupidest things," said Stevens, who takes a 19-4 record into Thursday's game against Sanger. "Sometimes, I thought maybe I should quit. It was too frustrating and overwhelming. I was supposed to be a leader but nobody was getting along with each other.
   "I didn't want my senior year to end that way. I'm real happy with the way things turned out."
   Stevens isn't alone.
   "When we lost against Odem, our team just kind of fell apart and we weren't acting like a team," sophomore right fielder Kari Haug said. "We're just finally starting to come back together. There was just a lot of bickering, stupid stuff that shouldn't matter, but we made a big deal about."
   That 3-1 loss to Odem was 19 games ago in the fourth District 30-3A game. Sinton (26-4-3) hasn't lost since, although there have been two ties in playoff warmup games - 0-0 with Kingsville and 1-1 with San Marcos.
   Leadership infusion
   Proof of the revival was the rematch with the Lady Owls. Sinton rapped nine hits - an offensive boon for the Lady Pirates - and took advantage of 10 Odem errors for a 17-5 win. Stevens was 3 for 3 with a home run and Tracey Garcia and Angelica Carbajal had two hits apiece.
   Sinton also came up with a 5-4 win over the Lady Owls, sealed with Beth Harrison's RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh in the regional quarterfinals.
   Coach Wade Wilson had named tri-captains, two of whom were underclassmen, to try and inject some leadership into the club. That wasn't sitting well with some of the seniors. Two quit after the Odem loss. Two quit shortly thereafter.
   Wilson reduced the amount of time the team spent with each other prior to ballgames, releasing the players before pregame preparations began in hopes of alleviating some of the tension.
   "You're just asking for trouble when you keep people together who don't want to be there," said Wilson, who is leading the Lady Pirates to the state tournament for the second time in his three seasons as coach.
   "I was having problems with the seniors stepping up and leading. I challenged them. What I did was pick captains," Wilson said. "I'd never done that before. I picked one senior and two juniors. I figured the other seniors would take the hint and step up.
   "But the others took the challenge and that's why we're where we are today."
   Pitching and defense
   Where they are is the same place as 1999, the semifinals.
   To get past Sanger and into Saturday's title game against either Midland Greenwood or Splendora, Sinton will have to parlay defense and pitching, with a few offensive breaks, as it has during the course of its streak.
   "Very much so," Wilson said. "We've had 15 shutouts this year. Two years ago, when we went to state, we had eight. That says a lot about how the defense has played.
   "The defense has been the cornerstone for us. We're by no means a big offensive team," Wilson said. "We put the ball in play and make some things happen. We've had more games with less than five hits than we have with more than five hits."
   Stevens (.451, 24 RBIs) and shortstop Ashley Galbreath (.340, 13 RBIs) are the lone starters hitting better than .300.
   But with the newfound unity, the sustained pitching and defense may be sufficient to allow the Lady Pirates to advance farther than any other Corpus Christi area team has at the state softball tournament.
   One thing is certain - the Lady Pirates learned a tough lesson.
   "You have to believe in each other," Stevens said.


, Contact George Vondracek at 886-3731 or vondracekg@caller.com

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