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By Dallas Cogle Winning has become a tradition for the College of Southern Maryland softball program, evidenced by its best season ever last year when the Hawks won the Maryland Junior College Conference (JUCO) and Region XX Tournament on their way to finishing as the seventh-best team in the country at the Phoenix-hosted nationals. The class of 2000 put up very gaudy numbers over the last two seasons, which included a 67-20 combined record and two consecutive trips to nationals. Heading into tomorrow’s season-opening CSM Tournament, a changing of the guard has taken place for the program since the Hawks last took the field. CSM bid farewell to an impressive list of sophomore graduates from last year that included two First Team All Americans in pitcher Lizzie Estevez and shortstop Bethany Brady. In order to maintain the high standard of production this spring, CSM head coach Tom Morrison underwent a recruiting spree throughout the softball-rich Southern Maryland Athletic Conference during the offseason. Among his fine pickings for the 2001 CSM squad is the reigning SMAC Softball Player of the Year, pitching sensation Erin Waltersdorf, who guided Thomas Stone to the 3A State championship a year ago. She comes to the Hawks with plenty of winning experience in big-game situations, going to states during her junior and senior campaigns at Stone, and will be the new pitching ace of CSM. Filling the huge shoes left behind by Estevez will not be easy for Waltersdorf. Estevez not only improved exponentially from her freshman to sophomore season, but she got better with each game and spearheaded CSM to a remarkable 38-8 record in 2000. Now, the bulk of the mound duties rest on Waltersdorf’s shoulders. While Morrison admits that providing an effective encore act in the wake of Estevez is a tall order, he believes Waltersdorf, as much as anybody else, has the capability to continue the Hawks’ mastery on the mound. "I would rate Erin right on par with Lizzie coming out of high school," said Morrison. "Erin will pitch most of our tough games." While bringing in Waltersdorf ranked among the highlights of the offseason, it has not exactly been smooth sailing this winter. Three of Morrison’s promising recruits for the upcoming season backed out of their original commitments to the program. CSM then lost three returning players to academic ineligibility while the remaining two other experienced Hawk members, Anna Hazel and Kristin Harris, transferred. An 18-girl roster with a decent core of experienced players and newcomers a couple months ago has been reduced down to 12 members with no experience at junior-college level. Ironically, the preseason National Junior College Athletic Association poll has CSM ranked 11th in the country based upon last year’s success. The odds are certainly stacked against CSM to maintain that ranking with the Hawks having no previous junior-college experience and lacking depth. However, last year’s CSM squad, which had fewer than 12 players on occasions, overcame depth problems throughout the 2000 season. With many of the this year’s recruits having accomplished All County and All SMAC Team honors in the recent years gone by, Morrison is hoping that quality will prevail over quantity. To discount CSM as a contender from the state, region or national picture after 46 scheduled games come May would be very presumptuous. "It’s just too early to decide if our preseason ranking is legit or not. As the season progresses, we should be a worthy contender for the conference championship and have a shot to make a return trip to Arizona for nationals. That’s what our goal is," said Morrison. "We expect to contend with our revamped roster." Besides Waltersdorf, who will play third base when she is not pitching, other new faces in the CSM dugout will include 1999 county graduates Andrea Brady and Kristin Tucker. Brady, of Thomas Stone, and Tucker, of Westlake, will unite as teammates after being rivaling standouts during their high school days. Both are enjoying their first taste of competitive softball since being seniors in high school two years ago, but neither has encountered difficulties in getting back into the swing of things. Brady will play second base for Morrison, and Tucker will be penciled in as the regular first baseman and perform spot duty at catcher. Because of their leadership and headiness on the diamond, Morrison has named Brady and Tucker co-captains of the Hawks. Mandy McVeery (La Plata), Stacy Bean (Leonardtown), Jennifer Brown (Leonardtown), Melissa Speake (Lackey) and Leah Gibson (Lackey) — CSM’s No. 2 pitcher behind Waltersdorf — make up the rest of Morrison’s talented recruiting class that is fresh off the ballfields of the SMAC from 2000. Interestingly, Bean is the first left-handed catcher that Morrison has ever fielded behind the plate. Last August, Morrison described this class as "the deepest recruiting that we’ve had. He went on to add, "with the few coming back, we’ll have a strong player in every position." Though the team took a hit with unexpected casualties to the roster, four walk-on athletes with previous softball experience have emerged to fill the open gaps. Yola Lyles, Casey McClure (St. Mary’s Ryken), Michelle Lingerfelt (McDonough) and Stephanie Blaydoe (Westlake) were not the big-name recruits coming out of the SMAC over the last two years, but they could easily have a major impact in CSM continuing its winning tradition. Lyles is a longtime slow-pitch softball player and is a very good centerfielder who can also play first base. Morrison believes she will be an instant contributor right off the bat. McClure, Lingerfelt nor Blaydoe played high school softball last year but have valuable experience from competing in little league. Coincidentally, Blaydoe played for Morrison’s Big League team in her younger days. CSM’s offseason acquisitions featured much more than bringing in new players. Morrison and assistant coach Johnny Creaturo
have also welcomed a newcomer to their coaching staff with the addition of Brady, who is anything but a stranger to the
program. Brady and company get their first taste of action tomorrow in the annual CSM Tournament. The tournament will last through Sunday and includes 11 teams, ranging from the Maryland JUCO (Hagerstown, Prince George’s, Frederick and Rockville), North Carolina, Long Island, Pennsylvania. CSM and Lewisburg, of North Carolina, come in as the defending co-champions of the tournament, which has usually been a good indicator of the quality of the Hawks in years past. "It will be tough to duplicate last year’s success, but we’re still going to do well. We dominated Maryland teams last year. Though we don’t expect to that this year, we should do well nonetheless," concluded Morrison. Early rust could be more of a problem with this Hawks this year due to limited practice time inside the CSM gymnasium. Not only have the Hawks had to share the gym with the CSM men’s basketball team as in the past, but they have also had to work around the new women’s basketball squad. Barring inclement weather, CSM opens tomorrow’s action in the morning at 9 when it takes on Penn St.-Fayette. At 12:30, CSM takes on Community College of Beaver, of Pittsburgh, followed by a 2:15 game in the afternoon against Suffolk West Community College, of Long Island. CSM’s fourth and final game of the day will be at 4 against Frederick. The tournament will be seeded for Sunday, based upon where teams finish from Saturday’s action, with play beginning in the morning at 10 followed by game times at noon, 2 and 4. The host site of the tournament will be Waldorf’s Stethem Park. Projected batting lineup Off the bench
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