Sky's the limit for SCCC softball

By Andrew Tredinnick New Jersey Herald

The change in culture is apparent within the Sussex County Community College softball program.

In his second year at the helm, Franklin native AJ Agnor has brought a new energy to a team that won a total of nine games in the three seasons prior to his arrival.

After finishing 6-18 a season ago, Agnor now has a collection of players that he brought in who share a love and commitment to the sport and have begun to mesh into a positive, cohesive unit.

"You're putting together a group that community is going to start to see is a good softball team, and there is talent in the surrounding couple of counties around here," Agnor said. "That's going to be exciting as we continue to grow through the season and continue to play games. That part in of itself has been a lot of fun. You get to know the kids really fast."

Despite a palpable optimism within the club and a lofty goal of reaching the Region 19 playoffs, there will undoubtedly be challenges as the Skylanders look to take another step forward in their progression this season.

For one, SCCC will be without the starting pitcher that they anticipated taking the circle on a regular basis with Rebecca Riley, of Phillipsburg, suffering a knee injury that will keep her out for the entire season.

Instead, the Skylanders will turn to Peyton Smith, the program's first international player in program history, hailing from Australia, to pick up the slack in her first major action as a No. 1 starter.

Agnor also expects Newton grad Taylor Thieme, who pitched growing up but rarely, if ever, in high school, and Warren Hills' Amanda Maxwell, a transcendent athlete with no pitching experience, to help fill the void.

Sophomore backstop Kelsy Conlon, who formed one of the area's toughest batteries with senior Jackie Bono during her time at North Warren, knows that her steadiness behind the plate will be crucial as Sussex hopes to have success with an unseasoned staff.

"It's just picking them up when they're down," said Conlon, who led Division-III in runners caught stealing a season ago. "They're practicing really hard to get their pitches down, and it's not as natural to them as it was to her. It's going to be the constant practice. That's going to be the difference for them."

With the snow still dissipating across the northern portion of New Jersey, the Skylanders may have been confined to the gym for the opening few weeks of practice, but that has not put a damper on the start of the team's season.

And Agnor believes that there may be just enough pop and sure-handed defense in SCCC's ranks to make up for the uncertainty in the pitcher's circle.

The Skylanders' offense is led by sophomore shortstop Leah Struble, a Sussex Tech product who batted .500 last season.

There's high hopes for Thieme and Maxwell in the infield, who each bolstered their lineups during their time on the high school diamond.

Nicole Matlock (Belvidere), Kathyrn Szatkiewicz (Newton), Megan Rafferty (Lenape Valley) and Brianne Willis (Hopatcong) all come in with high expectations, as well.

"The ability and the talent is there," Agnor said. "With the pitching now, we obviously have to change our mindset and how we move girls and use girls. That's on the coaching staff.

"Defensively, I think we're going to be really good. We've worked a lot on shoring up our defense from last year, getting rid of those errors and making teams earn their runs off us instead of just giving them up.

"Obviously in softball, it's hitting. Pitching, we know what we have now and we're in a situation where we have to adapt to that. It's something where we'll figure out in the next week or two how we're going to manage that, but we have to have that hitting."

But aside from the talent, the biggest thing that Agnor has noticed with this team that gives him optimism moving forward has been their attitude.

"It's essentially going out on the field and giving it all you have," Struble said. "Our motto now is 'Expecting to win,' instead of saying, 'Oh, we might win.' It's more like we're going to go out there and kick butt."

A season ago, without the commitment that this year's Skylanders team has shown early in the season, SCCC was forced to forfeit eight contests.

As opposed to high school softball, where a practice schedule is easy to conjure up after school, Agnor has had to take into account when players have class or work arrangements to produce a schedule.

But members of the team have been more up front and communicative about those issues this year.

"The biggest thing for us this year is the commitment in our team," Conlon said. "All these girls want to be good and want to get better. That's our biggest difference, I think. Everyone here is in the gym an hour before working out before practice. That's the difference in the dynamic this year, and it's definitely going to be awesome."

The Skylanders' players have taken ownership of this year's team, setting up chants and running through warm-ups without the guidance of the coaches.

While there's bound to be obstacles along the way this season, those challenges will not be multiplied by the attitude of the club.

"We really let them take control of the team," Agnor said. "That's been my mindset to get girls to come here is it's your team. I include them in everything but I want them to take control and do it the way they want to do it.

"I think we've noticed a difference with them coming together, especially from last year, much quicker.

"It's more of a cohesive group this year as opposed to a bunch of girls out there playing together with the same uniform."