Adaptable Terriers

Ann Marie Rich was holding pre-season meetings last fall when she found out the upcoming season would be unlike any other.
The St. Francis Prep softball coach was asking her newest players what position they felt most comfortable with and they kept on going, rattling off two and three different spots. At first, she was not quite sure what to think.
“It’s like when someone tells me their kid is good,” she recalled. “I have to see if they’re good. Their perception and my perception can be two different things. Had to see it to believe it.”
Consider her a believer. The Terriers, after their 12-0 blanking of Stella Maris last Monday afternoon at Cunningham Park, sit alone atop Brooklyn/Queens at 9-0.
While senior ace and second-hitter Krystil Hofmann draws much of the headlines and junior first baseman Carlo Pennolino - in her third year as a starter at first base - senior shortstop Valerie Tratner and senior outfielder Theresa Quinn supply much of the power, it is the combination of newcomers and holdovers that have offered Rich the versatility she has never enjoyed before.
Rich has two lineups she will go to, depending on who is in the circle. Hofmann, Johanna Rice and Nicole Weinman can each play three positions - pitcher, infield and outfield. The four sophomores - Toniann Abbruzino, Toniann Groth, Alexandra Sobrino and Megan Synott - have integrated well with the veterans to form a solid nucleus of interchangeable parts. It is for that reason that Rich took only 14 players this year, four less than the norm.
“They’ve just adjusted very well,” she said. “They really are very flexible when it comes to different things. It’s comfortable.”
“If somebody gets hurt,” Pennolino said, “we’ll always have somebody else for that position.”
The Terriers hope their new additions can get them over the hump in May. Last year, they lost the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan final to Archbishop Molloy - the Stanners’ first crown since admitting girls eight years ago. While the varsity was understandably upset, the jayvee was ecstatic, having won the city championship. It is why, Hofmann said, they have done so well.
“They’ve got a chip on their shoulders - you need that when you’re on the varsity level,” she said.
The combination of the returning starters yearning for revenge and the youngsters looking for yet another title has worked well for St. Francis. They have already navigated through several minefields, performing well in an Easter tournament in Virginia, and have beaten rivals Molloy and Mary Louis once apiece.
“Everyone really wanting it, everyone really working hard, it’s going to turn out good,” Hofmann said.