Covenant softball turns heads in second season

By Scott Ratcliffe Daily Progress correspondent
Published: April 25, 2008

In only its second year in existence as a varsity program, Covenant softball is on the rise thanks to a cornerstone group of seniors and an upstart bunch of young players who are learning and growing — and most importantly improving with each inning.
After going through the growing pains of a winless first season in 2007, Covenant knocked off visiting Eastern Mennonite 1-0 on Friday to push its record to .500 on the season.
“Now we’re 6-6, and we’ve been in every game but one this year,” Covenant head coach Mike Thornton said following the victory on senior night. “Every game has been close, and we’ve made some mistakes, but we’re continuing to learn, and continuing to get used to the pressure.
“We’ve still got a young team, so you’ve just have to get some experience under your belt, and that’s kind of what happened last year.”
Covenant has been led on the mound all season by eighth-grader Taylor Peed, who struck out 16 batters, walked one and gave up just two hits in eight shutout innings against the Flames on Friday afternoon. Amazingly enough, striking out 10 or more in a game is certainly nothing new for Peed.
“She’s been awesome all year,” said Thornton of his young star pitcher. “She got in a couple of tight spots [Friday] and she pitched her way out of it. She’s just a solid young player obviously. She’s got a lot of heart, always smiles, it’s kind of nice to see that the pressure doesn’t get to her.”
With an array of pitches at her disposal, including a fastball, sinker, changeup, curveball and riser, Peed has been fanning batters left and right, posting double-digit strikeouts in nearly every game she’s played. And with each strikeout call by the umpire comes an ear-to-ear grin from Peed.
“I’m just happy after I get a strikeout,” Peed exclaimed after her performance. When asked if there’s much pressure on her or if she just makes it look easy, the young pitcher said it’s just the opposite.
“There’s always a little pressure, but it’s not easy,” Peed said. “I just love pitching.”
Taylor is not the only eighth-grader making significant contributions for the Eagles. Classmates Sally Cathcart, Connor Adams, and Ivy Hendrix have started nearly every game at third base, shortstop and second base, respectively.
Even more amazing, these players all played their “rookie” year last season as seventh-graders.
“They’re all eighth-graders now but they’ve all been playing softball already for at least three or four years,” Thornton said.
The senior class — outfielders Katie Long, Olivia Fivek and Amy Jessup and first baseman Helen Cushman — was a huge part of the Covenant softball program’s inception. Thornton said the four seniors are the reason the Eagles are playing softball today.
“We wouldn’t have had a team if it had not been for those four girls and a couple girls last year who decided to come out and play, even though they hadn’t played before,” said Thornton. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have had the numbers.”
In their final home game, the seniors delivered in the bottom of the seventh inning with a shot up the middle by Fivek that put Long in scoring position. Cathcart then drove Long in with a single to win the game in dramatic fashion.
“[Fivek] just started playing last year, so she’s really new to softball, but she’s worked hard, and it was nice that she got that hit and [Cushman] got the walk that set it up.”
Covenant will play the first of four LIS games on the road next week on Monday at St. Anne’s-Belfield before playing in the LIS Tournament that begins the following Monday.
Thornton is confident that his young team will be competitive throughout the stretch and that the Eagles will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
“We feel like if we play good ball, play good defense and pitch well that we can be in almost any game we play,” he said.