Lady Rams softball coach stresses the positives despite 3 consecutive losses in downward spiral
April 18, 2024 at 12:14 a.m.
Lady Rams softball coach Jeanine Maiolini keeps saying and doing the right thing even when things are going wrong for her team.
And things have without a doubt been going wrong for her Rams.
They have lost three straight games in the past week or so, including two blowout losses by 34 runs to area powerhouses and a 17-run loss to what Maiolini considered a beatable team.
Coach looks for positives
Yet, no matter what happened, Maiolini usually found something good to say about her team's play despite their downward spiral.
And she keeps coming up with innovative ways to try to make her team better whether their record indicates that improvement or not.
Let us quickly count those most recent ways that became apparent in the Rams’ latest losses to Suffern (by a score of 16-0), Carmel (18-0) and Edgemont (22-5).
They included an inspirational motivational talk from ex-Lady Ram superstar Kayleigh Heckel, the kid from the block who make All-American as the point guard for nationally ranked Long Island Lutheran and has won an athletic scholarship to the University of Southern California. And then came the special batting practices that had pitchers firing away from a lot closer to home plate to help batters adjust to the fast rival pitchers who were blowing them away with their heat.
The savvy approach
But to really appreciate the coaching savvy, it helps to focus on each of those losses.
Obviously enjoying herself, centerfielder Tabby Sanchez runs for the ball in Port Chester’s Wednesday, Apr. 10 home loss to Carmel.By Chloe Trieff
After Suffern no-hit the Rams, Maiolini told her team she thought the rival pitcher was good and fast but hittable, so she was going to have the girls work more on bat speed by shortening their swings to catch up with the fast pitching.
"We were swinging the bat for the sake of swinging the bat and did not see the ball very well," she said. "Our bats were late, and we could not catch up with her speed."
Shortening their swings would help against that kind of pitching, she said. And so would concentrating on what she called "the little things" that would help the Ram pitchers like working on better outfield defense and infielders charging the ball instead of waiting for it to come to them.
The 'positive takeaways'
And yet she still stressed the "positive takeaways" that came from that loss like Isabella Rivera coming up as a pinch hitter and hitting a rocket down the third base line. And the way improving Ram pitchers like Fiona Lovallo and Kathleen Scarola were buckling down, throwing more strikes and issuing fewer walks. And how Sofia Greco and Lovallo showed patience and a good eye in working their way to get on base with walks.
"We have played a lot of games so far this season with minimal practice time, so I am glad that we can get out there and work on all the little things that will give us a chance to get on the board."
They didn't get on the board against Carmel, Maiolini's alma mater, because "their pitcher was throwing heat," according to Maiolini, but still there was some improvement because her Rams got four hits, Tabby Sanchez was robbed of a home run with two runners on base in the first inning when the Carmel centerfielder made a great catch at the fence while Skylar Sams made some great outfield catches of her own for the home team.
What program needs
Maiolini knows it is going to take a lot more than that to turn the season around. Because she knows what it takes to become a winner: she practiced endless hours to become an All-Section infielder back in the day when she went on to play for nationally ranked Hofstra University. So she knows her players have to put in the practice time. And she knows Port Chester needs a travel team program that works on their game year-round if they really want to improve and compete against the area's better teams—and that program isn't there. Until that program exists, all her Rams can do is play to the best of their ability.
She knows from the get-go that her team is going to have a hard time going up against teams with year-round programs like Carmel and Suffern, but it rankles her when her Rams lose to what she thinks of as beatable teams with similar seasonal programs as theirs.
Like the Edgemont team that beat them by 17 runs (22-5) last Saturday (4/15) when Sanchez got the Rams’ only hit.
Former Lady Ram Kayleigh Heckel, who has gone on to basketball fame and an athletic scholarship to the University of Southern California, came to support the team at one of their games. Front row, from left: Alison Lopez, Morgan Saunders, Tabby Sanchez, Fiona Lovallo. Back row, from left: Isabella Rivera, Fatima Coyt, Karah Provenzano, Kayleigh Heckel, Yvonne Santiago, Melina Morban, Heidi Gonzalez, Tamara Correia, Coach Jeanine Maiolini.Courtesy of Jeanine Maiolini
That troubled Maiolini because "Edgemont's pitcher was very hittable and they were very beatable, but we just had too many errors, couldn't hold it down on defense and had way too many strikeouts."
So the Rams obviously have to focus more.
The missing Lincs
But it wasn't all bad.
At least the Rams were getting on base because Tamara Correia, Karah Provenzano and Melina Morban all walked twice. And Sanchez, Rivera and Heidi Gonzalez walked, and Fatima Coyt got hit by a pitch. Correia scored twice while Sanchez, Gonzalez and Provenzano also scored.
Those added up to positive takeaways of which Maiolini hopes there will be a lot more including Ws instead of Ls in the upcoming games against Lincoln Friday (4/19) and Wednesday (4/24) home and away, both at 4:30 p.m. Because the missing Lincs figure to be among the beatable teams. Although that hasn't always been the case in a season where there have been more positive takeaways than wins.
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