2011 Softball Team
They dug in and had no fear.
With a very young team consisting of two juniors and one senior, the 2011 Peddie softball team was resilient.
Peddie saved its best softball for when it mattered most as the Falcons ended the season on an 8–0 run to claim the Mid-Atlantic Prep League and NJISAA Prep A titles, the first for each accolade since 2008. The team never backed down and battled through every adversity, proving they belonged at the highest level.
“Sometimes when you have a young team, they’re too young to know to be scared,” Head Coach Tim O’Reilly said.
A 10-run rule loss to a team was the only time in O’Reilly’s 14-year Peddie career that the team suffered that fate, he said. From there, everything changed: The team turned the season around, winning eight consecutive games, including the Redbird Classic in Allentown, the Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) Tournament and the state tournament.
While at the Redbird Classic, the Falcons trailed 4–1 to Allentown High School after four innings and put together an eight-run surge over the final two innings, including a five-run seventh inning to win the finals, 9–5.
The Falcons would next come back from down 2–0 for a 7–3 victory over The Hun School for the MAPL title. Melissa Bollmeyer ’14 and Sarah Marion ’13 used their speed at the top of the lineup to help produce runs. In the semifinal round, the team edged The Lawrenceville School, 6–5. Peddie held a 5–3 lead en route to the victory.
Following the MAPL title, O’Reilly said, “Beating Allentown last week was big for us because we also had to come back against them. These girls are really starting to believe in themselves.”
The Falcons held off a seventh-inning rally by Blair Academy and played errorless ball to emerge a 6–5 winner over the Bucs in the NJISAA Prep A finals in Blairstown.
With the tying run on third base, pitcher Eve Clausen ’11 got the second out on a strikeout on three straight pitches. For the final out, she secured a comebacker and tossed to Caroline Abin ’13 at first base. Getting to the title game was not done easily and required extra innings. Olivia Bundschuh ’14 knocked a one-out single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth inning, scoring Abin from second base, in a wild 9–8 semifinals victory over Hun to earn a spot in the state championship.
“This game was so intense, but it really showed our true colors,” Abin ’13 said after the 2011 state championship. “Peddie softball is a team. We don’t depend on one player, because quite frankly, we can’t. Many say that softball is 80% pitching, but I knew this game was 100% us and how we all work as a team. I have never played on a team with better chemistry, energy and drive to win. I am so proud of what we have accomplished together.”
Clausen was the team’s captain and only senior; she and Kerrie Kortmann ’12, Nicole Powell ’12 and Sarah
Marion ’13 were named to the All-Prep First Team.
Marion batted .463, Niki Powell ’12 .392, Bollmeyer ’14 .364 and pitcher Clausen ’11 helped her own cause, batting .352 while leading the team with 16 RBIs. On the mound, Clausen accumulated a 13–3 record and 2.50 ERA, along with 112 strikeouts over 109 innings pitched.
“We didn’t have a weak link; there was no such thing on that team,” Powell said. “This team was on a mission, and we had all of the tools to do it.”
This season set the team up for further success, and several players on the roster went on to play in college.
“This team has amazed me with their composure and the competitive will to win,” O’Reilly reflected on the team’s journey that season. “Top to bottom, they are the toughest group of competitors I ever coached.”