http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110609/SPORTS/706099898
Published June 9, 2011 in the Rutland Herald
Ghosts hope Stewart’s swan song is a title tune
By Tom Haley
The mantra for coaches when they get to championship games is normally: We’re not going to change anything now. We’re going with what got us here.
Not so with Springfield softball coach Andy Bladyka and his assistant Mike Langdon. They aren’t afraid to tinker with the lineup right up to the title game. That will be on Friday at 4:30 p.m. when Bladyka’s No. 1 Cosmos (14-4) take on No. 3 Lyndon (12-5) at Poultney’s Legion Field.
Bladyka put Kaylee Haskell into the lineup at third base for the semifinal game against Fair Haven, even though she had never played there all year. Haskell had been swinging a live bat and Bladyka saw that as giving the Cosmos their best offensive lineup.
And who they will send to the mound against the Vikings is anyone’s guess. The Cosmos have used a number of pitchers, including Sara Locke, who pitched the semifinal victory.
Championship weekend in Poultney is spread over three days this year. It begins this evening with the Division IV game. Brandi Sargent’s No. 3 Rochester Rockets (14-4) meet the No. 8 Richford Rockets (10-5) at 6 p.m.
No. 2 Brattleboro (18-1) takes the field against No. 1 BFA-St. Albans (17-0) Friday at 7:30 p.m. Brattleboro, which features sophomore pitcher Kayla Wood, is trying to repeat.
The final game is the Division III championship between No. 6 Peoples Academy (13-4) and No. 1 Randolph (16-2) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Springfield has been waiting since 1986 for a softball state crown. That was the year players like Joan Cioffi, Shannon Blais, Chari Converse, Kiki Knoras and Sue Simone defeated Spaulding in the Division I title game.
Many of them are still around and, in fact, Cioffi is a teacher in the Springfield school system. Some of them will be in the crowd, seeing if the Cosmos can replicate their magic from 25 years ago.
The Cosmos have a potent lineup led by Sarah Vredenburgh in the No. 3 spot at .409. Jessie Haskell and catcher Amanda Farnsworth are both hitting over .350.
Bladyka has been using a rotation of freshmen pitchers who have received a great deal of acclaim, but he said the four seniors have been the glue of the team. They are Vredenburgh, Jessie Haskell, Farnsworth and leadoff batter Alexis Locke.
“Those four seniors, along with Mike Langdon, have been the glue,” Bladyka said.
“People don’t know how much Mike does for our team. He’s not really an assistant, he’s a co-coach. He studies the other team’s hitters and finds their weakness and works with our own hitters every day.
“He does so much for this team and the kids know it.”
Alan Stewart is in his 32nd and final season at the helm of Randolph. This will be the ninth final his Galloping Ghosts have been in. They are also the defending state champions
He is on his third pitcher, having lost the first two to injuries early in the season.
But Ashley LaFreniere, who had been the shortstop, has come to the fore.
“She has done an amazing job,” Stewart said.
Her success has been built on control, moving her pitches around and flashing an effective changeup.
She throws strikes and her teammates make the plays behind her.
“This is probably the strongest defensive team I have ever had in all positions,” Stewart said.
The Ghosts have but one senior so Stewart isn’t leaving a bare cupboard for his successor.
The senior is third baseman Molly Poirier. “She has been the leader,” Stewart said.
Stewart will be matching wits with another veteran coach in Art Lilly. His Wolves boast a strong pitcher in Jillian Stein and a power hitting catcher in Kaleigh Newton.
Tonight’s D-IV game could turn into a duel between Richford pitcher Kayla Messier and Rochester’s Bennett McPhetres. Both are capable of shutting teams down.
Richford just played at Legion Field on Tuesday when the Rockets defeated Poultney in the semifinals and Richford coach Jen Gross said playing there could give her team “a comfort level.”
Rochester was in the state championship game as recently as 2009, but has not won the title since 1995 when the Rockets beat Canaan 4-0 in the championship game.
Sargent is well aware of Messier’s velocity and Wednesday’s practice included moving the pitching machine halfway up to the plate and cranking it up to help with her batters’ reaction time.
McPhetres has worked hard to get to this point.
“It’s been a lot of dedication,” Sargent said. “Bennett and Charlie Martin have practiced late by the light of the car headlights.”
Last year Brattleboro and Wood defeated Essex 1-0 in the D-I championship game.
Pitching could be the centerpiece again Friday night as both Wood and BFA-St. Albans ace Chelsea Abbott are capable of dominating the game.
BFA last wore the crown in 2007 when the Comets beat Rutland 5-2 in the championship game.
The people in Poultney always go out of the way to make Legion Field a special championship venue.
“They won me over,” Stewart said. “One year when we were there it was as though Vermont got hit by a monsoon. They worked so hard to get the field playable I can’t wait to see some of those guys again.”
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