Familiarity Breeds Success at Rosary

When Rosary’s Christy Ledford steps into the circle today at Lakewood Mayfair Park, she can look over either shoulder and see a teammate she has played with the past four years.

She doesn’t have to watch third baseman Erin Connors, shortstop Michele McCarthy, second baseman Jaime Fruth or right fielder Theresa Cronin to know what each can do.

Ledford takes it for granted grounders will be fielded cleanly and popups caught. After all, she has a 15-5 record, a 0.41 earned-run average and nine shutouts this season to prove it.

“It is so nice to know they are there,” said Ledford, a senior. “I love playing with them. As a pitcher it gives me a lot of confidence to know they are behind me.”

Ledford will pitch for Rosary (26-6), which meets Corona Santiago (28-3) in the Southern Section Division IV championship game at 5 p.m.

Santiago has outscored its playoff opponents, 36-5, but in 32 games this season, opponents have scored only 34 runs against Rosary, and no team has scored more than four. The Royals have committed 36 errors, but have also turned 21 double plays and one triple play.

Cronin has also thrown out six baserunners at first from right field.

“We stay after practice to work on our fielding,” McCarthy said. “We work together all the time and have this connection with each other.”

The confidence was developed as freshmen, when the five current starters and Melissa Vincent, a reserve senior outfielder, led Rosary’s junior varsity team to a 24-1 record. Back then, they dreamed about ending their prep careers as champions.

“We are all excited,” Vincent said. “We’ve worked hard for the past four years for this chance.”

Said varsity Coach Tom Tice: “It’s been great to see them go from being on JV to spot starters, to stars. They are not phenoms, but got here through hard work and persistence.”

There is no captain on the team. In the pregame huddle, each of the five starters says something to get the team ready.

“Christy tells people to calm down and play their game,” Cronin said. “Michele tells people to play like it’s their last game. Erin just reminds everyone to win. Jaime lets the entire team know we need them all, and I just try to tell people to have fun.”

For Tice, the senior leadership has proven invaluable.

“It’s like having five coaches out there,” he said. “They are all on the same page. They are thinking about the win and have the common goal of winning the championship at the end.”

The end is approaching and the players are aware of it. Next year the six will attend colleges all over the country.

Ledford and Cronin will play at Chapman, McCarthy is headed to Point Loma Nazarene in San Diego, Connors will play at Brown, and Fruth hopes to play at either Long Beach State or Cal State Fullerton. Vincent won’t play softball at Notre Dame.

The seniors are leaving a legacy at Rosary, where they helped the Royals win a school-record 26 games this season.

“Every game can be the last,” Fruth said. “We are so used to each other, it will be sad to see it end.”