Pine-Richland softball focuses on fundamentals, hangs tough in challenging section

By: Ted Sarneso
Sunday, April 13, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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Over the last two seasons, the Pine-Richland softball team committed 101 errors.

Coach Sam Hartzberg’s mission this offseason was to clean up his team’s fundamentals.

“Our girls weren’t throwing to the wrong base or anything of that nature,” Hartzberg said. “They just weren’t making the plays they should have.”

From the very outset of winter workouts, the Rams were in the gym working through ground ball drills four days a week.

“I told the girls, we’re not going for quantity, we’re going for quality,” Hartzberg said. “If we’re drilling something and it’s not happening, we’re not moving on to the next thing because we have to clean up that number.”

“It was nothing but ground balls after ground balls,” said senior catcher and captain Calle Henne. “If you booted a ball, you didn’t go to the back of the line, you got another one right back to you.”

As the Rams have tried to shore up their defensive play, they also have been looking to solidify starting positions that have been in flux since four starters graduated from last year.

“I told the kids that every position is up for grabs and some still are,” Hartzberg said.

Henne and senior right fielder Madalyn Myers are the only two players who remain in their same position from a year ago.

Senior captain Iliana Aggelou has moved from second to shortstop and junior captain Serafina Julio, who was a standout in right field last year, has moved to center field.

Junior Abbey Laurent, who was a substitute outfielder a year ago, has had a change of scenery, moving to third base, and freshman Sydney Bezila has slotted in at left field.

“Iliana has taken to short and done a terrific job for us so far,” Hartzberg said. “Serafina is now the captain of the outfield, which is a huge transition for her, but she’s gotten better every day. Sydney is a natural athlete and is going to be a very good player and have an outstanding high school career.”

Meanwhile, first and second base remain unsettled positions.

Senior Kylie Kopec and junior Maya Rippole have been sharing time at second and seniors Delaney Jamison and Abbey Skripac have battled for the first base position.

“Abbey was a sub for us last year, but did a great job in spring training and the offseason, so she earned the starting position,” Hartzberg said. “Delaney was our starter the last two years and is starting to get more time. That is still an ongoing thing that will work itself out. Kylie returns after taking last year off, and we’ve been bouncing her and Maya back and forth just to try and figure second base out.”

In their first five games of the season, the Rams committed just six errors, with four of those coming in an April 2 contest against Norwin.

That also was the same game in which the usually reliable Rams bats went silent, recording only four hits in a 7-0 loss.

The Rams started off 4-1 overall and 3-1 in Section 1-6A, and Henne believes the Norwin game was an anomaly.

“It felt so offbeat to what we had done in the preseason and the early part of the regular season,” Henne said. “I don’t think it’s something we’re going to dwell on, and I don’t think we’ve played our best softball yet.”

True to form, the Pine-Richland bats got off to a rousing start in the regular season, putting up seven in a win against Mars in the season opener and back-to-back 18-run outputs at home against Butler and on the road at Woodland Hills.

After being shut out by Norwin, the bats came back to life in a 12-2 win over Mt. Lebanon.

“We put a huge emphasis on hitting, do a lot of it in practice, but it really is contagious,” Hartzberg said. “With as much as we lost last year, we still have really good hitters on our team and they love to hit. I expect that to continue.”

After batting .508 last year with five homers and 28 RBIs, Henne hit .611 with three doubles, a pair of home runs and drove in 14 runs in the Rams’ first five games.

Julio led the team in hits (13) and average (.722), while Laurent hit two home runs and drove in 13 runs.

Off the bench, the Rams have sophomores Catherine Scholl and Norah Cherry, as well as freshman Lydia Hart, who can come in and hit if someone is struggling.

“Julio is our leadoff hitter, a slap hitter, can pretty much do it all,” Hartzberg said. “If she can get it going right away, everyone else just seems to fall into place. Henne and Laurent both have power, but what they all do well is communicate.”

Henne, a Pitt commit, tried to instill that communication between the batters in the lineup last year after she followed Julio in the order.

“I said, ‘Hey, if there’s something you see while you’re in the box, you need to relay that to me so then it’s a constant form of communication,’ ” Henne said. “It’s something we’ve worked toward, and it’s only getting better. Having girls sharing information with everyone in the dugout, not just the on-deck batter.”

“That’s one of the reasons I named Henne a captain when she was a sophomore,” Hartzberg said. “It says something about her character. She’s a true leader, and all the kids look up to her. Very smart player, understands the game.”

Where Henne will be counted on the most is to bring along a full staff of young pitchers after the Rams lost last year’s two senior starters to graduation.

“In our offseason work, Tuesdays and Thursdays were our indoor sessions, and the first hour of those days were bullpen sessions,” Henne said. “I made sure I was working with Ellie and sophomore Keelee Kalinoski, seeing what pitches they were comfortable throwing, because I call the pitches during games, and I wanted to build a trust with them.”

Myers started the first five games of the season for the Rams and accumulated a 4-1 record.

“She hasn’t seen a lot of hitters like this because she’s young, but she’s not afraid, has a lot of confidence,” Hartzberg said. “She gets in the circle and she’s stone-faced. Nothing rattles her.”

“She’s an absolute gamer and truly cares to win,” Henne added. “If she’s struggling with a pitch during a game, we’ll go off to the side in between innings and throw that pitch and try to get it to work.”

Joining Myers and Kalinoski are sophomores Cherry and Olivia Moore and freshman Sienna DeRenzo. Each pitcher provides the Rams with something different.

“Cherry is tall and strong and throws a really good screwball, so she’s more of a spin pitcher,” Henne said. “Sienna came in during the Norwin game and struck out one of their best hitters with three changeups. They all throw different pitches at different speeds, so having that depth is terrific.”

Pitching variety and solid offensive output will be keys as Pine-Richland navigates its way through a tough section.

WPIAL champion Seneca Valley is once again led by senior ace Lexie Hames, a Clemson recruit, while Hempfield has Division I difference makers Riley Miller (Kent State) and Allie Cervola (Ohio).

“Seneca is of course the favorites and Hempfield is always very tough,” Harztberg said. “Then we saw what Norwin did, knocking off Hempfield in the semis and taking Seneca to the wire in the championship game, it’s going to be very competitive.”

After losing to Norwin in the first round of the WPIAL playoffs last year and seeing how well the Knights did, Hartzberg knows that all it takes is for his team to get in.

“They proved that anything can happen,” Hartzberg said.

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