Sorce hopes to help Shaler softball keep rolling

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, March 18, 2018 | 6:15 PM

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Taking over a high school softball program and building a brand is difficult enough.

Keeping a highly successful machine going — as a first-year coach — is a different approach entirely.

Shaler's Tom Sorce will take on that challenge this season, replacing long-time coach Skip Palmer.

Palmer, who passed away last spring after retiring, led the Titans for 12 years and put up a 199-58 record. Shaler won a WPIAL and PIAA crown during that stretch.

Sorce wants to rebuild from the ground up to get to those heights.

“We work on a lot of fundamentals. That's what I did at the middle school level to get the kids prepared,” Sorce said. “There is a legacy here. My daughter played in three state championship games, and I'm trying to get them back to that level if I can. We go with the fundamentals and keep working hard on them to make sure they are prepared to be the best they can be.”

The Titans, who have made 12 consecutive trips to the WPIAL playoffs, finished 11-8 last season and reached the Class 6A playoffs.

Shaler lost to Baldwin in the quarterfinals after beating Norwin in the first round.

This season, the Titans will see changes throughout the lineup. Shaler will rely on pitching by committee after Lily Buckshaw carried most of the load last season.

The Titans need contributions from everyone.

“There's no superstars,” Sorce said. “What I'm preaching to them is they need to work together to make something happen. There aren't enough top-notch, high-level kids. I'm attacking it (like) they are all the same, and they have to do everything to be successful with it.”

Sorce coached at the Shaler middle school level for eight years.

He's hoping to bring intensity to the varsity program, but the plan is to rely on the basics and try to get back to the level of being PIAA contenders.

“In winter conditioning, we conditioned a lot,” Sorce said. “I am who I am. I preach the fundamentals. We do the fundamentals consistently, and I think that's a good barometer. All the kids who have come through the middle school program with me are familiar with what I do. That's helped them buy into being better.”

Josh Rizzo is a freelance writer.