The History of PAHS Softball
(From 1975 - Present)
For years, boys playing baseball was a familiar site around Pen Argyl. Since approximately the 1930's, Pen Argyl had a school baseball team consisting of young men who played against other schools around the area. However, it wasn't until 1975 that the ladies got their turn on Pen Argyl's baseball diamond.
Under the direction of Miss Joan Peron (now Mrs. Ronca), the Lady Knight softball players finished their inaugural season with a very respectable record of 7-3. High points of the season included beating Bangor, the school rival, and taking second place in the Pocono Girls' Softball Tournament.
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1976 was another successful season for the Lady Knights. Junior and starting pitcher, Mandy Lessig accumulated 69 strikeouts throughout the 8-3 season. Sophomore, Jackie Lorenzo led the team in batting with an outstanding .600 average.
The following year, the team went 8-1 before losing 2 more competitions to finish at 9-3, the best record the school had put together at that time. As the season came to a close, Pen Argyl was tied for first place in the Colonial League with Southern Lehigh. However, in a matchup for the championship, Southern Lehigh came from behind in an extra inning to overcome Pen Argyl by a score of 10-9.
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In 1978, the Lady Knights hit a batting slump as they faced more fast-pitching. That combined with multiple errors accounted for their 3-7 record. Next year, which would be Coach Peron's last season as coach, would be marked by a 6-7 record and the struggle with the loss of 7 graduating seniors.
The new decade brought with it a new coach. In 1980, Richard Bowman took a young team consisting of only 2 seniors to an 8-13-1 season, and a 5-13 season in 1981 which was highlighted by an amazing 15-2 victory over rival, Bangor. 1980 was also the first year Pen Argyl put together a JV softball team.
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After losing all but 2 of the starters from this team, next year's team would be victorious only once. |
The 1983 Varsity Girl's Softball team had a gruelling season ending with a 1-19 record.The only win that the team recieved was from Pius a non- league game.The year was up and down due to the lost of all the 1982 starters except for Stephanie Andrew and Laura Groblewski. Most of lthe season was trying to rebuild the team from scrach. If the batting was great one day it seemed that the defense wouldn't budge and vice versa. The whole season they couldn't get the two moving at the same time. One highlight from the season was when the team travelled to the Annual Tournaments in Allentown. The Knights faced last year's state champ and state runner up. The team played their hearts out even if they lost both games.
Enthusiasm and determination carried the 1984 team coached by Miss Cathy Novello to a 9-8 record. At the end of the first half of the season, the Lady Knights held the third best record in the league, though they were not as strong in the second half. Sophomore, Bonnie Overdorf occupied the mound as the team's only pitcher throughout the season.
Coach Novello's '85 team was a potpourri of veteran experience and young newcomers. Four returning starters combined with sophomore, Janice Ceraul (RF) and freshman, Heather Folk (SS, 1st) made up the bulk of the starting lineup. The team finished with a record of 6-13 and Laura Yetter was named team MVP.
Though triumphing only three times in the following year, the Lady Knights were able to pull off a victory over Salisbury, one of the league's best teams.
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Although starting the 1987 season at 6-0, batting slumps, frequent errors and losses to the teams that they had beaten in the first half of the season caused the girls to finish at a final record of 9-10. The pinnacles of the season were perhaps the 17-0 victory over Pius X, or the first half wins over local rivals, Nazareth and Bangor.
The Lady Knights put together their best season in history in 1988. Their record of 13-9 was more than enough to qualify them for district playoffs, where they defeated Mt. Carmel in the first round. Debbie Flyte (3B), Heather Folk (SS), Leigh Miller (C), Dena Sandt (1B), and Donna Decker (P) were selected to the LARC All-Star team. One of their outstanding victories from the regular season was a 10-1 victory over Catasauqua. Although the following season was a turnaround with the team coming away with only two wins, seniors Kim Allison, who was selected to the first-team All Colonial, and Nicole Danubio, who was chosen as an honorable mention, had a strong season.
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The 1989 softball team had only two returning seniors, the team was very young and inexperienced.During the pre-season the team worked hard on the fundamentals and by the end of march they were ready to play. The Knights got their frist and only win in the first half of the season against Salisbury with the score of 9-1. Their second win was against Pius X with the score of 8-6. Although the girls had a dissappointing 2-18 record this season, much was gained. The freshman and sophomores gained valuable playing time and gave them the needed experience for the furture. Kim Allison made All-Colonial League and Nicole Danubio received honorable mention.
William Schankel took over the Lady Knights in 1990 and carried them to an improved 6-14 season. Junior and All-Colonial short-stop, Theresa Squarcia (.351), sophomore, Dawn Azzalina (.341), and team MVP Tara Kremer led the team. The following seasons were seasons of improvement for Pen Argyl. They would qualify for districts the next 2 years, under Coach Prosser in '91 and Denise Anderson in '92.
The 1993 Pen Argyl softball team joined the company of the teams from '77 and '88 as one of the best teams in school history. Going only 5-3 in the first half of the regular season, the girls turned around in the second half at 7-1 for a combined 12-4 regular season record.
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In their first round of district playoffs, the '93 Knights beat Pottsville Nativity, and went on to defeat Mahonoy Area 8-4. Their loss to second seeded Minersville, who would go on to become state champions, ended this marvelous season. This was the farthest any softball team from Pen Argyl would go in districts, a record that still stands today. Their overall season record totaled to 15 wins and a mere 5 losses. Junior, Tina Chuss was chosen as First-Team All-Colonial League 2nd baseman, junior Colette Singer was named Second-Team short-stop, Marci Jones was selected as a Second-Team pitcher, Fran Hall was a Second-Team outfielder, and Ryanne Zavacky received Honorable Mention.
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1994 proved to be another successful year for Pen Argyl. The team's outstanding 15-7 season came to a grinding halt when they met up with Minersville in the district playoffs again and lost. Once again, many of our athletes were given Colonial League honors. Once again, Tina Chuss (.449), was named to the Colonial League All-Star Team, as well as teammates Colette Singer (.391), Ryanne Zavacky (.391), and Jessee Boyce (.444).
The source of all information presented here is our high school library, which has Pen Argyl High School yearbooks from the mid-1930's until the 1990's. However, there were no yearbooks from 1994 until the present and no record of any of our softball teams' records, coaches, or outstanding players. If anyone, especially former players/coaches, has any information on the Pen Argyl High School softball teams from 1995 until this season, as well as additional information from the '91 and '92 seasons, including these teams' records, coaches, outstanding players and/or games, please e-mail us at pahs@ptdprolog.net.
A tribute to the 1999 softball team - the first team to ever get a silver medal for their second place finish at districts. They also have the distinct honor of being the first ever Green Knight softball team to advance to the state tournament.The '94 and '95 Girl's Softball team had a pretty good season, finishing it with a 13-10 record. In the years 1995 and 1996, the Girl's softball team finished the season with 16-6 record. In the years 1996 and 1997, the Girl's Softball team finished their season with a record of 13 wins and 9 losses. In the years 1997 and 1998, the Girl's Softball team finished their season with a 17 - 7 record. The '98 and '99 Girl's Softball team had a 16-8 record. The years 1999 and 2000, the Girl's Softball team finished their regular season with 14 wins and 8 losses. In the years 2000 and 2001, the Girl's Softball team finished their season with 14 wins and 10 losses. In the years 2001 and 2002, the Girl's Softball team finished their regular season with a record of 9 wins and 9 losses. In 2004, the Girl's Softball Team finished their regular season with a great record of 16 wins and only 6 losses. They also qualified for leagues and districts, losing to Northwestern in leagues and Bethlehem Catholic. In 2005 the Softball team finished their regular season with 17 wins and only 3 losses. In 2006 the Softball team finished their regular season with 17 wins and only 5 losses, and the Junior Varsity team finished their regular season undefeated with a record of 17-0. The 2007 Girls Softball Team-These girls set their place in history by finishing their regular season 19-1, and continue to play wonderfully.
The day before the first practice of the 2008 season, the girls faced a terrible loss of their coach, Eddie Williams. He was a big part of Pen Argyl's softball Team for several years. This loss gave the girls their motivation to strive for bigger goals than they had for themselves. They finished with a regular season record of 14 wins and 6 losses. The girls lost in the Colonial League Semi Finals to NorthWestern Lehigh 5-1. They went 3-0 in the District 11Tournament taking first place for the first time in Pen Argyl Softball History. It was the second time Pen Argyl Softball made it to states.
Back Row: Taylor Presby, Brynne Burwell, Brianna Collazo, Nicole Knecht, Lindsay Ashworth, Mariah Oyer
Middle: Lindsey Rushe (manager), Alexandria Pump, Jena Houck, Jaclyn Parsons, Zoie Land, Samantha Young, Beth Ronalds
Front Row: Anne Knorr, Jessica Simpson, Catherine Simpson, Rachel Witowski, DeLeila Schriner
