Bambies win first softball title
By John Knebels
All season long, St. Hubert’s had a feeling this would happen.
From the very beginning, even in the month of March when arms were a bit tired and some athletes had just finished playing a winter sport, talk of a potential championship found its way into conversations with St. Hubert softball players.
Then the season began in earnest, and the Bambies dispatched perennial champion Conwell-Egan early in the regular season. Then it was the likes of Archbishop Wood, Kennedy-Kenrick and Archbishop Ryan. Conwell-Egan was also on the list, as was Cardinal Dougherty and Bishop McDevitt.
You get the picture.
But on May 29 at Arcadia University, that picture became a Rembrandt painting when the Bambies defeated Wood, 3-0, to capture their first Catholic League softball championship.
“I don’t know if I can describe this,” said Hubert senior pitcher Heather Brabazon. “All I know is that this was the goal from the very beginning.”
Not only was it the goal of the players and head coach Dave Schaefer, it seemed to be the goal of the entire St. Hubert community.
As the Bambies were leaving for the game following a pep rally on school grounds, classmates and teachers waved their arms from the school windows and shouted encouragement to a group of athletes who have secured themselves as the school’s best compilation of softball players in school history.
Not so much because they won, or because they finished undefeated in the Catholic League and only lost one game this spring, to Sussex Central, Delaware’s state champion. But because the Bambies almost won a title last year as well, before dropping a 4-0 decision to Conwell-Egan in the Catholic League final, St. Hubert’s first championship appearance since 1994.
“This was a work in progress that started three years ago,” said Schaefer. “There are a lot of players (who graduated) that helped us get where we are. This is a special group.”
And a special coach.
When he was coaching at Bishop Conwell (now Conwell-Egan), Schaefer consistently celebrated championships, as has his successor, Sandy Hart. At St. Hubert, Schaefer once again combined fun with hard work to help raise Hubert’s to an unprecedented level in school history.
Throughout the season, the combination was visible. Players didn’t mind going to practice; in fact, they seemed to look forward to it.
Of course, when you have a pitcher like Brabazon, games tend to be more fun because you know going in that one run will probably be enough to forge a victory. Before the senior right-hander begins her career at St. Joseph’s University, she can reminisce about a season that included 11 shutouts and a dominating performance in the marquee event of the season — actually, of her career.
“A lot was riding on this,” said Brabazon. “We worked way too hard not to win the Catholic League championship. We didn’t even consider losing this game.”
Partly because of nerves, Brabazon had to survive a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the first inning. As she has done on countless occasions, Brabazon, labeled by Schaefer as “one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever been around,” relied on her ability to overmatch her opponents, striking out the side.
Hubert’s offense finally found life in the third inning when senior Carly Sippel beat out an infield single. Brabazon added a hit, one of three on the day, and both eventually scored on sacrifice flies. An unearned run in the fourth pretty much put the game away.
“I’m excited for the girls,” said Schaefer. “They worked so hard for this. They really deserve to be Catholic League champions.”
It is highly doubtful that anyone would disagree with that.
John Knebels can be reached at jknebs@aol.com.