SHERBURNE – Sherburne-Earlville’s softball team has come a long way in four seasons, and this past year finished with a school-record 16 wins as it finished second in the Center State Conference.
Softball is indeed a team game, and any coach would tell you it takes nine committed players on the field to win ballgames. Within almost every good team resides standout players, the foundation or backbone to build upon that success.
Simply by reading the daily boxscores, the names Kate Fitzpatrick and Lindsay Hodges come to the forefront. Fitzpatrick, a senior, just completed her fifth year of varsity ball on the Marauders, and will move on to play at East Stroudsburg University in the fall.
Over her five-year career, she finished with a .484 batting average and was a four-year first-team league all-star in the CSC and an honorable mention pick as an eighth-grader. She had 14 doubles, three triples, and a team-high 30 RBI this past season.
Much of her Fitzpatrick’s success is her year-round committment, said S-E head coach Scott Fitzpatrick, her father. “She’s played seven years of national travel ball, and is in her second year playing for the Conklin Raiders under Dale Cook,” Coach Fitzpatrick said. “She’s had a lot of success with travel ball playing on five ASA New York State championship teams at different age levels.”
Hodges had by far her most dominant season as a third-year pitcher. Her presence on the mound always kept S-E in the game, and she threw every inning this season for the Marauders finishing with 1.47 ERA (earned run average) with 236 strikeouts against just 32 base on balls. “She became a pitcher this year more so that just a hard thrower,” Coach Fitzpatrick said.
Hodges’ offseason softball regimen has included three years of national travel ball for the 16-and-under Diamond Dusters of Binghamton. Fitzpatrick added that Hodges hopes to build on this year’s success as she moves into her senior season.