Player of Year: Numbers don’t lie for Simmons
You wouldn’t necessarily think a player batting .576 would be frustrated, but that says everything you need to know about Cat Simmons’ determination.
“Personally, I could have done better this season, but things happen differently and I guess I wasn’t seeing the ball as good as last year,” Pine Plains’ senior catcher remarked. “I didn’t hit a lot of home runs, but base hits help my team, too.”
Contrary to rumor, the twotime Freeman Player of the Year’s stats are comparable to last year’s performance. Along with hitting .576, Simmons this season had 38 hits, 35 RBI, nine doubles, three homers, struck out once and walked 16 times.
Last season, she hit .568 with 38 hits, 38 RBI, nine doubles, two triples, seven homers. no strikeouts and 19 walks. She remains a tough out and a clutch hitter.
“She just comes up with some huge, huge hits,” remarked Pine Plains coach Les Funk, who saw her hit a game-tying home run in the Mid-Hudson Athletic League title game against Marlboro.
Simmons worked on inside pitches in 2017 and concentrated on the outside this year.
“I knew they weren’t going to pitch me right down the middle. They were going to elevate it and they’re going to go low and away and in,” she noted. “They were put it in different places and I knew they were going to throw me a lot outside, because last year I didn’t hit a lot of outside pitches. I practiced that more than anything else this year, so my inside pitches were just fouling off.
“I need to see the pitch sooner, I need to see where it’s going to go and go with it, because I pull off the ball on the outside pitch, but I
think I hit a lot.”
Simmons tripled off an outside pitch in the state Class C semifinal win over Sandy Creek.
“I think I saw them better this year than inside pitches,” she said. “It was the same aggressiveness,”
The Bombers had a preseason trip to ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Walt Disney World. Out of that came Simmons’ vow to improve on defense.
“A lot of the pitches hit the dirt and didn’t get blocked and coach said to me, ‘More pitches got past you than last year.’’ she said. “I think that was a wakeup call to play better, throw people out and to help (pitcher) Alex (McKenzie). Al’s not going to strike everybody out, so she’s going to have some runners get into scoring position, so I got to throw them out for her.
“We worked on it in travel ball a lot, throwing off our knees and being quick behind the plate, angling yourself to throw down.”
Her strong arm kept
most teams from trying to run on Pine Plains.
“Runners that would get off base five or six feet were now off two fee,” Funk noted.
“I think defensively I was better than last year,” Simmons admitted.
She will continue her softball exploits at Division II Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire where she will be just one of five incoming freshman for a Ravens’ program that went 11-24 in 2017. A combination of academic and athletic scholarships will cover three-quarters of her tuition.
Simmons contacted Pierce coach Hannah Griffin, who was impressed with how she did during a team practice.
“I went to one open practice with the girls and they’re really nice and welcoming. The coach really cared about all the girls. I saw that,” Simmons said. “I’d rather go there than somewhere that’s just focusing on you as a player. I ended up just liking the school more than any other
school that I visited.
“I just have to prove myself early and see where it goes from there,” she added. “I like being challenged and I like pressure. I definitely think I can play as a freshman there.”
“Cat is going to be a huge void to fill,” said Funk, who has penciled her name into the lineup ever since she joined the team as a freshman.
“No Cat. That’s going to be weird,” McKenzie said. “I’ve played with her since I was in fifth or sixth grade.”
Simmons was playing Little League baseball when McKenzie talked her into joining her on an AAU travel softball team.
“We got to start finding the kid that can play defense first. That’s going to be important,” said Funk about the search for Simmons’ successor. “And some of the other kids are going to have to pick up some of her hitting stats. It’s got to be more than one player. That’s going to be very difficult, because she’s an elite player.”