Coaches familiar foes
Shen grads lead their Colonie team against alma mater
COLONIE — Do you feel old, Coach?
That was how Chris Farquharson joked that one of his rival coaches greeted him before Tuesday’s Suburban Council softball game between Shenendehowa and Colonie.
And, yeah, maybe he did a bit since a pair of the Shenendehowa head coach’s former players — Kelly Barkevich and Kelly O’gorman — were those rival coaches.
“Colonie’s very lucky to have that coaching staff over there,” Farquharson said after Shenendehowa’s 5-3 win. “They’re doing an awesome job coaching those girls up.”
Barkevich is Colonie’s firstyear head coach, while O’gorman is one of the team’s two assistants, along with Scott Mcintyre. Both 2016 Shenendehowa graduates, the 26-year-old Barkevich and 25-year-old O’gorman each played four years of varsity softball for the Plainsmen before college careers at the University at Albany and SUNY Cortland, respectively, and were members of the 47-year-old Farquharson’s first varsity squad, which won the 2015 Section II championship. “This was a very cool experience, coming back and playing against our old coaches,” Barkevich said. “You know, I think it actually made us want to beat them (Shenendehowa) a little bit more.”
But Shenendehowa got the better Tuesday of Colonie, just as the Plainsmen did during last year’s Section II Class AA championship game. Shenendehowa (6-0 overall, 3-0 Suburban Council) scored two runs in the second inning and one in the third, only to see Colonie (3-2, 3-2) rally back with three in the fourth. The Plainsmen, though, scored two runs in the sixth inning to pull
ahead for good.
“Great bunch of girls,” Farquharson said of his team. “Great team morale. Just awesome to be around.”
After Shenendehowa moved ahead in the sixth inning, senior pitcher Breanna Hayes took care of the rest.
Colonie had the tying run to the plate with no outs in each of the last two innings, but Hayes didn’t allow any other damage in the final two innings besides
the lead-off hits. The senior recorded her final five outs via strikeout.
“She pitched a great game. It’s her first seveninning game of the season, so we were happy with how well she pitched,” Farquharson said of Hayes, who struck out 11 in the complete-game win. “In the last inning, we wanted her to challenge those hitters. She has good pitches, and we wanted her to throw her best pitches against their good hitters.”
Shenendehowa had pulled ahead in the top of the sixth inning courtesy of some speed around the bases from senior Natalia Colone. The Shenendehowa shortstop reached base on an infield single, stole second and came home on an RBI single up the middle from senior Morgan Smith.
“I was just trying to be as aggressive as I could,” said Colone, who had two hits and two runs scored. “I wanted to score that run, and I did not want to lose.”
Smith also had two hits for Shenendehowa, which added an insurance run in the sixth inning following Colone’s run, while Gianna Degonza and Morgan Ellerbrock each had two hits for Colonie. Degonza also had two RBIS, both coming on a fourth-inning double that hit off the leftfield fence.
Lauren Cosselman pitched 5 1/3 innings for Colonie and allowed five runs, but only one was earned.
“This season, so far, we’ve been in a lot of tight games,” said Barkevich, an assistant coach the last two seasons to Sean Merchant who resigned as head coach last October. “Each time, we’ve shown grit and the fight, which I’m very happy about. Obviously, not the result we wanted today, but a lot of positives to take away.”
Barkevich has been a teacher in the South Colonie Central School District for a few years, while O’gorman joined the district last year. Both teach in the district’s Sand Creek Middle School.
“So, in the fall, it all kind of just came together with Kelly getting pulled up to be the head coach and her needing an assistant,” said O’gorman, who coached first base Tuesday, while Barkevich was across the infield at third. “She asked me, and I said, ‘Of course.’ Why would I turn down coaching with one of my best friends?”
“We’ve been playing together since we were 12. We made varsity the same year at Shen and watched each other succeed throughout college,” said Barkevich, who said the pair also plays together in a couple adult softball leagues. “Now we teach together, we coach the same team — it’s been really cool.
“She’s one of my best friends, so we’re having a really good time together.”