Leading the way for Lions
Lincoln’s Riendeau hosts camp to help future Lions
Riendeau wants to round up players for off-season
LINCOLN — The Lincoln softball team has produced an 83-38 regular-season record, won two state titles and produced Division I talents like Fordham’s Lindsay Mayer and Coastal Carolina’s Adriana Toro over the last seven years, but current Lion standout shortstop Riley Riendeau saw a problem.
“The participation in softball in Lincoln Little League has gone way down and even on the varsity team at the high school, we haven’t been able to have a jayvee team over the last three years and we haven’t made cuts,” Riendeau said Saturday afternoon. “Our tryouts were our prac- tices. Middle-school participation has also gone way down.
“I just wanted to see what I could do to raise the interest in softball in the town.”
Riendeau finally had an opportunity to address the problem thanks to her exhibition class at the high school. Her assignment was simple: Find a solution to a problem around town.
The all-division junior decided she wanted to hold a softball camp in the high school gymnasium for kids in Lincoln from kindergarten through eighth grade. Riendeau designed a flier that was approved by Superintendent Georgia Fortunato and her project became a reality.
Riendeau said she emailed the flier to elementary school teachers and Lincoln Little League Vice President Bruce Whitehead in an attempt to reach her target audience.
“I was honestly expecting 15 kids to come, but I got an e-mail list of 40,” Riendeau said. “We could only have 30 kids in the camp, so I had to make a waiting list.”
With the support of the Lincoln Parks & Recreation Department and Greg O’Connor, Lincoln’s athletic director, Riendeau had full use of the high school’s gymnasium this past Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and Sat., Dec. 16 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Even though Saturday’s snowstorm canceled high school hockey games, Riendeau and teammates Brooke Fetters, Abby Coletto, Gabrielle Smith, Lauren Germani and Emily Kennedy spent their afternoon teaching kids - some of who were softball neophytes – the basics of offense.
“We we’re just trying to show them the basics,” Riendeau said. “Some of the girls didn’t know how to bunt. I’m trying to get more in-depth with the kids during drills so they can bring it up to the middle school and high school.”
While some of the Lions were teaching the basics of bunting and base running, Whiitehead was in the batting cage attempting to show pint-sized future Lions where to stand in the batter’s box and how to follow through on their swing. Riendeau’s father was also on hand to add his expertise.
“It’s great because now maybe they will have interest in playing softball in Little League, “Riendeau said. “I just do what my dad did with me. I just start off with the basics and try to make it fun, that’s why I had the candy. If they did something good I’d give them a piece of candy.”
The second session, which Riendeau said will be better attended because the weather is expected to improve, will be all about defense. Riendeau certainly can offer great perspective on that side of the ball because she’s been the Lions’ starting shortstop since stepped on campus.
“Softball has given me so much that I want to give back to the sport,” Riendeau said. “I want to give all the players an opportunity and hope they can help someone else, or they can bring these drills to their practices. They can also do this stuff on their own, so when they get to this level, coaches don’t have to reinforce all of the basics.”
The hundreds of hours of hard work Riendeau has put in to becoming one of the top softball players in the state recently paid off with a college scholarship offer. Riendeau verbally committed to play at Monmouth University of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference starting in the fall of 2019.
The Hawks advanced all the way to the MAAC title game in the spring, before falling to Fairfield. Monmouth is coached by Shannon Salsburg, who guided the team to a 25-31 record in her second season.”
Riendeau, who said she made the commitment earlier in the school year, fell in love with the West Long Branch, N.J. campus on her visit. The school is located just minutes from the Atlantic Ocean and 54 miles away from New York City.
“Right when I went on campus I fell in love with it,” Riendeau said. “I’ve been on a lot of campuses and that’s never happened where I imagined myself living on that campus. The coaches are so nice and understanding and they have a really great balance of academics.”
Riendeau said she hasn’t decided on her major, but she said she’s interested in business. She said she was also considering Providence College, but she wanted to be a little further from home.
“I wanted to stay close to home, but not too close to home,” Riendeau said. “I was also considering PC, but that’s 10 minutes from my house, which is too close. Monmouth is only a five-hour drive.”