Freedom’s Glick talks softly, but swings a noisy bat
Easton tops the list of area Top 10 teams
Freedom senior softball player Madison Glick is a soft-spoken young lady who doesn’t necessarily like the limelight or a lot of attention.
But she has a way of attracting it anyway.
Last year she was voted the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s MVP.
This past week, she got her 100th career hit with nearly a full season left in her career to add to the total.
Glick, who is also a solid defensive shortstop, is one of the reasons why Freedom is considered one of the top teams in the EPC.
“She’s a very introverted kid and a very humble who doesn’t like the attention at all,” Patriots coach Michele Laubach said. “She just shows up every day and she’s committed to the team. And she works hard. She is naturally talented. You watch her play and she’s very calm and has an easygoing style of play. She makes all the plays in the field and has a nice smooth swing that produces a lot of hits, and a lot of big ones.”
Her 100th hit came in a win at Pocono Mountain East.
“It was a funny, goofy situation,” Laubach said. “It was a pretty high flyball to the right-center and their outfielder kind of misplayed it. I am standing in the third-base coaching box and from where I was standing I thought it might have been an error. I was looking for my firstbase coach for some clarity and I was thinking if I was going for 100 hits I would want it to be a good clean shot. Madison knew she was around 100 hits and knew she was right there. Knowing how humble she is, I knew she wanted to get it over with. So we went with it and the team cheered her and celebrated the accomplishment.”
Laubach said Glick is just happy to be out there playing and doesn’t worry about personal feats.
“I told her just to enjoy the moment and said she’s a big part of it,” Laubach said. “She’s just a good team player. She’s not playing to go to college or to be recognized. She is truly playing softball for the love of the game.”
Through three games and 12 at-bats, Glick was hitting .583 with seven hits, including four doubles and a home run.
She is excited about where the team is headed this spring.
“We have a really good team with great chemistry,” Glick said. “I think we can go pretty far. We have great pitching, great defense and great offense. We’re good at all of that.”
Glick is one of three seniors on the Freedom team. Kate Miller and Alexis Acevedo are the others.
Glick, who is part of a family with two sets of twins, said she started playing at age 5 and has always loved the sport.
Gabby Glick, a star on Freedom’s 2021 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference title team, is her sister and the two were on the same roster that season.
“I like the friendships that you can make in softball,” Glick said. “I love my teammates. It’s just a fun sport to play.”
Player of the week
Matty Seyfried, Saucon Valley: If the local softball community gave out a Comeback Player of the Year award, Saucon Valley sophomore Matty Seyfried might be the front-runner for the honor.
Seyfried pitched the first seven games of the season for the Panthers and was among the area’s strikeout leaders. Among her highlights was pitching a no-hitter but then suffered a stress fracture in her left foot and had to sit out the rest of the season.
“Before the injury, she came in with the utmost confidence for a freshman,” Saucon coach Terry Csrenko said. “It was my first year as coach and there was a lot of pressure on her as we were trying to change the culture. She came right in and showed she was going to do that and be a leader, even as a freshman.
“But the impressive thing about her was that even after she got hurt and was shut down for the season, she stayed upbeat and encouraged her teammates whether it was her high school teammates or her tournament team teammates. She kept a positive attitude even though she didn’t get to play.”
In just the third game of her comeback, Seyfried tossed a one-hitter with 16 strikeouts in a 1-0 Colonial League win over Catasauqua.
“She had a perfect game through six innings and then gave up a walk and a single and finished with 16 strikeouts,” Csrenko said. “In her first Colonial League game against Notre Dame, we lost 7-1 and we gave up six runs in the seventh mostly on errors. We’re trying to get better at finishing games at Saucon Valley.
“To get back in form, Seyfried spent a lot of time on physical therapy and worked with Alex MacLean at 7 Deadly Spins where I do some hitting instruction and also with my pitching coach Kris Pruzinsky. She is the epitome of being a hard worker and determination. Her positive attitude just makes her pleasant to be around. She’s very humble and has a great future. For a new coach like me who’s trying to turn around a program, she’s what the doctor ordered.”
Seyfried said it was hard to miss most of her freshman year.
“It was tough sitting and watching but my teammates brought me up,” Seyfried said. “It was definitely a very long process. … I didn’t want to get out of bed and do anything, but Coach Csrenko encouraged me to come out and be around the team. And that put me in a better mental state. My teammates supported me through the whole thing. To pitch like I did against Catty felt amazing. I couldn’t have done it without my catcher, Eli Sullivan. She sticks with me no matter what. I’ve been playing with her since third grade.”
Saucon finished 4-14 last year, but the Panthers appear poised to improve that mark and contend for league and district playoff spots.
“We have a younger pitcher, Cassidy Ash, and she’s very good and maybe the best person I’ve ever met,” Seyfried said. “She’s amazing. We really work well together. She’s very positive no matter the situation. We always have fun together.”
Can Saucon have a lot of fun this spring?
“As a team we can do it,” Seyfried said. “We’re going to have to fight for it. But I really believe we can do it.”
Did you know?
Emmaus graduate Danika Barthol continues to make an instant impact at Eastern University. For the third time this season and the second week in a row, the hard-throwing freshman pitcher won the MAC Commonwealth Pitcher of the Week award.
In 11 innings of work against Rosemont and MAC Commonwealth favorite York, Barthol earned a pair of wins and improved to 6-1 on the season. She struck out 18 and allowed only four hits and one earned run. Against York, Barthol went the distance, striking out 10 in the 4-2 win. Her only loss of the year came in a 1-0 loss in her first collegiate outing on spring break against Alma College.
Barthol leads the the MAC Commonwealth with 54 strikeouts and a 0.31 ERA. She has given up only 16 hits in 45 innings, and opposing hitters have just a .105 batting average. She has won six consecutive decisions and given up only four extra-base hits.
Eastern, coached by Allentown native Terri Adams, had a 16-3 overall record entering a home doubleheader Saturday against Messiah.