The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
New coach raising up Vermilion program
When Bill Matthews was named coach of the Vermilion softball program this past winter, he really didn’t know what to expect.
The Hall of Fame coach — who had spent the better part of three decades as head coach at Amherst before becoming an assistant at Keystone — was taking over a Sailors team that had been searching for its own identity after struggling the last few seasons.
“When Norm (Frindt) and I came into this, it was an open book,” Matthews said, “We were starting from ground zero. During the preseason, it was basically just show us what you can do and we’re going to try to play the best nine kids.”
So far it has worked out pretty well for Matthews, who has Vermilion off to a 6-3 start in its first season in the Sandusky Bay Conference after the team spent last season as an independent.
“We’re starting to come around more compared to other seasons,” said senior shortstop Calli Brown.
Brown has been a big part of that turnaround, hitting .536 with 15 hits and 12 RBI. The
Switch to SBC, better hitting helps Sailors get off to good start
Sailors are hitting .307 as a team and averaging just over seven runs a game.
They scored 11 runs in their win against Margaretta at home on Wednesday to even their conference record to 2-2.
Vermilion sent 12 hitters to the plate and scored seven runs in the fourth inning en route to the 11-5 win.
Brown went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBI, while sophomore Maggie Hoffman picked up her fifth win of the season in the circle.
“This season has been really fun so far offensively,” said senior catcher Kennedy Shreve. “Coach definitely pushes us to get us where we need to be. We haven’t been a very solid hitting team (in years past), but this year it’s different.”
Different, but exciting at the same time.
A new coach and new conference will do that for a team, but it took some time.
Matthews admitted when he arrived the girls’ “heads were spinning” early on because of what he and Frindt both threw at them.
“Both of us having 30plus years of coaching, we threw a lot of different concepts and things like that at them, which they haven’t really dealt with in the past,” Matthews said. “At first it made them feel kind of uncomfortable and they kind of questioned things, but now they’re getting comfortable and starting to really progress.”
“You can see that they’re just more relaxed when they play.”
Brown sees it, too, and credits the team’s chemistry and coaching methods as a reason for the team’s success to start the season.
“Everything seems to click a lot more this year. We listen to each other and we trust each other a lot more,” she said.
To say the Sailors are making a good first impression on the SBC would be an understatement.
The way they see it though, there’s no pressure.
“It’s pretty different traveling to different places and seeing different teams you’re not used to playing,” Brown said.
“Usually we knew who we were facing, but now we have no idea. But it’s a good surprise. We don’t have expectations for certain teams.”
That doesn’t mean Vermilion doesn’t have expectations for itself.
“We want to fight for a conference championship,” Shreve said.
Now that the Sailors have found a new home, they have the opportunity to do that.