The summer of 2016 marked the inaugural season for the Cinnaminson Elite softball team, which was made up of high school-aged girls from in-town.
The girls had the opportunity to play in the South Jersey Collegiate Softball League (SJCSL) at Wood Park on Wednesday and Sunday nights.
There were five teams in the league and the other four were made up of college-level players from throughout the area.
“Their hope is to add a couple more teams for next year,” head coach Tracy Bart said. “They might end up changing the nights a little bit to get some more girls to come out next year.”
The Cinnaminson team also had college-level players on it, some of them alums of Cinnaminson High School.
The Elite went 5-7-1 this summer, going 1-1 in the postseason. Cinnaminson won its first-ever SJCSL playoff game, a 14-13 against the Black Panthers.
“I thought we saw quality competition every night, stronger pitching than we would see at the high school level,” Bart said. “We saw better baserunning from the college athletes.”
In their first-ever games in the SJCSL, the Elite split a season-opening doubleheader with an 11-1 loss to the Blue Chill and a 12-5 win versus Red.
The confidence level of the players increased as the season wore on and they became accustomed to facing more seasoned players.
“Their confidence improved the most. We went into the beginning of the season and didn’t really know what to expect,” Bart said. “By the end, we knew we could pretty much play with any team in the league.”
Coach Bart hopes her girls learned something from playing against older opponents that they can use to their advantage when the high school season comes around in 2017.
“The more that they play together, the better the chemistry will be come March,” Bart said. “Sometimes you struggle early on finding chemistry between players early in the season. Working together so frequently, it helps us get ahead of the game a little bit.”
Coach Bart summed up the 2016 season for the Cinnaminson Elite softball team by discussing the mentality of the girls who played on the team.
“I think the girls are mentally tough kids on their own. To them, they came out and played the game they love. It didn’t matter if they were playing against kids their own age or from a higher level than them. They were just playing a game that they love.”
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