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‘A hole in our dugout’
Salem CC softball sweeps doubleheader with coach in their thoughts; Freas named interim coach as Rodriguez prepares for heart surgery
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – Freshman outfielder Megan Koski called it one of the most emotionally difficult sets of games she’s ever played in her softball career.
The Salem CC softball team swept another home doubleheader Friday, taking down Bucks County CC 13-9 and 13-5 at Watson Field, but you sense something was off and couldn’t fault the Mighty Oaks for being distracted.
They plodded through the day knowing their head coach, Angel Rodriguez, was in an area hospital awaiting bypass surgery after suffering what he described as “basically a mini heart attack” in his campus office Thursday morning.
“It was hard, but I think collectively as a team we just all knew that we needed to come together and do it for him and do it for a bigger reason than ourselves,” Koski said. “I think a lot of us felt some pressure because we didn’t want to disappoint him.
“This morning it was a little heavier without him here, but I think we all just kind of knew what needed to be done. It was a little bit messy, but I think we pulled it together.”
Rodriguez, 29, fell ill shortly after arriving at his office. He said he felt his chest tighten and began to sweat. He credited a co-worker with recognizing the warning signs of a heart attack and acted quickly on his behalf.
His surgery will be Monday or Tuesday with a possible release by the weekend followed by physical therapy. While he won’t be able to do any “extreme activity” in the immediate term, he hopes to get back in front of the team at least in two weeks. Assistant coach Mackenzie Freas has been named interim head coach and will run the team with assistants Chris Watson and Josie Bryszerwski until the fourth-year head coach is cleared to return.
“There’s no other place I’d rather be than in that dugout with them; it’s a special group we have,” Rodriguez said Friday night from his hospital room. “Mackenzie will step up as acting head coach just like last year and she’ll do a great job along with the other coaches. Hope to get back in time to hit a fun playoff run.”
Rodriguez texted the assistants an update on his status shortly after the opener started and Freas “tried to hold it together” the rest of the game. She spoke with athletics director Bob Hughes between games.
Freas took the team for three games last year while Rodriguez was serving a mid-season suspension, a punishment that actually stretched nearly a week due to postponements and cancelations. The Mighty Oaks lost in her first game in the role, then run-ruled Howard CC in both games of their next doubleheader.
The Mighty Oaks have dominated the series with Bucks, winning all six previous games handily. Whether it was the Centurions being better or the Mighty Oaks distracted, these games were closer than ever.
Bucks led the opener 7-2 after batting in the third before the Mighty Oaks erupted for six runs in the home third to take the lead. The visitors retook the lead in the fourth and Salem took it back for good with five runs in the bottom of the inning. The top five hitters in the Mighty Oaks’ lineup went a combined 13-for-20 with nine runs and six RBIs in the game. Bella Rappa went 4-for-4 with four RBIs at the back end of the lineup.
The Mighty Oaks fell behind in the nightcap, too – just not by as much – and ended up walking it off on Savannah Palverento’s sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. Palverento drove in four runs in the nightcap, seven in the doubleheader.
Rappa went 7-for-7 with six RBIs in the doubleheader, raising her batting average .201 points over the last five games. Koski went 6-for-8 with three RBIs, raising her average to a team-leading .613, and Emme Witter had two hits in each game.
Freas could tell Rodriguez’ absence affected the way they played.
“I would say emotionally, yes,” she said. “When the girls have an error, something happens in the field, right away they look towards us and they’re waiting for that voice – I wait for that voice next to me,” she said. “They were almost waiting for that voice to get them ready and the same when they come off the field and they’re about to hit. I almost had to, like, channel my inner Angel to say the things to them that he would say.
“They definitely were looking around for him. It was a hole in our dugout, 100 percent.”
There were a lot of tears when the day was finally done.
“Pregame and postgame were the most emotional part,” she said. “It’s definitely playing for something bigger than us right now. That’s what our big speech was before the game: We’re playing for something so much more than the 19 of us standing right there. We have someone we’re fighting for, we’re scrapping it out for.”
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