Blazers hang tough for title run

ARTICLE by Gregory Kohn
PHOTOS by Jeff Lautenberger

Anna Szapiro supplied the spark

Blair senior Anna Szapiro stepped to the plate against a charged-up Gaithersburg pitcher on a May evening at the Blazers’ home stadium.  While Anna practiced her stroke one more time, she stole a glance at the scoreboard.  It was the bottom of the sixth and the Blazers were up, but their lead had evaporated to a slim margin, 3-2.  The pressure was on as they tried to do something no Blair softball team has ever done – advance to the County championship game.

The opposing pitcher whipped the ball, and Anna swung. In a heartbeat she was at second base, quietly celebrating her double.  That was the spark Blair needed.  Three more doubles would follow.

Blazers' sole pitcher, Annie Denenberg

In the top of the seventh, senior pitcher Annie Denenberg, who had done her part by moving the base-runners along with a bunt during the rally, got the final three outs to secure a 7-2 victory.

One of the first to get to the hugs and high fives at the pitcher’s mound was Allison Rubin, running all the way from right field.  She is the first Blair softball player in at least 30 years to earn a scholarship to a Division One college and the only Blair athlete named this spring to the All-Met list published in The Washington Post.

The eruption of delight that came from the players as well as a grandstand full of fans made it truly feel like a piece of history.

Catcher Claire Lieberman slides into home

Yet, as with most achievements, adversity had to be overcome.  During the season a dependable player uncharacteristically quit the team, and an assistant coach also left.  Most difficult of all, Annie Dennenberg, the team’s one and only pitcher, was forced to deal with the death of her mother in a fire as the playoffs approached.  “There was a lot of negative energy thrown our way,” Annie sums up.

Yet they turned that negativity around and drove themselves deep into the playoffs.

Lieberman rounds the base

One reason they were able to stick together was that they have a history.  Most of them met each other almost 10 years while playing in the local Babe Ruth league. (Anna Szapiro played baseball against boys in Babe Ruth for an unbroken run of six seasons.)  And all but one of them later played together on the Takoma Park Fire team that faced competition outside the local area.

However, no team goes anywhere without a good coach -- in this case, Louie Hoelman, who has known many of the girls since they were third graders at Piney Branch Elementary where he was their PE teacher.  Later he helped teach them more about the tricks of playing ball as their instructor at the Takoma Park Summer Softball Camp run by Sue Immerman.

“We became more of softball family because of those connections,” Coach Hoelman says.

Umpires talk it over

 “We had a great group of girls with a lot of talent, but it was Coach Hoelman who made each one of us motivated to win not only for ourselves but for the team and for him,” Annie says.

Anna, the clutch-hitting shortstop, calls him “the rock of the team.”  Anna is also a talented actress and has had several featured roles in Blair stage productions, but every spring she always chose softball over theater. “Coach Hoelman is definitely one of the reasons I stayed on the team,” she says. “When we played it was as much for him as for anything else. He’s a great coach -- he knew when to be supportive and when to be tough.”

It’s hard to attribute a three-year record of 32-5 to anything other than good coaching and closely-knitted, hardworking girls. 

Megan Harmison and Dani McClay hi-five a double

“When this freshman class came in, I knew we had something special,” says Coach Hoelman. But their years at Blair made them more special. “They worked so hard over these four years to get the way we were. By the end of this season they were playing the best softball they’ve ever played.”

“We all got pretty close and loved going to practice every day,” says Annie.
The idea that they were as much a family as a team is something that carried over to the fans who showed up faithfully to watch them – classmates, friends, parents, and friends of parents, even some of their old coaches from the Babe Ruth league, including league founder Gary Weinstein, who says, “They were an inspiration to watch. Exciting, fun, just the way the game should be played!”

Larry Rubin, the former Takoma Park City Council member and the father of All-Met Allison, was another enthusiastic fan.  “I never knew what it felt like to be a jock because I never was one growing,” he says. “But I’ve loved being the father of a jock. This whole team had the feeling of an all-for-one, one-for-all family.”

Allison Rubin gets a hit

It had even more of a family feeling because Coach Hoelman’s father, now retired, volunteered as his assistant at practices and games, and his mother was also around to help out.

“Everyone was so motivated,” Annie says. “We were all distracted by college stuff and prom but when it came to game time, it was all softball.”

The championship game against Damascus did not turn out as they had hoped, but the Blazers had the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate with one out in the last inning before a double-play ended their season. “They never gave up,” Coach Hoelman says.

A close score for the Blazers

A few days later the Blazer girls gathered at the Hoelman home in Silver Spring for an end-of-the-season barbeque. While most of the team was enjoying hot dogs and lemonade, a few players snuck into the house and stole a few of their coach’s personal items.

No, they weren’t mad at him, nor did they really have larceny in their hearts. This was part of a tradition they started a few years ago.

The rest of the tradition took place during the annual awards ceremony for spring athletes at Blair.  After a presentation of trophies, the girls returned the items one by one to Coach Hoelman -- a pink blanket, a picture frame (of a person he didn’t remember knowing), and a pair of shoes.

“Even though we ended our season with a loss we were happy for the season we had,” Annie says. “We’re just really sad it’s over.”

But there is one more round of applause due – for the moms and dads who drove their kids to all those practices and games for so many years, and got off work early to see their daughters hit, or weren’t too shy to stand up and shout “Alright, Slugger!” at the top of their lungs.  Also, for every brother and sister who tagged along and all the friends, the coaches, every spirited fan of these Blazer girls.

And the good thing is it was worth it.

Comments:

This was an awesome team and it was a great pleasure watching them
play. Most of them came up through Takoma Park Babe Ruth baseball and softball andit was wonderful watching all those years of practice and play come together under Coach Hoelman. This was the toughest, most talented and best looking bunch of ball players in southern Montgomery and we will miss them!Good luck girls!

—Ray Scannell

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