North high softball is on a mission
The North Fort Myers High School softball team has some unfinished business to address.
After having their season derailed last year by injury, the Red Knights are determined not to have a repeat, and they are doing so in the memory of their late coach.
North has once again established itself as one of the elite programs in the state, jumping out to a 10-0 start and outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 122-3 after a pair of 20-0 wins over Island Coast and Port Charlotte and a 16-0 romp, again over Island Coast this past week.
The same happened last year, with North on its way to big things when its ace pitcher, junior Mackenzie Peterson, went down with a shoulder injury. The Red Knights never recovered, losing the district title to Venice and to Barron Collier in the first round of regionals.
Things got worse in October when their head coach, John Keyes, died after a prolonged illness. The loss, tragic as it was, helped bring the team together like never before, and it gave the players a reason to play like crazy this season for new coach Tony Vodola, a longtime acquaintance of Keyes from New Jersey.
More bad news this week was that Vodola wasn’t with the team, as his mother passed away and had to return home for the funeral. Scott Peterson has taken over in his absence and he said the team has a greater sense of purpose this year.
“Last year we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to. This year, especially after losing Coach Keyes, we’ve tried to step it up and go further than we did,” Peterson said. “It’s been the focus of the team.”
“Losing Mackenzie had more a mental effect because she’s been our dominant pitcher, so when we see her, we’re comfortable. When she wasn’t it got into our heads more,” senior captain Melinda Therion said. “Losing brought us apart and when coach died, it really brought everyone together from all the sports and gave us a commonality.”
The roster is again stacked, with Peterson on the mound, Therion, McKenzie Corbitt and Charlotte transfer Jessie Valerius providing leadership, and young players such as freshmen Emma Johnson and Sarah Giompalo ready to take the team into the future.
“Emma is our No. 2 starter and she did really well (against Island Coast). Melinda has been a leader for us, and everything is falling into place.” Peterson said. “We want to take it one step at a time. We want to win our district, get into regionals and the end goal is to get to states.”
Mackenzie Peterson said she is healthy and wants to finish what the team started last year while pushing all the other stuff to the side.
“We have some really good players and I’m confident we can go to states. Losing (Keyes) was rough on us, but we’re playing for him, which is helping us play better, and our new coach is great, so he’s helping, too.”
“As we approach the end of the season, our window of opportunity will open even more because we’re coming closer together and dominating,” Therion said. “We’ve played together for years, and the loss of Coach Keyes brought us even closer and gave us a mission we want for him. We want to finish business this year.”