SOFTBALL: Keleher ready for another ESG shot

By Dave Ricci

TOWN OF TONAWANDA July 22, 2008 11:53 pm

— Fate doesn’t always give you a second chance to right the events that have gone wrong.
Christine Keleher is getting that chance.
Keleher, a town of Tonawanda native, will be part of the Western Region softball team that will be competing in the 30th Empire State Games that are being held in Binghamton starting today.
Her second trip to the ESG’s, Keleher is on somewhat of a mission to redeem herself from the 2006 games when she posted a 2-2 record and the Western squad finished a disappointing fourth place.
The toughest pill to swallow from those games came in the form of questionable umpiring during the Western Region’s 5-3 loss to New York City in the bronze medal game.
The home plate official called two-dozen illegal-pitches on Keleher — with 12 of them coming on consecutive pitches during a crucial juncture of the game.
It’s hard to believe when you consider Keleher was called for just one illegal pitch throughout her entire collegiate career with St. Bonaventure.
“I was really disappointed because I expected more of myself, and there was that whole dilemma with the umpire, but you can’t blame all of it on them,” said Keleher.
“It was kind of a disappointing thing all together. We didn’t do as well as we wanted to as a whole and I didn’t do as well as I wanted to so we kind of (chalked) it up to not being our year I guess.”
While most of the girls from the 2006 Western team got another kick-at-the-can last year and took home the bronze medal, Keleher was playing semi pro softball in Southern California.
While that was an experience she’ll never forget Keleher is happy to be back home and is eager to prove herself on the biggest amateur athletic stage in the state.
“I’m really excited,” Keleher said. “I think we have just as good of a team if not better then we had in 2006. We have real experienced players all across the board.”
Putting the 2006 Games to bed Keleher isn’t bitter over the umpiring issue and is channeling her energy as positively as possible and is determined to make this year better.
Having not pitched competitively since last summer Keleher has immersed herself into intense regular throwing regiments and workouts over the past couple of months.
“She’s going to be invaluable,” said Western coach Joe Catalano, who was also Keleher’s pitching coach at Kenmore West. “She’s a good team leader she works her butt off. She takes a lot of pride in everything she does so she’s not going to go in to these games not having pitched (competitively) in over a year and fall on her face.”
Noting that this year’s squad has played more games prior to the ESG’s than the 2006 team, Keleher feels the team is mentally and physically prepared for a run at the gold.
But Keleher will also tell you talking about it doesn’t get the job done.
“You can say ‘we’re the best and we do this and we do that and we practice so hard’ but if you don’t win, you don’t win,” she said.
Keleher and her teammates are ready to win.

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