Maine West Softball: Maturation of Valles, Warriors Results in Conference Title

Last year Maine West pitcher Ariel Valles felt intimidated. There she was -- only a freshman -- pitching at the varsity level against players three years older than her. The team struggled, finishing with a losing record and fell to New Trier, 9-0, in the regional final.Fast forward one year and a lot has changed. Valles has become one of the Central Suburban League’s best pitchers, going 16-7 with a 1.63 ERA for the Warriors through the first round of the IHSA playoffs.“This year I knew what to expect,” Valles said. “I know last year was that stepping stone up to actually competing a lot with the varsity so I think I knew how to actually play with the older girls.”

Coach Mike Murin saw this team had the ability and talent to make 2011 a successful bounce-back year before the season began. A number of this year’s sophomores, including Valles, continued to play softball last summer for the Des Plaines Sparklers, a competitive travel team, and the rest of the roster was filled out with experienced players.“They’ve played a lot of softball in their life,” said Murin, who’s in his 10th year as the head coach at Maine West. “We thought if we could mold them into a team and get them to continue to improve upon their skills we’d have a good shot at being conference champions.”

The transition and maturation process wasn't complete overnight. Maine West stumbled out of the gate with a 3-6 record. During their early-season struggles, the Warriors fell to New Trier, 1-0, because of a dropped fly ball, and lost to Niles North, 4-3, in extra innings.

But the conference-opener against Niles North proved to be a turning point for Maine West. The Warriors finished the regular season on a 14-3 streak, winning the conference championship for the first time since 2008 with a 9-1 record and earning the No. 3 seed in the IHSA Class 3A Winnetka Sectional.“That was kind of an awakening to us that in order to compete for conference we need to step up our game a bit,” Valles said.“From that point on we started playing better defense and I think once we started playing better defense, we got a couple hits to fall and felt more confident in their ability,” Murin added.

Pitching to contact wasn’t something Valles did at the start of the season. Moments like the aforementioned dropped fly ball against New Trier certainly didn’t help matters. But it’s been part of an overall progression for the sophomore pitcher who is adapting to the role of Maine West’s newest ace.  “She realizes that she doesn’t have to do it all and I think that’s a big stepping stone for pitchers is that they can trust their defense,” Murin said. “She’s still throwing strikes, hitting her spots, but really letting the defense play behind her as well.”

That was evident in Maine West’s 13-1 victory against Clemente in the regional semifinals. Valles gave up one run over five innings while striking out only two batters. But it’s not as if Valles has abandoned power pitching all together. She’s recorded 119 strikeouts in 150 innings pitched this season.

One of the changes that have helped Valles develop this season has been a switch at the catcher position. Sophomore Gina Larucci took over the starting spot, having caught for Valles previously during their time on the Des Plaines Sparklers.

“It helps a lot because she knows my strengths and weaknesses,” Valles said. “Last year I came to a catcher that I’ve never thrown for so now Gina knows a lot what I can throw and what I want in each situation.”

The strong relationship between the two sophomores has worked well on the field. Valles says she rarely shakes off signs and has a lot of confidence in Larucci’s game-calling abilities.Murin had Maine West playing some of its best softball recenty before an untimely 4-0 loss to Glenbrook North in the Northbrook Regional title game. But the future is bright for Maine West, who had five sophomores in its starting lineup this season. In addition to Valles and Larucci, Renee Pond (outfield), Brie Montmarquette (third base) and Holly Wengerski (shortstop) also were regular starters. The Warriors last won a regional championship in 2008, and back then it was Valles’ older cousin, Emily Ott, who was Maine West’s number-one starter.

And while it’s certainly too early to start making comparisons between the two individuals -- Ott is now pitching for University of Missouri - Kansas City -- Valles and the Warriors will have two more years to make history as a team. "We know that we have good pitching with Ariel so if we can pick the ball up we should be all right," Murin said.