CENTRAL VALLEY — Sitting in the most tense, strenuous moment of the season during the New York State Class C regional final, Spackenkill softball was facing a 4-3 deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs and multiple runners in scoring position.
Falling victim to the unlucky nature of softball, a squarely smacked ball found the glove of the Dobbs Ferry first basemen, ending the Spartans’ season in heartbreak. When the pain of the loss wears off, the Spackenkill program will certainly realize the true success that the season was.
Winning the Section 9 Class C title the previous week, the Spartans took a massive step towards building what the program hopes to become a consistent winner and title-threat.
“The mentality I’ve been using all year is that good teams are run good coaches, great teams are run by great players and we had some tremendous senior leadership that really helped us out,” Stephen Merrill, the head coach of Spackenkill said, noting the impact that the town of Poughkeepsie itself really had on the success as well. “It’s such a community this year and that’s what makes the girls go. It’s what makes us go. It’s not one person, it’s not one player. It’s really a whole community at Spackenkill that has bought in to what we’re doing as a softball program.”
Behind Merrill, the program is trying to build a true culture and identity, one that is based on determination, an unwavering work ethic and a family-like atmosphere. A coach can only do so much though, it’s the student-athletes that truly make a program what it is.
“They put in the work, they come in during September and make sure the open gyms have 25 kids in it. They’re the ones working with each other, making each other better. I just really sit an operate the joysticks to a Lamborghini,” Merrill confidently said. “They make my job easy. It’s them and my assistant coaches.”
The still fledgling head coach has the upmost confidence that, with the sectional championship now to boast, that culture is becoming a consistent driving force in the program. Still, the Spartans do have to try and replace some key figures that are leaving Spackenkill. None bigger than Cadie Hanaburgh.
“I have not seen a player, defensively or offensively, put up the numbers as consistently or do the things that she does,” Merrill glowingly said. “But it’s everything she stands for off the field that is the most impressive. She is the first one to get on the field, the first one to put the bases in. Even as a senior, no job was too big for her.”
A five-year varsity player for Spackenkill, Hanaburgh received a proper senior sendoff with capturing a section title. Adding on, she pitched every single inning in the postseason to help bring the championship home.
“I really can’t put into words what Cadie has meant to our softball program. For me as a coach, I would not have been able to acclimate to the game of softball as quickly as I did without her,” Merrill said, discussing her overall knowledge of the game and ability to lead. “As a player, there’s nobody who’s come through this program who’s been as talented as her on the field for as long as I’ve been around Spackenkill, so almost 10 years.”
A SUNY Cortland commit to continue her softball career into college, finishing off her high school career with a championship was everything Hanaburgh had hoped for.
“It was an amazing accomplishment as a team, being able to do this my senior year,” Hanaburgh said, noting how playing Chester in the sectional final for the second time in three years only added to the emotions of it all. “Especially going against them in the finals this year, it really meant a lot. I know some of the older girls came back to support us.”
For as important as Hanaburgh was to the Spackenkill program and finally being able to secure a sectional championship in her playing days, the emotions are equally reciprocated. Maybe even more. Her softball days are long from over, but it’ll be tough to beat the emotional connection she has to the Spartans.
“Spackenkill has meant so much to me. Even though it’s small, it’s very much my home and I’m going to have a hard time leaving it,” she said. “I just always felt at home with my team… it’s just meant a lot to me to be able to have these friends and relationships I’ve had on the field.”
The relationships will last forever and Hanaburgh truly wishes that her impact on the program lasts just as long. While it’ll be difficult to replace her, Cadie and the rest of the Spartans program have certainly set a standard and an expected culture for the future from here-on-out.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Hanaburgh, Spackenkill earn respect despite regional final loss
Reporting by Eric Decker, Poughkeepsie Journal / Poughkeepsie Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Eric Decker, Poughkeepsie Journal | USA TODAY Network
