Big Mac Softball Season Starts Today

Morgan Jox knows what it’s like to be pushed. After all, it’s how her parents have treated her for as long as she can remember.

Because she was pushed to always become better, Jox stuck with tae kwon do for 11 years, earned her black belt two years ago, and currently competes on a statewide level in the martial art.

But now it’s Jox’s time to push.

A sophomore on the softball team, Jox has already earned a designation as one of the team’s leaders. And that’s a good thing, because the Big Macs are extraordinarily young this season.

Canon-McMillan finished 3-14 (2-8) in the WPIAL’s Class AAAA Section 4 in 2010, and can count only one senior and one junior on its roster as the team prepares to open its 2011 campaign. That’s why Jox, who may not even crack the starting lineup at first, is so valuable to Canon-McMillan — because she never settles for the status quo.

“I like to push people — push them to their full potential. Because no matter what, I know they can do better,” Jox said. “We have a lot of potential to do really well, as long as everybody works their hardest and works together.”

Unfortunately for Canon-McMillan, the Big Macs have not been able to have such a positive outlook in several years. Since their WPIAL playoff appearances in 2004-2006, the team has found itself in a swift decline.

Without a feeder system in place until a few years ago, the team’s roster numbers dwindled much as its wins did. Over the last four years, the Big Macs managed to scrape together only 11 total wins — two victories shy of their 13-5 record in 2006 alone.

“That lull, we were still teaching kids how to throw,” Canon-McMillan Coach Michele Moeller said. “We had some girls who filtered in, played varsity for a year or two, and then quit.”

But now, Moeller believes that things are about to change for the better. And it’s because of players like Jox that she can say that.

“She’s a total leader,” Moeller said of Jox. “It’s her upbringing. And she’s got that internal motivation.

With any player, it’s great when you can find that internal motivation. That’s when you know you have them moving in the right direction.”

But it will take more than a can-do attitude to turn around Canon-McMillan’s fortunes, it will also take talent. And Moeller believes the team is making some good headway in that department as well.

Moeller said that she has a more mature and versatile team on her hands this season. She believes her team can rely on its quickness to find success in 2011.
The Big Macs returns sophomore Yaszmin Kotar, who led the team with a .319 batting average and a .440 on-base percentage in 2010, while also stealing seven bases. And Veronica Rothka, another of the team’s leaders, is also back — after batting .281 with a .373 on-base percentage and seven steals last season.

With that, pitchers such as Erica Taylor and Kayla Kiger, and an aggressive offensive mindset, the Big Macs may yet find a way to turn things around.

“They have more experience, so they’re smarter players. And they’re more mature than they were coming into it last year,” Moeller said. “It will just play out where their heart is. That’s what I’m looking to see. Are their hearts there day-in and day-out?”

Taylor, for one, believes that heart will not be a question this season. Taylor is the lone senior on the team, and has been with the Big Macs through most of their recent struggles. But Taylor also believes things are about to change as well.

“My first couple of years were rocky — real rocky,” Taylor said. "But I grew up playing with these girls, so I know how they work and they know how I work.”

Taylor continued: “I think we’ll do OK. We have a lot of talent. We’re young, but we have a lot of experience too. There’s a lot of positive energy, and we like to have fun. We joke around a lot, but we’re serious when we need to do things.”

The Big Macs will get a chance to prove just how serious they are as they open their season today against Ft. Cherry at 1 p.m.

“I think it’s going to be close all around,” Moeller said of the upcoming season. “It’s going to be the one with the most heart that’s going to take it. I think there’s a lot more parity than there has been in our section.”