Sammy Esque Is Tearing It Up On The Mound

Sammy Esque would sit in the backseat of the car, pouting. She was off to another pitching lesson, and each second of the ride was filled with the nagging angst of an eight-year-old little girl. Her mother and father would look at each other and grinned, and kept telling her to stick with it, to give this new thing a chance.

Sammy looks back and laughs at those times now.

The junior can because the thing that she once “hated” she’s now mastered, as one of the best pitchers not just only in Delaware County, but in the area. Esque has been at the core of the Cougars’ resurgence in becoming one of the better softball teams in Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Springfield entered this week 11-2 overall and were sitting atop the Central League with a 9-2 record. Much of that falls on Esque, who’s 10-2 overall, and her amazing accuracy has translated into 91 strikeouts and just five walks (one intentional) over 84 innings—just five walks. Many Central League coaches feel Esque is the best pitcher in the league, along with Radnor’s Christy Von Pusch.

It strikes Esque how she got her start in something she feels so passionate about.

“It is kind of funny, because I told me parents I hated it, I mean hated it every time I had to go to a pitching lesson,” Esque recalls. “I didn’t want to go anymore. I’d complain. They would just keep taking me and I started to like it. I think the thing I hated most was going to practice all the time. Now I love going to my pitching lessons. I love throwing and pitching. It makes me feel better. I love it. It’s like after working out, you’re tired, but you feel good, because you know you’ve done something good for yourself.”

Her pitching has not just been for herself, it seems, but for others. The Cougars have a chance to do some special things this season and next year. The core group is comprised of juniors. This season and the next are the window years the Cougars are using to step forward and contend for a district and possible state title.

“Sammy was very good as a freshman, when she walked into this league, she was already among the top half,” Cougars’ coach Todd Odgers said. “Each game she continues to improve.”

 If there was an epiphany for Esque, it came last season when the Cougars started 2-7. Esque felt pressured to do everything. Odgers sat her down and spoke with her about keeping her focus small, on what she had to do, letting everything else fall into place.

It did.

“I think I learned trust,” said Esque, who averages between 60-63 mph, and throws a change-up, curveball, screwball, drop and rise. “I didn’t have to field every ball hit. I know everyone behind me will field the ball. I just wanted to control what I did from the mound. To me, that means walks. I don’t like giving up walks. It’s like I’m letting my team and myself down when I do that. I was taught at a young age that location is better than speed.”

Esque is hitting close to .500. The Cougars appear as if they’re going to get a quality seed in the PIAA District 1 Class AAA playoffs, where they lost in the second round last year to West Chester East.

“Sammy is special,” Odgers said. “She’s very consistent. If someone is able to get a good line drive against her, that isn’t easy, that’s great for them. But this is also a very nice team, Sammy is a big part of that, and it’s a team that I think can beat anyone on any given day.”

With Esque on the mound—doing something she loves.