Lady YellowJackets Eye Third Finals In 3 Years

3-26-10

By LAURA COX

With the state tournament behind them, the Oneonta Lady YellowJackets have already moved on to the next thing – softball.
But those who went to two Section 4 state tournament finals in a row at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy say they’ll never forget the experience.
Irvington topped Oneonta, 54-33, in the Saturday, March 20, final, but the girls are reflecting on great plays made and a good time together.
For senior Lesley Harlem and junior Erin Wolstenholme, the highlight of the weekend – after winning the Friday semi-final – was time spent bonding with teammates.
“It was a great way to finish my senior year,” said Harlem.
“The best part was definitely going to the championship game,” said Junior Sienna, “It’s hard losing, but like Mr. Zeh said, you can’t keep going back.”
Many of the girls mentioned that the highlight of their 2009-2010 season was just two weeks ago, beating undefeated, first-ranked South Jefferson at Hartwick College’s Lambros Arena.
For senior Katie Bredin she felt like things really turned positive for the girls this season when they ran up a 17-0 score in the first quarter at Johnson City in mid-December.
“I felt really close to the team then and things just started to click,” said Bredin, “A lot of people didn’t think we’d make it back to state, but we knew how bad we wanted to get back for a second shot.”
One challenge all four of these girls mentioned for this season was the graduation of last year’s key players Madie Harlem and Meredith Ridgway – the older sisters of seniors Lesley Harlem and Val Ridgway who were both instrumental in this year’s success.
“This year we couldn’t rely on Madie and Mer, our go-to players. We had to work together this year to rely on each other, ” said Wisse, “It was great seeing different girls step up and improve, and seeing us come together as a team.”
This year’s team will graduate multiple seniors from the starting lineup and the younger girls are looking forward to next season already.
“Next year we are going to have to fill big shoes – we need big players to come up and replace Val and Lesley and we need to keep working on defense, which is our strong point,” said Wolstenholme, who at 5-foot-8 will likely be the tallest girl on the team next year. She reports that she plans to work hard over the next year to step up and take Val’s lead role on the team.
“We have a lot of talent on the team next year. People will need to step up and help, but with Erin and Sienna leading I think they can do it again,” Bredin said about the team’s chance at taking a third try at the state tournament.