WAUKOMIS, Okla. — Phillip Pond was an unlikely candidate to be the Enid News & Eagle's Northwest Oklahoma Softball Coach of the Year.
Pond, entering his 15th year as teacher and coach at Waukomis, didn't know he was going to be the Lady Chiefs' head coach until practice already started. He was promoted from an assistant's post when Ali Mark resigned to become an assistant at Northern Oklahoma College Enid.
For her efforts, she was voted the Enid News & Eagle's Northwest Oklahoma softball player of the year by area coaches.
Pond made it an easy transition taking the Lady Chiefs to a 23-10 record, the Skeltur Conference tournament, a regular season championship and a district championship — the first in many years for WHS. His peers took note by voting him the area coach of the year.
"I was really surprised and humbled by it,'' Pond said.
Pond wasn't surprised by the Lady Chiefs' breakout season. He felt Mark had set a solid foundation for him the year before.
"Being around them, I already knew the kind of work ethic they had,'' he said. "I could see it coming. I knew if it was there for the taking they would put it together and they did. A lot of stuff carried over from Coach Mark. We just carried it into this year. They busted their tails. If not for them, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you now.''
Pond inherited eight seniors, who supplied solid leadership. Shortstop Slater Eck was voted by coaches as the area player of the year after hitting ,446 with four doubles, seven triples, one homer and 26 RBI.
"They had their goals in mind that they wanted to accomplish — win the Skeltur, win the Skeltur Tournament, win district and go a little ways in the playoffs. They worked hard all year and they were able to do all of those things.''
Pond found instant chemistry as the head coach with his team because of their attitudes.
"The girls made it such a joy,'' he said. "I was happier coaching this year than I've ever been. When I come to practice, I don't have to yell. They had their routine and they came ready to go to work every day. When you have good kids and good players, it makes it a lot easier.''
The Chiefs beat old nemesis Pioneer, 9-2 in the Skeltur Tournament finals on Aug. 21. That part of a six-game winning streak.
"That was a big hump to get over,'' Pond said. "Coach (David) Riesen has had such a strong program. That win gave us the emphasis to keep things going for the year.'
Waukomis went through the district unbeaten downing Oklahoma Bible Academy, 9-1 in the first round and beating Garber twice, 6-1 and 9-0. The Wolverines had beaten the Lady Chiefs, 6-5 in extra innings in the regular season.
"That was really nice,'' Pond said of the district championship. "We had a lot of happy girls after we beat Garber. We knew we were going to have to come ready to play and the girls did a good job of that.''
The Lady Chiefs were 2-2 in the regionals before being eliminated by Binger-Oney, 6-1.
Pond is planning to try to bring some stability to Waukomis softball after a number of coaching changes in the last few years.
"I'm planning on it anyway,'' he said. "Although we lose a lot of seniors, we've still got a number of girls back for next year that have had significant playing time. We will have to step it up a bit, but it's a lot easier to set the bar higher now than the first time.''
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.