Griego, moose have Silverado softball team feeling lucky

Tim Mullin

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 | 9:08 a.m.

Many teams have their own unique quirks or superstitions before a game, but only one can claim to have a hat shaped like an antlered mammal as a good luck charm.

Welcome to the dugout of the Silverado softball team, where a large moose hat with two antlers attached sits atop the bag of Skyhawk outfielder Stephanie Meusy.

"My last name is Meusy, so my nickname is Moose," Meusy said. "We went to Bullhead for one of our tournaments and walked into a hat store, where we found a moose hat. Now before each game we kiss it for good luck."

Silverado is hoping those kisses turn into base hits and Kelly Griego strikeouts this weekend during the 4A state tournament.

Without the senior ace throwing shutouts, Silverado would be sitting at home this week, after managing to hit just.250 and squeezing out only a single run in four of their six games during the Sunrise Region tournament.

But Griego pitched a three-hitter and a no-hitter in two elimination games, and during one stretch, she allowed only five hits in 20 innings to lead the Skyhawks to the final state tournament birth.

The performance wasn't even with Griego at 100 percent healthy.

During a game against Sierra Vista a couple of weeks ago, coach Steve Hodges thought he was going to lose his ace for the rest of the season, when she was taken off the field with an upper ankle injury.

But after the X-rays came back negative, and a little physical therapy, Griego managed to come back for the regional tournament.

"She was about 80-85 percent (during the tournament)," Hodges said. "So, to perform at that level she did is pretty good."

Now, after getting most of this week off to rest, she believes she is 100 percent and is ready to make a run for the title.

"I feel ready to play, (my ankle) is totally fine," Griego said. "I just have to wear this brace and I will be good to go."

Silverado will need the best stuff out of its ace to calm the hot bats of McQueen, Sierra Vista and Las Vegas.

"We are hoping an extra week's rest is going make her that much stronger," Hodges said. "We will need those 10 strikeouts a game. A lot of runs are going to be scored this weekend."

Griego, who had a 1.00 ERA before pitching shutouts in the regional tournament, stands above the rest of the valley's pitchers because of the velocity and movement of her pitches.

"Her ball breaks very, very rapidly along way," Hodges said. "She leaps off that mound and comes at you and it feels like she is half way to the plate when she lets the ball go."

Even with the ace back to her normal self, Silverado's bats will have to come to life if they hope to make a run for state.

During the regional tournament, the Skyhawks managed to score only eight runs in their last five games.

With only two more days of practice until Friday's opening game, Hodges' main concern is his team's hitting.

"We aren't going to do anything different that we normally do," Hodges said. "We spent the whole year working on hitting and we are going to continue to do that."

During yesterday's practice, Hodges spent the majority of the time having his players taking turns hitting off a machine, while the rest of the team fielded the balls.

He is hoping his players can gain some confidence at the plate before Friday's 5 p.m. opening round match against Sierra Vista at Henderson's Stephanie Lynn Craig Park.

"Now it becomes more of a mental game, than it does anything else," Hodges said. "It is all about if they are ready to play mentally." Last year Silverado had a disastrous performance at state, but this year Silverado has one major factor in their favor - experience.

"It was a young team last year," Hodges said. "We had a couple seniors, but basically it was a team of underclassmen, I had three freshmen in the starting lineup. This year, almost everyone on this team in a starting position has been there before. We are hoping that is going to make a difference, but you never know until you get to the ballpark."