Wellington The Magazine-August 2016
Coach Proud Of Emerald Cove Middle School’s Best Softball Season Ever
By Ron Bukley
The Emerald Cove Middle School Pirates softball team went undefeated last season on the way to winning the Palm Beach County championship for the first time.
Coach Matt Estes, who also coaches Wellington’s softball traveling teams, couldn’t be prouder. He coached two girls fast-pitch softball teams that enjoyed unprecedented seasons.
“I coach the team that went undefeated and won the county, and I also coached the Wellington travel team that won the World Series this past year,” said Estes, a park supervisor with the village.
The Emerald Cove girls are there for only three years before moving on to high school, but Estes has a good feeder program from the Wellington league, whose traveling team members also play with the recreational league and feed to the village’s three middle schools.
“We also have Wellington Landings and Polo Park middle schools. They are all in the same vicinity, so you really don’t know who you’re going to get until they arrive, but most of the kids who play in the rec league usually play in the local middle school,” Estes explained.
Each season, he takes the girls who show up for practice and tries to build a winning team.
“I’m fortunate enough that the girls who come to school there… a majority of them come from the rec program that we have here in Wellington,” Estes said. “Most of these girls have aspirations of playing in high school, college, the whole nine yards.”
The upcoming season, which begins the first week of school in August, looks good, with 10 of last season’s 18 team members returning.
The fast-pitch teams are extremely competitive, with pitchers usually receiving special training from specialty coaches, Estes said.
“To be a pitcher takes a lot of work,” he said. “For the most part, they have their own trainers. They have their own coaches who teach them how to pitch if they are interested in pitching. They start at a very early age.”
Wellington has a program that provides free pitching lessons during the softball season.
“They start at anywhere from 6 to 7 to 8 years old,” Estes said. “They start early, so most of the girls I get for my pitching program usually go to pitching programs themselves. I’m more or less of a teacher than a coach when it comes to middle school. I am also fortunate enough to bring experience from the rec and travel programs to my school.”
The recreational league has 100 to 120 girls participating, and from those participants, travel teams are chosen for different age divisions.
Estes’ travel team won the girls softball world series in Orlando last July, sanctioned by the United States Specialty Sports Association, the National Softball Association and the Amateur Softball Association. “That’s a big accomplishment for the girls,” he said.
Estes, who has been coaching girls softball for about 10 years, noted that Emerald Cove’s team went 14-0 for the first time in school history, on their way to winning last year’s county championship.
In the playoffs, they defeated Eagles Landing Middle School and Christa McAuliffe Middle School to reach the championship game against Independence Middle School, winning 5-4 in a Kansas City tiebreaker.
At Emerald Cove, Estes is helped by assistant coach Sergio Marquez, and the team receives strong support from Principal Eugina Smith Feaman and Athletic Director Brian Tilley.
Members of the 2015-16 team were: Victoria Cannata, Luna Curran, Danielle Dallas, Isabella D’Eusanio, Caridad Estes, Catherine Glenn, Alejandra Gonzalez, Briana Granitto, Aubrey Hockett, Sara Jenal, Rylee Jordan, Marlee Marquez, Lauren Nguyen, Nelia Peralta, Anabelle Standish, Adrianna Torella, Ashley Trevino and Alina Varga.
