“Let the Error Go”: Softball Coach Kerri Scroope

By: Ashley Gray
Posted In: Sports

At the top of the seventh inning, the Seahawks having an already sizable lead against their opponents, New England College, Head Coach Kerri Scroope had a decision to make. With a comfortable lead, and already a win against the team that day, Scroope tells one of her players that she is going to be a DH (designated hitter) for the inning. That player is sophomore catcher, who was a started last season. Already that day another sophomore had hit her first collegiate home run to bring the Seahawks in the lead in the second game. With this security, Scroope decides to bring in the catcher into the game, for the first time this season, as a hitter.

The player had caught in the season already, but she had a DH in for her when she was put into the games. Scroope could see that the player was caught off guard, and was frantically putting herself together for her place at the plate.

As she gets up to the plate, the Coach pulls her aside. Scroope tells the young catcher, “Relax, don’t worry, just do what we worked on in practice, and you’ll be ok, no pressure.” The only thing was, to the catcher there was some amount of pressure, even though her team was winning against NEC (New England College), and she wanted to prove to the new coach that she was a strong hitter, and she didn’t need a DH for her, that she can hold her own. As the first

pitch came towards her, she swung her bat, and hit the ball. The catcher ended up hitting a solid single to left field, bringing in another run for her team.

As the catcher ran towards first base, you could her screams and cheers from the Salve dug out, and you can as well see the beaming smile from her coach’s face. The smile of a coach proud of her player; of a teacher proud of her student; a person proud of someone else’s accomplishment.

Kerri Scroope was born in 1978 in Port Jefferson, Long Island, NY. Scroope lived with both her parents and was one of four children, growing up living in Mt. Sinai, NY. “I think I am the person I am today because of my family”, says Scroope. Her parents gave her and her siblings “the good life”. Her father worked during the day, and her mother worked at night, so she always had one parent at home with her and the rest of her family, which she said helped her growing up, with always having a parent there to watch them. Scroope is also thankful that her parents were strict because they always kept her in line.

Even though Scroope is close to her entire family, she is closest to her younger brother, who is two years younger than the college coach. They hung around with the same group of friends growing up, and were also on each others sports teams. Scroope says that he is still there to support her in her career, and he also the one who pushed to go after the coaching job at Salve Regina University.

All her life growing up, Scroope and her siblings played sports. Scroope herself started playing sports at a young age, following in her footsteps of her older brother and sister. “We used to tease about the soccer ball being attached to her feet.” Says her father, Bob Scroope, “She would play sports with kids three years older than herself, and was never afraid to prove herself out on the field.” Scroope was a three sport kid playing soccer, basketball, and softball throughout her childhood with her siblings. “She was a natural athlete even at a young age,” said her father, who used to coach his children’s sports games when they were younger.

Scroope attended Mt. Sinai High School, where she was a three sport athlete as a four year varsity starter in soccer, softball, and basketball. She received awards for her sports abilities in high school, such as all – conference, and most honorable player.

Scroope attended Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. The former SUNY (State University of New York), is now a Division 1 , where Scroope had played soccer at the division 1 level, and played basketball, which when it started was at the Division 2 level and went up to Division 1 by the time Scroope had graduated. Scroope went to Stony Brook to study Social Sciences, which started on her path to a teaching career. In her freshman year while training for soccer, she had popped a ligament in her foot. “In the spring, we had to go out and run ten miles a day. My foot was killing me and I tried to explain it to my coach, and we went out and I popped the ligaments in my foot, so I missed all of pre season my sophomore year.” Even though she was frustrated that she wasn’t able to travel with the team, she was still allowed to dress for home games. In the middle of the season, her coach took a chance on her, and put her in the game, and ended up scoring a goal, which she says, was one of the high points for her while playing sports. She ended up going to graduate school at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts to get her master’s degree in elementary education and educational leadership.

Scroope knew she wanted to become a coach after she had to quit basketball because of a knee injury. She realized how important sports played in her life, and how that with playing sports she was able to go to Stony Brook and get the education she need. She decided she wanted to be the coach she had never had by taking what she had learned from each coach she had growing up to become the coach she wanted to be.

After she graduated from Bridgewater, she moved to Rhode Island and got a job as a secretary as well as the JV soccer coach for a woman’s high school. When she took the job of the soccer coach, which is when she realized her passion for coaching. After that she was given the opportunity to coach at three different high schools for varsity sports; Head soccer coach, and JV softball coach at Apponequet High school in Lakeville, Mass., head basketball coach for Borne High School, and was the head of the softball program at Dartmouth High School in Massachusetts, where she currently lives, before coming take over the head soccer, softball, and assistant basketball coaching positions at Salve.

While growing up, Scroope said that her father was one of her biggest mentors. “He was that guy who always stressed the academics before the sports,” says Scroope. She also says that her grandfather was a big influence on her as well. She also gives thanks to the people she says took a chance on her. “It’s people like athletic director of Borne High School, Amy Lader, who took a chance on me. Jim Cabucio, Ted Trick, all those guys that said yea, you’re a young kid that just graduated college and I’ll take a chance on and let you coach at the high school level.” Another thing that Scroope is grateful for was for joining the Army Reserves in the summer of her junior year in college, which she said has helped get through some tough preseason. She went through eight weeks of basic training to become a chaplain assistant, where she worked for a Catholic priest for eight years. She said that it was one of the best experiences of her life, and said if he had to do it over, she would do it again. Being in the Reserves, Scroope was apart of 9/11, by moving troops back and fourth out of the city. She said that it was a scary time, but it is something she will always be thankful that she experienced

Being a new coach to the University, means she has brought new techniques for the sports that she coaches. Scroope says one of the reasons the softball team has been this successful thus far, is because they are playing a different game. She said that she is teaching the team to not just try to hit over the fence, but they are using other another strategy called small ball to score runs, such as bunting, slapping. Not only that, but they are stealing more bases, using the technique called the suicide squeeze, which is when the runner at third starts to run home, as the pitcher starts throwing the ball. Also, you will never see Scroope yell at her players for a mistake.

“I always pull the player aside and say ‘You know, your fine, let the error go,'” Scroope says, “Play each moment as it come and not dwell on past mistakes.”

She also said that she has much respect for the coach before her, Associate Athletic Director Lisa Yenush. Yenush was formally the coach for both the woman’s soccer team and the softball team at Salve, and when she was offered the position of Associate Athletic Director, she was able to help in the hiring of Scroope. Yenush said that Scroope stood out from the applicant pool with her experience of coaching three sports at the high school level, and had a lot of great experience in terms of education as well. Yenush also said that Scroope is doing a fantastic job with the teams. “She’s actually exceeded our expectations; she is probably one of the hardest working people in our department,” Yenush said about the woman’s coach, “I don’t want to put works in her mouth, but it seems that this is one of the jobs she really wanted.”

Yenush also said that the successes in both of the soccer and softball team are great. “Soccer really got better and better as the season went on,” she says, “Softball’s obviously done exceptionally well since they have been back from Florida.” She also said that there isn’t a team that the softball girls cannot compete with in their conference. “Once playoffs come, anything can happen, and they can really make something happen, so I’m rooting for them!”

Yenush also tries to go to as many soccer games and softball games as she can. When she is there, watching from the sidelines, Yenush sees that Scroope has a lot of energy, and a lot of enthusiasm for both of the sports.

With Scroope’s dedicated commitment to her teams, it leaves little room for life outside of coaching, but when Scroope isn’t on the field, in practice, or recruiting players for the next seasons, she likes to spend time with her family. She believes spending time with family is important when she has the time to do it. She also knows that even when she isn’t with her family, she knows they will always stand behind her and support her through her carer.

When school is out, she is still coaching. Scroope coaches at summers camps at the Sylvan Learning Center. “Coaching is kinda consuming me right now, but I try not to let it.” Scroope also loves to go to the beach and loves to travel, but she knows most of her traveling will also be recruiting for the future seasons to come. “As much as you try to say, yea you put coaching on the backburner, you never do; it’s apart of your everyday life.”

With coaching teams with girls close to her age, Scroope knows that she and her assistant coaches are more than just coached to these girls; they are also role models. She says it is nice to know these kids as young woman, and not just as athletes. The girls go to them with their problem and with their academics, and using the tools her father taught her, she stresses to her girls that academics come first.

With the season starting to wrap up for softball, Scroope knows her girls are fighting hard, and are not settling to be where they are right now. She believes her girls will fight hard until the end, to try and get to the top. “Those kids set a goal at the beginning of the year that they would like to end in the top four,” Scroope says of her girls, “and I had said to them, you know, one step at a time.” They first needed to qualify for the tournament, and then she said they will worry about everything else. She can’t say anything else, but that she is proud of her team, and that they have always given 110%. She doesn’t want to look ahead, because the season, she said, has gone a little too quick for her. The one thing she will say is a low point for her is not being able to have more time with the graduating seniors from her sports teams. She believes all the seniors from the soccer, basketball, and softball are all very talented, and she wishes she had more time with them. That is all she likes to say about the future, because she doesn’t like to go past what is in front of her right now.

What’s in the future for the busy coach? She is planning to take a coaching course with her former college soccer coach, Sue Ryan, this summer. Scroope was thankful to have her as a coach, and being able to look up to her as a role model as an athlete is something she will cherish for a long time. Another thing she plans to do to better herself is to get her National Soccer Diploma for soccer. As for anything else in the future, Scroope says that she is extremely happy right now. She is at her dream job, and she wants to continue bettering her athletes for the world

out there. Coach Scroope is 100% here for her athletes and will do anything for them. She loves her job, and loves what she is doing her at Salve, and with her coaching skills and the talent these players have, you will see a lot of successes in both of their futures.