Rosie Richardson’s best pitch didn’t come from the softball circle. It came from across the dinner table.
Richardson, a sophomore pitcher at Bishop Eustace Preparatory School, was concerned that there wouldn’t be a softball season when the team’s numbers were down and the Crusaders were without a coach in February. With just weeks to go before preseason practices, Richardson went to work convincing players from her volleyball team to give softball a shot.
“I got a whole bunch of volleyball girls and a whole bunch of freshmen,” Richardson said. “I’d say there were probably five or six volleyball players, and since they are already athletic it sort of helps with the fielding. If anything, I figured it would be fun learning a new sport.”
The Crusaders had about 20 players try out for the team. The only thing left was to find a new head coach. That was the easy part.
“When we heard our last coach wasn’t coming back, I was like, ‘Dad, this is the perfect opportunity for you!’” she said. “We didn’t know what was going to happen. There were a few interviews [with other coaches], but nothing really stuck. I told my dad to email them just in case. Then he got the job.”
Her father, Doug Richardson, had coached baseball for 15 years at Haddon Township High School prior to the pandemic. He had given up the job to spend more time with his three kids. Noah is now a junior at Bishop Eustace, and Parker is a fifth-grader at Saint Rose of Lima.
“We had won the conference in 2019, but I was missing my kids’ stuff,” Doug Richardson said, explaining that after finishing the year with seniors, he stepped away from coaching high school sports. “I didn’t know if I’d ever be back.”
He started coaching his children’s travel baseball and softball teams. So when his daughter’s high school team needed a head coach, he just couldn’t say no.
“She looked at me and said, ‘Can you help us please?’ I begrudgingly took it,” Doug Richardson said. “To see her get All-[Olympic] Conference and to hear the other coaches talk about her so glowingly is awesome.”
Rosie Richardson has made the most of it. She batted .558 through May 26 and struck out 85 batters from the circle this season. More importantly, she helped instill confidence and calmness to a team that is mostly sophomores and freshmen.
“We graduated seven seniors,” Doug Richardson said. “There were moments early in the gym where I said to myself, ‘How are we going to do this?’ But we came out and scrimmaged Haddonfield, and we did OK. At the end of the day, I could lean on [junior catcher] Sophie [Durham] and Rosie, and we made some errors, but we could see some twinkles of life.”
It was a tough start as the Crusaders lost their first nine games of the season. But a three-game winning streak immediately followed. On May 26, The Crusaders defeated Wildwood Catholic Academy, 16-2, in the first round of the South Jersey Non-Public B playoffs. It was their sixth win of the season, and Richardson struck out 13 batters in the five-inning victory.
The Crusaders had realistic expectations while navigating a schedule that included powerhouses like Cherokee, Paul VI and Seneca. As a coach, it can be tough watching a pitcher get hit around while the defense behind her gets its feet wet. It can be even tougher when it’s your daughter out there taking the heat.
“I have to give [sophomore pitcher] Brianna Hartman credit, too, because there were moments where we didn’t know what to do,” Doug Richardson said. “Rosie came in here with the goal to make everyone better. You see her coaching out there. She knows we are who we are. We have that good relationship where the mound visits are pretty normal, but there is a mental toughness that you need to have when you are playing Cherokee and every ball is put into play.”
The early losses were tough, but it made the Crusaders resilient.
“It definitely gets frustrating, but we always help each other out,” Rosie Richardson said. “Taking lumps is part of the game, especially with a new team. Next year is going to be better.”
Doug Richardson said he’s excited to work with the team in the offseason and be prepared for 2027. The Crusaders have zero seniors on their roster, so they anticipate an even bigger team and bigger goals.
“We got six wins this year, which is pretty darn good,” he said. “And next year, you put 10, 11 or 12 on the board and you start to build something and people start to talk about us. This is a great school, and it should be on people’s list to check out for softball.”
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