The senior-laden, well-rounded Bangor Christian softball team was all smiles before practice Monday afternoon.

And no wonder. The Class D Patriots have won nine straight games, including games this weekend against Southern Aroostook of Dyer Brook and Class C Searsport, and picked up a big win over Class C Dexter last week.

Now, Bangor Christian, which has eight seniors on its roster, is facing a tough stretch the rest of this week. The 9-2 Patriots will face Dexter and Lee, which beat them in the second game of the year, at the end of the week.

Neither seniors Amber Leathers and Megan Mishou, nor coach Robert Leathers, could pinpoint one area that has stood out for the Patriots this year.

Rather, their top-to-bottom hitting, solid defense, two strong pitchers, eight seniors and team confidence have all been strong.

“Their attitude is just phenomenal,” said second-year coach Robert Leathers, who is Amber Leathers’ father. “… We try to build each other up on the field and support each other, and I really think that’s the key.”

Last week’s 5-4 win over Dexter – thanks to Jen Hutchins who scored the winning run in the eighth inning – was a true confidence builder.

“We had heard that they beat Lee and had a close game with Central,” said Amber Leathers, who is a catcher. “So after that we were thinking, OK, we’ve got to beat them. And when we did it we thought, we really can do this.”

It was also a good win for the Patriots, pitcher Mishou said, because even though their hitting was a bit off they had no errors. Dexter outhit BC 6-5 but committed six errors.

Leathers leads the Patriots with a .485 batting average, but different players have helped out with the offense at different times. First baseman Cala Dearborn, center fielder Hutchins, third baseman Christin Pelletier, shortstop Kelly Miller and right fielder Aimee Sargent all came through with big hits in recent games. Left fielder Brooke Hale and second baseman Amerie Hussey have also been solid.

The same depth exists at the pitcher position.

Mishou tossed a 1-hitter with 10 strikeouts and was backed by perfect defense in the 12-0 win over Searsport. Jillian French pitched the win over Dexter.

“We have confidence in both of our pitchers,” Robert Leathers said. “Megan’s a senior and Jillian’s a sophomore and they’ve both been very successful. They both bring it pretty well.”

The Patriots will close out the season against Central of Corinth on Tuesday, May 30. The Red Devils won the first matchup 5-0 in what happened to be Bangor Christian’s season opener.

The Pats are eager for another shot at Central, and this time they’ll be home.

“It’ll be good competition at the end to get ready for the playoffs,” Mishou said. “… [The loss] was our first game playing together. We’ve improved so much since then.”

Sports Done Right expands

University of Maine’s Sports Done Right program has had a lot of attention since it was released in January 2005.

For the first time, Sports Done Right will be included in another state’s curriculum for coaches’ certification.

The Georgia High School Association recently adopted “Sports Done Right: A Call to Action on Behalf of Maine Student-Athletes” as a textbook for training community coaches starting this summer.

Sports Done Right, a federally funded program based at the University of Maine’s Center for Sport and Coaching, seeks to define healthy interscholastic and community sports programs. The report was released on Jan. 6, 2005.

Beginning this summer the GHSA, which oversees high school sports in Georgia, will use the Sports Done Right report to supplement Coaching Principles, one of two required courses for individuals seeking community coaching, or non-faculty, certification.

An average of 1,000 participants in Georgia take the community coaching eligibility course every year. The GHSA will purchase 2,000 copies of the report.

More than 40 states as well as Canada and the United Kingdom have requested a copy of the Sports Done Right report. There are school pilot sites in Maine and more than 250 Maine communities have talked about or used Sports Done Right in some form.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.