Profile – Meghan Rowlands Zuercher
Meghan Rowlands came to our Lasers tryout in August of 1997 when she was moving up to 16+U as a going to be 15 year old the next summer. She had played for the Columbus Bishop Ready team where she was going to school. She says that they were like a rec team that played during the week and maybe some tournaments. She played for our Lasers 16+U team for 2 years in 1998 and 1999. Then she played for 3 years for our Lasers 18+U teams in 2000, 2001, and 2002. She was able to do that because ASA changed the birthdate deadline in 2000 so that she was again considered a 16 year old whenshe was playing her first year of 18+U for us (without the birthdate change, she would have been considered a 17 year old). After she graduated from Columbus Bishop Ready high school in 2001, Meghan went on to play softball at Ohio State where she ended up being captain in 2005.
Meghan had two sisters who played for the Lasers. Annie started playing for the Lasers as a 9+U in 1999. Katie started playing for the Lasers as a 13+U in 1999. Annie went on to play softball at Kentucky. Katie went on to play soccer at Kentucky. Meghan had a brother, Tommy, who wrestled for Ohio State and was the national heavyweight champion in college; he just missed making the USA Olympic team.
The records of the Lasers teams that Meghan played for each year and some of her batting informationare as follows:
1998 – 28-9 – record / .414 – batting average (she had the second best batting average on the team)
1999 – 28-8 – record / .366 – batting average / 4 home runs
2000 – 55-17 – record / .354 – batting average / 4 home runs / 13 triples / 4 doubles /
2001 – 25-11 – record / .279 – batting average / 3 home runs / 1 triple / 3 doubles
2002 – 40-8 – record / ?
Our 2002 team did not turn in batting averages, but the players (including Meghan) probably had good ones because of how well they did. They had their best winning percentage for all 5 years that Meghan played for the Lasers. In 2001 it looks like Meghan was in a little slump compared to the other years (perhaps they played better competition because the other players had lower ones, as well).
Our 2002 team placed 25th at ASA/USA Nationals. Our 2001 team placed 65th. Our 2000 team placed 1st at ASA/USA Eastern Nationals, but we had Meghan go play for our other 18+U team that went to the ASA/USA 18+U GOLD Nationals where they placed 33rd(I think Meghan got to hit off Cat Osterman)
I remember coaching Meghan one summer. An Ohio State coach was watching our team a lot. She told me that Meghan was the number one player in Ohio that they wanted. Meghan ended up going there. Ohio State got her, and she got to go to Ohio State.
Meghan played high school softball for Columbus Bishop Ready. I remember going to one of her high school practices to watch her and some other players. She was mostly a shortstop. She played shortstop and third base for us. She played outfield for Ohio State.
Meghan was fast and a power hitter.Here are some of her times in running and throwing, and her throwing speed. I clocked her in running from home to first at 2.61 in 1998, at 2.69 in 1999, and at 2.57 in 2000. I clocked her at 11.96 for runninghome to home in 1999. I clocked her at 1.39 in quickness on getting bunts and throwing to first base in 1998. I recorded her throwing speed as 57 mph in 1999. Some of these probably improved, but I don’t have records of what they were after these years.
I remember seeing Meghan hit a home run at Sluggerfest in Cincinnati. We were playing on a men’s slowpitch field at Rumpke Park that had a fence that was at least 300 feet from home plate. Meghan hit a line drive toward center field that kept elevating. You could tell that it was a great hit when it left the bat. The centerfielder took off when the ball was hit; she could tell that it was going over her head. The ball probably only bounced a couple times before it got to the fence or near it. Meghan easily made it around the bases for a home run (I think Meghan made it home before the centerfielder got to the ball or threw the ball toward home).
I remember a time when I gave Meghan the bunt sign with a runner on base. She missed getting the bunt down (even though she was a good bunter). It looked like I gave her the same bunt sign again even though I did not), and the other team thought we were bunting again. The third baseman was in for the bunt, and the leftfielder was in. Meghan hit a hard grounder down the third base line. It got by the third baseman and the left fielder for a home run.
I remember when she played for us and we were at a tournament in the Columbus area. I visited her home between games. Her family showed me theirworkout area in the basement. It had a weightlifting machine and other things. That is probably part of the reason for the success of Meghan and her sisters and her brother. Also between games at a tournament near her house, our team went to her house and we played whiffleball. She got out the whiffle bat and whiffle ball and some bases; and we divided into two teams and competed in something like a “softball” game. It was fun. Her family seemed to do that often and enjoyed it. That might also be part of the reason for the success of Meghan. She better understood the game and enjoyed the game of softball from playing whiffle ball.
Meghan’s parents, Tom and Cindi, (as mentioned in a newspaper article), “constantly preached the value of work ethic and setting goals. But having fun and keeping perspective was in the mix, as well.” Tom would tell Meghan and her siblings this story, “Every day a little bird sits on a telephone wire. He wakes up. He’s got to get a stick for his nest, a worm for his belly, and he has to be faster than the cat. Now he can whistle any tune he wants and he can sit on a different branch to get a different view of the world. But the drudgery is he has to get up, and get that stick and that worm and stay ahead of the cat.” He explained the point of the story by saying to them, “You guys have some obligations, some things that have to be done. You might as well be happy doing them.” One of Tom’s favorite sayings to his children is that “No matter what happens, you can always come home for Thanksgiving Dinner.”
Here is what is on the internet about Meghan. Ninth-yearHartley head coach Meghan (Rowlands) Zuercher is not a new-comer to the Columbus area nor the Central Catholic League. After graduating from Bishop Ready in 2001, Zuercher went on to play centerfield for The Ohio State Buckeyes from 2001-2005, serving as team captain in her senior year. Zuercher was an assistant coach at Bishop Ready in 2006 and at Dublin Coffman in 2007. Coach Zuercher's first season as the Bishop Hartley head coach was in 2008. She taught American Literature for five years at Bishop Hartley and currently serves as the School Administrative Manager. She and her husband, Brian, live inHilliard with their two children and are expecting a third in April.Outside of Hartley Softball, Zuercher has worked winter and summer camps and clinics for The Ohio State Buckeyes, The Kentucky Wildcats, The Ohio Lasers, and also Hartley's youth softball program, The Hawks Softball Club. In 2016,Zuercher expects the Hawks to progress from last year's 22-7 season, returning eight of nine starters.
Meghan has coached some of our Lasers players who were on her high school team. Anna Kirk (2013) went on to play for Ohio State. Sidney Melton (2014) went on to play for Louisville, Kentucky. She has had other players who have gone on to play college softball or will.
In eight years as head coach, Zuercher has had eight players earn Div. 1 or 2 softball scholarships:
Kelly Trace (2008): Gannon
Emily Davis (2013) Urbana
Anna Kirk (2013) Ohio State
Cassie Plageman (2014) Bowling Green
Sideny Melton (2014) Louisville
Mariah Rock (2014) Walsh
Maria Cegledy (2016) Kent State
Lexi van Ooyen (2016) Lehigh
Meghan has often had former Ohio State players help coach and help train her high school players and future high school players when they are younger. They are getting great coaching and great training from Meghan and others with great experiences in softball. The results are showing.
I asked Meghan to share some comments. The rest of this profile is what she has to say.
On Bishop Ready:
Playing for Nick Joseph at Bishop Ready waseasily one of the great blessings of my childhood and adolescence. He and his staff shaped me as a young lady and encouraged me to dream big.Coach Joseph led by example withhumility and consistency. I am so blessed to have had his support and mentoring for so many years, and I still call him for advice as a grown woman when it comes to coaching my own team. He has been a great influence on my life.
On The Lasers:
Making the move to play with the Lasers organization was the single most important decision in my softball career. Jeff Cavanaugh and all the coaches within the Lasers organization put me in the best possible situation for success.Because I was around other talented players, I had to improvemywork ethic and learn to perform when it mattered in order to compete at a higher level. Brushing shoulders with great players -both on my team and on opposing teams -motivated me to challenge myself like I had never been challenged.
Because I had never been on a travel team up until I joined the Lasers as a 14 year old, my parents and I didn't know much about the culture, or the caliber, of different teams. I simply lucked into working with a coach like Jeff Cavanaugh and being a part of the organization. I remember well my dad and I seeing the Lasers playat a softball field in the summer after my 8th grade year. My dad could obviously tell they were more dominant than other teams. We were watching what was then the Lasers "Green team", and I remember watching Kate Leary fire the ball in to thecatcher faster than I had ever seen any pitcher do so. I rememberappreciating and envying all the energy, excitement, and confidencethat that team played with.I wanted to be on a team like that. I could tell my dad thought I could do so. I remember him asking a man about the team and how to get on it. Jack Eneix, father of now head coach for Pickerington Central Carrie Eneix, answered our questions and told us about the tryout. We went. I made the team, thank goodness. Like I said, the move to play with the Lasers was the single most important decision in my softball career. "Thanks for looking out, Dad."
The summers playing with the Lasers are some of the best memories of my adolescence. Having teammates all over Ohio and visiting their homes before and after tournaments and practices, spending hoursat ball fields with all the families in the organization, and sharing the excitement of "the next step" -getting recruited and moving on to our college careers- are all very special memories to me. I've lost touch with some of my former teammates. Some I've kept very strong friendships with, but I can say that whether we remain in close contact or not, those memories and experiences give us all -and our families -a unique and lasting connection that will be forever.
On Coaching at Bishop Hartley:
I never expected to find such fulfillment in coaching. I truly could not have anticipated the joy that coaching and mentoring young kids brings to my life. I am convinced that my extremely positive experience with coaching thus far in my career is in large part due to WHERE I am coaching -at Columbus Bishop Hartley. The administration supports athletics and has given me a platform for success. The community that has been built up around our softball program in the past decade is tremendously supportive and involved. I love Bishop Ready, and it will always have a piece of my heart, but I bleed red and blue for Bishop Hartley. That place and those kids and families have become a huge part of my life. Even in starting my own family in that time period, the community has become even more supportive. I am fortunate that our kids' parents -even our alumni parents -still come back to do field work, fundraising, youth softball development. It is a special place where some very impressive young ladies have tied up their cleats and grown up before my eyes.
On Strength and Conditioning:
I greatly value strength and conditioning for team preparation. We do it and we do it well at Bishop Hartley for a few reasons: 1) - to improve performance, 2) - to bond the kids closely together, 3) - to help prevent injury, and 4) - tocreateconfidence.
There is something to be said about a team who sweats together, perhapseven to the point ofboth physical AND mental fatigue. Being at the point of exhaustion with your teammates, knowing you are working for something bigger than yourself, helps bring the group together. We also believe that working hard -on every part of your game, physical strength and agility included -givesa player more confidence than she otherwise would have if she didn't do it. Confidence is everything when you step on the softball field. Lastly, injury is unpredictable and season-changing fora team. If we can help minimize our chances for injury as a team by working out consistently, we are going to do just that.
For individuals, being the stronger, faster player is always going to help your performance and also yourchances of getting recruited. I looked up to my brother so much as a kid. I just tried to do everything he did, within reason, of course! I wasn't going to do the wrestling practice, but I could tag along for the workouts. We lifted together, jumped rope, etc. If he was doing it, I was trying to do it. Working out was a HUGE part of my early success. All I did was what my brother did. It worked well for him. I figured it would for me! My power and size were God-given, but I was able to increase performance and perhaps even compensate for a lack of softball skill in some areas by being a strong, fast athlete because of my workout regimen.
Below is a picture of Meghan and her husband and two children.
Thanks for reading this. I hope it helps you.