Holy Redeemer first baseman/pitcher Zoe Pecuch has provided leadership to a young team this season. BILL TARUTIS / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
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Holy Redeemer first baseman/pitcher Zoe Pecuch has provided leadership to a young team this season. BILL TARUTIS / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
WILKES-BARRE – She was hooked at an early age.
Ask Zoe Pecuch when she started to play softball, and the Holy Redeemer senior can’t give you a specific date. All she can remember is her father introducing her to the sport.
Now, ask her when she was hooked on the sport, and that’s an easy answer.
She was a member of Walsh Tool in the Wilkes-Barre Girls’ Softball League. The year was 2017, and it was a coach-pitch league. Pecuch’s team won the league and tournament championship. She remembers the emotions and joy of winning that title, even at a young age.
“That was my first-ever moment where I was like, this is the sport for me because I love it,” she said.
Today, Pecuch is one of the top players in District 2 where she’s hoping to help Holy Redeemer defend its District 2 Class 2A championship.
The Royals will start their defense of the title Tuesday as the No. 3 seed in the bracket. Win Tuesday, and a possible semifinal with Dunmore is waiting Thursday.
“It will be fun. I am hoping to win another district championship, and I have high hopes that we can get it done again,” she said “It looks like we are going to play Dunmore again, and it’s going to be a pretty big game for us.”
Pecuch is the type of player a coach dreams of.
She’s a leader; a captain that Holy Redeemer needed entering the 2026 season after losing four key seniors off that championship team.
The Royals were going to be young, starting several freshmen – including Covington Lehman at shortstop and Ava Thomas in the circle.
Add to it a daunting opening schedule that included Valley View, Pittston Area, Holy Cross and Lake-Lehman in the opening five games as the Royals started off the season at 2-5.
The senior leader knew she needed her voice, knew she needed to be the calming presence that kept everyone plugging toward the ultimate goal of winning a district championship.
“I just kept drilling in that we were young, and like the other Redeemer programs, we will continue to get better as the season went along,” she said. “We just had to put in the work, and we have improved in so many different ways from the beginning of the season. I knew, from the start, it was going to be rough because we played a lot of good teams early. But that’s good because it humbles you and shows us where we need to work.”
Now, add to it Pecuch had a little extra pressure on her.
She was coming off a junior year where she hit .545 with 33 runs, 36 hits and 29 RBIs — team bests in runs and RBIs.
Pecuch was rewarded for her hard work with a Class 2A all-state honor.
“Last year was my favorite season of my life. Hitting, defensively, everything just kind of went my way,” she said. “Obviously, I worked really hard for it, and I worked for it in the offseason. I was coming off a good summer season of travel ball. It was a great feeling and I was so happy with everything I accomplished. It meant that all my hard work paid off, and it was a great recognition that other people were also seeing my potential and talent.”
As a senior, there was no hiding that talent. Everyone knew who she was, and what she was all about.
But with that also came additional expectations from the outside.
“Honestly, I did feel the pressure. At the beginning of the season, I was thinking when I was in the batter’s box that I had to hit the ball because people were going to expect you to hit it hard. And when you fail, people will notice it. I knew people were going to view me differently after being named all-state. I always had it in the back of my mind,” she said.
The pressure never got to her. Instead, she continued to excel.
Pecuch recently picked up her 100th career hit, and is leading the Royals with a .480 average and team bests in hits (24) and runs (17).
“I just think to myself that the all-state honor was last year, and this is a completely-new season. Obviously, I am shooting for all-state again, and hopefully, I will achieve it. It’s a new season, anything can happen. I have more things to prove. I feel like I am not done yet,” she said.
She understands that her softball career is winding down.
Pecuch had a tough decision to make: Continue her softball career in college or begin to focus on her future career.
Plus, it was always her dream to attend Coastal Carolina University.
Her career path won out.
“I am going to try to walk on at Coastal Carolina. If not, I will play for their club team,” Pecuch said. “It was a hard decision. Coastal has been my dream school since I was in eighth grade, and I know I want to major in marine biology and become a veterinarian. Not many schools have my major or the track I want to be on. So I had a pretty small selection. I had to put my career first, and put the softball in the background. And it was a tough decision because softball is what I have known for my entire life. I don’t know life without softball.”
But what she will always have is the memories from playing at Holy Redeemer.
Memories from a special career that last a lifetime.
“The bond between the girls is like a lifetime family connection. Everyone gets along well. Most of my team, I’ve played with them since I was 10. It was great that I got to ride it out with them,” she said.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.citizensvoice.com ’
