Racers Get it Done on D

***On August 22 Kelley Montalvo won 2012 NPF CO-Defensive Player of the Year, sharing the honor with Amber Patton

     The Racers are blessed with a great defensive team and no matter how good they are there are two players that stand out on a daily basis, Kelley Montalvo and Lisa Modglin. Kelley locks down the hot corner, making the left side of the infield a rough road to travel if getting on base is your objective. Lisa, the 2010 Defensive Player of the Year, is the general in center, prowling the middle of the outfield like Northeast Ohio hasn't seen since Kenny Lofton! These ladies aren't the biggest, most imposing people on the field, but you're not gonna find someone with a bigger heart and more driven towards excellence! They aren't satisfied to make the routine plays, they pride themselves in sticking out, putting their bodies on the line for the outstanding plays, the plays that bring the crowd to their feet, the plays that separate them from good defensive players...

Kelley Montalvo and Lisa Modglin

"Every pitch, and I'm not lying to you, I want the ball!" as Kelley explains her thought process on defense, "I know it sounds bad but I want the ball every time, and when it gets hit to me I'm like YES!" It's obvious that Kelley gets wide-eyed when the ball is hit her way, she goes out of her way to make a stop in foul territory! "You know what, let me tell ya," as Kelly gets excited just talking about defense, "we always preach that hitting is something you have to work on. Defense I feel like should come natural." Kelley thrives on playing with that untouchable type swag. "I think it helps when you have that confidence in there, you feel like you're gonna make the next play every single time!"

Batting 9th it may be easy to overlook Kelley at the plate, and standing at 5 foot nothing its in all practicality pretty easy to overlook her at 3rd. Lisa Modglin is also vertically challenged but not one bit less competitive! Despite her small physique and sweetheart demeanor, she breaks lots of hearts in center! Lisa, like Monty, has a knack for making the eye-popping plays. In one game a few series ago Lisa made not one...but TWO home run robbing play at the fence, toppling over Firestone Stadiums semi-sturdy fence! On one of those robberies she actually got up in an instance and hit the cut off man who gunned a runner down at home for the out! The runner was actually spared and asked to return to the 3rd because the ball had technically been ruled dead because Lisa went out of play over the fence. Had it not been for that loophole the runner was dead meat from outside the field of play!

Lisa, who easily could be considered the best defensive center fielder in the game without any argument, takes great pride in being so defensive minded. "That's what I pride myself most on, is making all the plays and trying to be really clean on defense. Defense is really important in the outfield because if we don't get it its going to the fence." One of the most exciting parts of her game is that Lisa isn't afraid to make the great plays that require a certain degree of risk. Where most players may be afraid to make an aggressive error that could be costly, Lisa isn't willing to not take that chance and let an opportunity to make that play every single time! There isn't a ball that gets hit to center that Lisa isn't going to give 100% to get, and if it's within body length, you best believe she's leaving her feet!

As the smallest player in the league, it seems Kelley is always leaving her feet! She's OK with that however because it just fuels her fire! "Absolutely. Especially when they think I can't get to some balls, makes me want to prove I can even more.' Monty explains when asked about her size and if she can use that to her advantage. "When certain pitchers are pitching that means you're gonna get the ball more, like Bach or Thor. Since they're drop ball pitchers you're gonna get a ground ball or two. Since the height has such a disadvantage sometimes in this game I have to prove myself that much more." We already know what Kelley lacks in size she makes up with heart, but she also uses a high athletic ans softball IQ. She always knows where to go with the ball, she always has option one then two ready to fire off if and when she gets the ball. There's never any hesitation. Without a doubt that is attributed to her high intelligence, years of perfect practice and unwavering confidence in herself and her ability!

Beyond the actual implementing of great defense these ladies are both big time leaders on the team! You always hear them both encouraging and chatting it up in the field. Through my observation Lisa is the biggest cheerleader on the team, it never fails in good or bad shes always there to lift her team up. I asked her if she considers herself the team leader or if the team does, even though it's obvious she is, even if unintentionally, she answered rather humbly. "I think in some ways they do because I do try to talk a lot. Some people prepare themselves differently, some people are quieter and some people talk more. For me its calms me down to talk a lot, so I'd rather talk all the time so I don't get in my own head."

Even though perfection is though to be impossible to obtain, don't tell these ladies! They both strive for perfection and aren't happy with anything less! When I asked Kelley is she strives for perfection this is how she answered. "Absolutely, and its weird you say that because I tell everyone every game, even the coaches, I tell them I do not want to make an error all season. I think I may have one or two but I shake it and I say no more after that. So that's my goal til the end of the season, to be perfect, clean and make the plays I can. Especially the plays people think you can't make, those are the plays I really want to make! The spectacular ones, like 'oh that's a hit', I wanna take those away." 

Lisa and Kelley both aren't the type of player to settle for average, or regular. They both set out to do their job the best they know how first, then set the bar higher for themselves. Lisa wants to save runs, if it's anywhere within reach she's taking runs away, no matter if she needs to go through a fence! Kelley doesn't want a hit anywhere down the 3rd base line, and if there's runners on shes trying to get more then one out! But don't take my word for it, come out and watch the passion they play with, watch the ESPN Top 10 plays happen right in front of your eyes. I promise you'll fall in love with numbers 22 and 10 without them ever coming to the plate...