Spring-Ford's Kern keeps them honest

Baserunners kept stealing on the Sting.

Megan Kern was 11 or 12 at the time, playing one of her two usual positions in the infield - shortstop or third base - for the Limerick-based softball team.

The Sting was her travel team back then - still is, as a matter of fact - and the squad was playing in a tournament behind the Boyertown YMCA. In the middle of the game, her coach, Lee Trythall, decided to do something.

He put Kern behind the plate.

Five years later, Trythall is still Kern's coach, and he hasn't had to worry about runners trying to advance on his team since.

Kern, now a junior for Spring-Ford, didn't own catcher's gear the first time she played the position but joked that after the initial exposure she went out and "bought it the next day." She ended up finishing out the tournament behind the plate and now is one of the most formidable catchers in the area, earning first-team all-state honors in her freshman and sophomore seasons.

"Turns out, it worked," Kern said in her usual self-deprecating manner.

This year, the lefty picked up right where she left off, batting .600 with 24 hits and 15 RBIs for the Rams (13-2).

"I've had a lot of good softball players in the last 20 years," Spring-Ford coach Tim Hughes said. "I can say this, she is probably the top one - best one I've had.

"She is a special kid. She is a special player. What makes her that way is her work ethic. She'll crash into a fence for the ball and never question it."

Kern's arm is so respected in the Pioneer Athletic Conference that opponents rarely try to steal on her. If they do chance it, Kern is likely to gun them out.

Batting second in the order, she has a swing so lethal that she seldom gets a good pitch to hit, often getting intentionally walked.

"I have very high expectations for myself," Kern said. "It is frustrating when you put all the hard work in and then you have a bad game because you know you can do better, you know you can perform."

When it comes to her performances, what sticks out the most is her penchant for coming through in the clutch. Last week, she hit a solo shot and scored both runs for her team in a pivotal 2-1 win over Pottsgrove.

"I like those situations - pressure situations," Kern said. "I like coming through for my team. I guess when I was younger, not really because I was not as confident in my swing, but the older I get, the more I see what I can do."

There's her bat, and there's her arm, but Kern says her biggest asset on the field is the "mental part" - how she understands the game, like the nuances of catching, calling pitches, communicating with her defenders and running the bases well.

It's something she developed long ago, she said, as she was taught to play all the positions at a young age by both her father, Todd, and Trythall.

Now, it looks as if it's paid off.