ST. MICHAELS — Kent County High School was one and done in the Class 1A state softball tournament, but certainly not for lack of effort.
In a back-and-forth first-round game in the East Region I bracket on May 8, the Trojans came out on the short end of a 19-13 decision at St. Michaels.
We anticipated a close game because just two weeks earlier, St. Michaels defeated host Kent County in another high-scoring contest, 19-16.
In the rematch, KCHS pulled ahead after batting in the top of the fifth inning, 6-4, only to have St. Michaels (7-13) regain the lead for good, 11-6, heading into the sixth.
Kent County errors and timely hitting by St. Michaels factored into the outcome.
“Remove the fielding errors and we could have won,” Kent County coach Michelle Phillips told The Evening Enterprise.
“The game was really good,” she said, and the Trojans played hard.
KCHS traveled with only 10 players — nine starters and one substitute — because of academic and prom-related commitments.
“I am very proud of the team,” Phillips said. “They pulled together when we were down players.”
Talicia Wright, Michelle Menequin, Paige Miller, Kate Cannon, Aaryona Wesley, Heather Bilbrough and Julie Dickerson produced at the plate.
Wesley drove in two runs with a double after St. Michaels intentionally walked Cannon to load the bases.
“Both teams hit,” Phillips said. “St. Michaels just made better plays at crucial times than we did.”
The Trojans finished 4-14 — that’s twice as many wins as last year — with a small squad of 12 players that included only three seniors, Bilbrough, Cannon and Miller.
Phillips told The Evening Enterprise that the May 8 game was her last as head softball coach at alma mater Kent County.
Assistant coach Katie Boardman is in line to succeed Phillips, who began her high school softball coaching career in 1992.
“It’s time,” Phillips said in an email.
“I’m sad to be leaving, but I know Coach Boardman will do a great job with the program,” Phillips said in the email.
When four-year varsity letter winners Paige Miller and Kate Cannon were freshmen, Phillips told them she would see them through.
“I kept my word to them to stay, and now I am keeping my word to leave,” Phillips said in the email to The Evening Enterprise. “I am blessed to have had the pleasure of coaching some great athletes and I will miss it, but it is time.”
Phillips [Class of 1984] paid tribute to her mentor, Mary Fisher, whom she credited with “showing me how to play the sport and also how to coach the sport.”
Fisher, who passed away last September, and Phillips are both members of Kent County High School’s athletic hall of fame. Phillips, who was a triple-threat athlete and has coached three sports at KCHS, was inducted with the inaugural hall of fame class in 2008.
Phillips started coaching softball in 1992 with the junior varsity program, while Fisher headed up the varsity program.
Phillips coached jayvee teams from ’92 through 2001, and then came back in 2017.
The following year, she stepped up as head coach of the varsity program and continued in that role up through the 2025 playoffs.
Phillips has been employed by Kent County Public Schools since 1990, beginning as an instructional assistant.
She’s a longtime staff member at Kent County High School, and in 2022 moved into the role of English teacher.
In 2024 she was the recipient of the Promising Young Educator Award, presented annually to an outstanding staff member in their first three years as a teacher in Kent County Public Schools.
Since joining KCPS she has earned two master’s degrees, and is currently pursuing a doctorate.
Phillips said she intends to continue coaching varsity volleyball in the fall at KCHS.
