by 
San Manuel Miners
For the past five years, the San Manuel softball program has been one of, and perhaps, the best small-school softball programs in the state, and it doesn’t appear to change now that the Lady Miners will have their third different head coach in the last three seasons.
Between 2012 and 2016, the Lady Miners won 21 games or more each season, played in three-straight (2013-15) State Championships games, winning two of them (2013 and 2014), in addition to reaching the playoffs all five seasons.
Legendary head coach Deanne Brewer led the Lady Miners’ programs for four of those years before Cindy Navarro took over last year. Now San Manuel alum Patty St. Jeor is ready to continue the program’s success.
“I want the players to have a successful, fun and enjoyable season,” St. Jeor told the Miner via email about her expectations for this season. “I want to strive for these young women to grow as a unit, and last but certainly not least, we all have our eyes on the prize.”
“The prize” could be defined as the Lady Miners’ third state title in six seasons. They certainly have a roster of experienced players that includes five seniors and four juniors, headlined by team captains Dionne Ruiz, a South Mountain Community College commit, and Nikki Baldenegro, a junior and three-year varsity player with a career .453 batting average.
Experience and talent figure to be the strengths of this year’s team, according to its new head coach.
“We have many returning starters, and the talent the team has is deep,” St. Jeor said. “Secondly, these ladies love what they do. I feel that if the players on the team didn’t have the passion for the game that they do, we would not have a successful softball program in San Manuel.”
St. Jeor, a state champion herself, added that the coaching staff assembled to coach her team “spans the decades of softball in San Manuel and the Cooper Corridor.”
What does St. Jeor’s team need to do each game to have success?
“I feel the athletes need to work as a single unit,” she answered. “They need to be able to overcome obstacles and move on as it were just a small bump in the road.”
“(They need) to have confidence in themselves as well as their teammates,” St. Jeor continued. “They need to be able to do what they do, and that is to play some fantastic softball.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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