Bou could be big piece for North Penn

North Penn softball coach Rick Torresani wanted to get a better idea of just what the newest member of his team was bringing to the table.

So Torresani asked North Penn baseball assistant Frank Yanni to get some video and break down transfer Kariam Bou’s swing. The feedback was quite surprising.

“He came back to me and said ‘Rick, we don’t have a kid on the baseball team that has a swing like hers,’” Torresani said. “He said that she’s just amazing. Then he showed me the swing and had all the angles on the swing and said it’s a perfect a swing and ‘I wish I could get my guys to do it.’”

Bou, a junior, hails from Puerto Rico and brings a very unique experience as she joins the Maidens this spring. The 16-year-old has a long history of playing baseball but is still relatively new to softball, having played the game for roughly three years.

Add in that’ll she’ll be playing a brand new position at third base this spring and it’s fair to think there will be an adjustment period. But there’s a lot of talent and potential with the import and if she can start to crack through and realize on it, North Penn may really have something.

Bou first started playing baseball when she was four, advancing up through the age brackets and continuing to play even into this past summer, all while starting to learn the nuances of softball. Needless to say, there’s been a lot of adjusting.

“I like the team and I like the coaches, I’m just getting used to all of it, it’s cold here,” Bou said after a scrimmage with Abington on a windy and chilly day last week. “It’s not like Puerto Rico. But I like it.”

This isn’t Bou’s first year in the United States. She played softball for Ridge Community High School in Florida last year in centerfield. Her family moved to Lansdale in the fall when her parents found work in the area and she transferred in at North Penn.

Despite speaking Spanish as a first language, Bou’s English is good and her teammates have been patient explaining any misunderstandings. She said the language is still the toughest thing to get a handle on, with the cold weather a firm second. Torresani said the rest of his players have really taken to Bou, helping her feel more at home on the field and in school.

“I think by halfway or even a quarter of the way through the season, you’re going to see a great player,” Torresani said. “You can see in her attitude that she knows the game. That’s the first thing I picked up was her confidence in the game but if she made a mistake or an error, she didn’t put her head down, it was ‘Coach, I’ll be ok.’”

Starting as a youth baseball player at four years old in Puerto Rico, Bou had quite a decorated run, winning several MVP awards for her age group and a couple of Golden Gloves as a firstbaseman. Her hitting was always a strength, being named the top hitter for her league numerous times but she could also baffle hitters as a pitcher.

“I was 12 and I was a pitcher,” Bou said. “I pitched against the Dominican Republic, three innings and they could only hit me for one hit. It was a good game.”

That carried through even into last summer when Bou was the only girl on a select team, which she said was like a U18 team, which played against similar squads from other countries. In a game against a team from France, Bou used her curveball to great effect to pick up the save.

“I was the only girl in the entire tournament,” Bou said. “It was really good, everyone is looking at you like ‘oh, it’s a girl and she’s pitching! She can play!’ It’s fun, it’s like I say, just do your work and play and no matter who you are, just play.

“It’s funny because on their face it’s like ‘she just threw that, she can throw a curve. She just struck me out!’ It’s funny, just seeing their faces and everything. It’s actually a good curve.”

Bou has plenty of confidence in herself and her ability but she also knows there’s always something she can do better. There have been a few moments this spring where that potential shows itself.

“We were taking batting practice and there was a pitch right down the middle and she let it go so I told her you should have sent that to Puerto Rico,” Torresani said. “The next pitch, it’s the exact same pitch, she puts it 20 feet over the fence and as she’s rounding second she says ‘Coach, it’s in Puerto Rico.’ That’s the kind of kid she is, a different kid might have taken what I said wrong but she took it as a joke and we were laughing. She’s a great kid and it has a lot to do with her parents, they’re really good people.”

Bou’s hope is to play well enough to earn a college scholarship, but her immediate goals are just to help North Penn win and continue improving as a softball player.

“All I want is to do my work and have fun,” Bou said.