OLD LYME—Lyme-Old Lyme softball coach Tim Gavin had heard the stories of this young pitcher who was coming up through the ranks of the youth program in town.
Once Gavin saw Emma Bayor in the flesh, however, he became a true believer.
For the past three-plus years, Bayor, a senior pitcher for the Lyme-Old Lyme Wildcats, has made her team an instant contender in every game she has played.
“I never saw her play in Little League, but I heard about her through the rumor mill,” said Gavin, whose brother-in-law is good friend’s with Bayor’s dad. “Then I saw her play some in the middle school and I knew she had some talent. That was my first inkling.”
From the moment Bayor set foot on the Lyme-Old Lyme softball field she became an impact player.
She shared some pitching time as a freshman, rising to the No. 1 slot by the end of the season.
Since then, the circle has been hers and the wins have far outnumbered the defeats for the tiny school located near where the Connecticut River meets the Long Island Sound.
“I mean honestly it’s exceeded my expectations,” Bayor said of her Lyme-Old Lyme career. “When I first got to high school, I didn’t know how everything would work, how the team would be at the high school level. But I got here, and all my teammates were so supportive of me. My sophomore year we made the state semifinals, and I never would have thought we could do that.”
It was about the same time that Bayor learned how to pitch. She had always been a hard thrower, but Gavin said she has learned how to be a pitcher and it has made all the difference.
“Initially she was a power pitcher, threw really hard,” Gavin said. “But as she pitched more and went to a pitching coach, she went from being a thrower to a pitcher.”
Bayor credits her pitching coach Lauren Person and travel coach Russ Senerchia, of the CT Charmers, with making her a better pitcher—not just by teaching her technique and different pitches, but helping to develop her mental game, as well.
“My pitching coach has always been good on the pitching side, but she’s even better on the mental side,” Bayor said. “Also, my travel coach, he’s calling my pitches, but his mental support has been great and he’ll always come out and talk me through it.”
It was part of Bayor’s maturation process as a pitcher, but it is something that she has carried into the dugout and beyond, as well.
Bayor has learned how to become a leader, according to her head coach.
“I knew she’d get better as a pitcher because she puts so much effort into it, but the thing that has impressed me the most is her maturity now outshines her pitching status,” Gavin said. “Pitching aside, I think she has matured into a better person and a better leader.”
With a young team behind her, that’s been such a key to the Wildcats’ success this season.
“It was a bit of a struggle when she was younger, but she’s a really good leader now,” Gavin said. “She works hard to include everybody, and she’ll carry the freshmen along if they make a mistake, even though she’s got all this pressure on her as a pitcher. That’s been especially key this season.”
Bayor said she learned from past Lyme-Old Lyme leaders and has just tried to replicate what she saw and took in as an underclassmen.
“When I was a freshman, I knew that when I was a junior and senior, I’d be the leader of the team,” Bayor said, “so I watched what the other juniors and seniors, did back then and I’ve tried to implement the good from all that to help my teammates.”
Whether she is on the mound or at the plate, Bayor is putting up some pretty gaudy numbers in her final high school season.
In the circle, through 15 games, Bayor has given up just 11 earned runs all season—which is good for a 0.90 earned run average. In 85 innings pitched, she has 166 strikeouts and just 29 walks while giving up 32 hits and 18 runs total. In her career, Bayor has struck out 666 batters.
At the plate, Bayor is hitting .475 in 56 plate appearances. She has three home runs, 16 RBIs and scored 22 times while posting a .643 on base percentage and an .842 slugging percentage.
Against Morgan last week, she recorded two hits—her 100th and 101st of her career.
Given her druthers, and no matter how good those offensive numbers might be, Bayor will always consider herself a pitcher first and foremost.
“I definitely enjoy pitching more,” she said. “I just feel more involved in the game when I’m pitching, when I touch the ball before every play. When I’m hitting, there is only so much I can do at a certain time.”
Upon graduating this spring, Bayor will take her talents to Division I Marist and play for the Red Foxes starting in the fall.
“When I was talking to the coaching staff, they were so nice and welcoming and the kindest people I’ve ever met,” Bayor said. “They make you want to play for them. How they interact with current players, I’ve been to a few games, but it’s an environment I want to be in, and I felt at home there.”
Marist also features a strong medical program for Bayor to go after her degree and she hopes, enter the medical field as a career.
Already, she is a licensed EMT in her hometown.
“I’ve always been interested in the medical field,” she said. “Being an EMT really helps your community. It’s definitely crazy and I’ve seen things I never thought I’d see, but I had a lot of really good preparation. It was a little shocking at first, but I try to focus on the fact I’m helping people.”
The kid who was thrown into a plethora of sports as a youngster, focused in on softball just as she’s now focusing in on a career beyond both high school and college.
But as she looks back on her Wildcat career, and her remaining goals in her final days as a Lyme-Old Lyme softball player, Bayor is excited for what lies ahead.
“At the very beginning, I played right field,” she said. “I remember being 9 and starting to pitch and I couldn’t throw strikes. Then once I could throw strikes, I was like this is fun and I just started to focus myself on getting better. Pitching in middle school was such a different experience and then suddenly I’m pitching in playoff games (in high school), and I was terrified. “
Yet Bayor has shined in so many moments for her school.
And, as her coach will attest, the rumor of Emma Bayor has proven to be as true as advertised.
(Cover photo of Emma Bayor is by Ashley Bendineli)
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