NORWALK—Like many softball players before her, Madelyn Yusi once stood out in the grassy area of right field, feeling not so great about her position.
“I know when I first started playing, I was in right field and I thought it was a punishment, that I can’t play or I’m not that good,” Yusi admitted. “I still think a lot of girls feel like that.”
Even after a few stints in the infield as a younger player, Yusi soon realized that right field was just as important a position as shortstop, or pitcher, or first base.
And now her chosen position is taking her college.
Back in October, Yusi, a senior at Norwalk High, verbally committed to take her softball talents to Wheaton College in Massachusetts.
“I just connected really well with the team, and I love the coach,” Yusi said. “It felt like my high school team, which was big for me. My high school team is a huge family and we’re all really close, and I wanted to have that with my college team, to have that bond.”
Yusi, one of Norwalk’s captains, has played multiple sports in her life, but softball became a passion.
She is following in the cleat marks of her mother, Stacey, a former Norwalk High pitcher who was known as Stacey Morrell in her playing days and posted 51 wins in her career as a Bear.
“My mom played when she was young and she pushed me to continue the sport when I was younger,” said Yusi, who wears No. 2 on her uniform because that was her mother’s number. “It’s just become such an important part of my life. I don’t feel that connection to any other sport like I do softball.”
Growing up in Norwalk, Yusi played from the Norwalk Zoomers and Norwalk Riptide before stepping up her travel game.
This past summer, she played with the Newtown-based CT Thunder Premier 18U team.
It was playing travel ball where she fell in love with playing right field and has shined in that position at Norwalk, where the Bears feature hard-throwing pitcher Maddie Collins in the circle.
“On any other team, she’d be a center fielder,” Norwalk coach Cary Nadel said. “With Maddie Collins pitching, I can count on one hand the number of balls that are pulled to left field, and you know how balls spin toward the line? Well, there is not a blade of grass that girl won’t dive on to make a catch.”
Yusi concurs with her coach’s scouting report.
“I love being out there running around,” Yusi said. “It’s my favorite thing to do. I love tracking down balls. And I’ve never been afraid to dive.”
Plus, she also has a weapon of an arm, Nadel said.
“She’s got a rocket for an arm,” the coach said. “Not only does she get to balls, but she can also throw it wherever it needs to go, as well.”
At the plate, Yusi reinvented herself a bit last season. She started the season hitting fifh in the lineup, according to Nadel, but midway through the Bears’ 11-9 campaign the coach moved her to the top of the lineup.
Yusi simply raised her average by more than a hundred points after the switch while focusing on getting on base instead of driving in runs.
“The kid is just extremely coachable,” Nadel said.
Nadel expects Yusi to be back at the lead-off spot this season—a campaign the Bears seniors are expecting to be special.
“Obviously, we’re hoping to win FCIACs. We want to make a huge run,” Yusi said. “Not a lot of people look toward Norwalk High sports, but we have incredible group of girls and we all really want it.”
Nadel things his group could surprise some people this spring, pointing to his senior class—and Collins who dealt with a leg injury through much of last spring.
Regardless of how the season ends for Norwalk, though, come fall Yusi will find herself in Norton, Mass., playing for the Lyons, who went 22-17 last season.
“I got in touch with their coach and said I had an outfielder for you,” Nadel said. “Knowing the personalities of both Maddy and Coach (Erin) Miller, I knew it’d be a perfect match.”
Just like right field wound up being the perfect position for Yusi, softball found her the perfect place to play at Wheaton.
And that’s all Maddy Yusi wants: Just to keep playing the game she loves for as long as she can.
(Editor’s Note: The Connecticut Softball Blog will be penning a series of stories about state players who have committed to play at the next level. If you are one of those players and would like to be featured, please reach out to our publisher via e-mail at jnash@ctsoftballblog.com).
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