FAIRFIELD—It only seems right that the Morgan Teodosio’s last season as a softball player would begin on Valentine’s Day.
That’s how much Teodosio, a senior tri-captain and outfielder at Sacred Heart University, loves the game.
It’s how much she loves the dirt and the grass, the dugout and the sky. It’s how much she loves the grip of her bat in her hand, the feel of her fingers sliding into her glove, the feel of a yellow ball grasped in her palm. It’s how much she loves her teammates.
And it’s how much Teodosio loves the Sacred Heart University softball program she has been a part of for the last three years.
So, at 12:30 p.m., on Friday, Feb. 14, in a town called Boiling Springs, N.C., Teodosio will step to the plate for the first time in a season for the last time.
“It’s very bittersweet, of course,” Teodosio said. “It’s my last year playing softball.”
From her days growing up in Ansonia and picking up that bat and ball for the first time, to this last run, the memories have piled up on top of each other, practice by practice, game by game, season after season.
Wins. Losses. Cheers. Tears. Friendship. Sisterhood.
That is Morgan Teodosio’s softball journey.
The game has given Teodosio every imaginable emotion, including the finality of one last approaching season.
And the memories?
There are just too many to mention.
“I have too many,” she said. “I don’t know. It’s so hard to pick. There are just so many memories with all my teammates.”
She became an outfielder and embraced it.
“I love the outfield and seeing everything that is happening out on the field,” she said. “It just clicked for me. I just enjoying doing whatever I can to help the team win.”
The fact she’s a captain for this final season means everything, however.
“It’s an honor, of course,” she said. “It means my coaches and teammates trust me to lead and support to and keep building a culture, and team unity.”
As far as Teodosio is concerned, she only needs to look at past SHU captains as a path to lead the way.
“I always look at the previous leaders on the team and they always set the standard high,” she said. “We want to push each other, stay mentally tough, create a culture to create a strong team. And, of course, our main goal is to compete at highest level and put ourselves in a position to win a championship.”
It’s a new-look season for Sacred Heart. The Pioneers have joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, after leaving the Northeast Conference behind.
Three seniors—Teodosio along with Cayla Nista and Carly Koltok—dot the SHU roster, so the 2025 edition of Pioneer softball is a young team.
Two juniors—pitchers Emily Heath and Sam Kowalski —earned the tri-captaincy alongside the lone senior captain.
“We’re really close,” Teodosio said. “Honestly, we work really well together.”
Sacred Heart University head coach Pam London knows exactly what she’s getting from her senior captain.
“Morgan definitely brings a competitive fire,” said London, who begins her 37th season with the SHU program. “She hates to lose. That’s a really good thing. She’s not afraid to speak her mind and drive people and hold people accountable. That’s important for a captain. She also as a strong loyalty to the program. She loves being an SHU softball player.”
Truth is Teodosio loves being a softball player.
She grew up surrounded by people who could swing a bat and had the knack to make it strike a ball.
Her dad played baseball at the University of New Haven.
Her cousin—her dad’s brother’s son—is Bryce Teodosio, who saw 12 at-bats last season with the Los Angeles Angels in Major League Baseball.
“Softball has a special place in my heart,” she said. “I come from a family that is very athletic. My dad played, my cousin is in the MLB. We’re a big sports family. But, it means more than just a sport.”
She grew up in Ansonia and started playing softball at a young age.
Soon, she joined the Seymour Tradition travel program and later played for the CT Charmers and, after committing to SHU, the CT Eliminators, as well.
In high school, at Seymour High, she won a state championship for Ken Pereiras, a coach she admits changed her life.
“He was a great leader, and he showed me what a leader is,” Teodosio said. “He’s just a great person, all-around.”
While she learned about family and commitment at Seymour, and it 100 percent carried over to the SHU program, the Pioneers taught her something more.
“We’re really big on what the front of our jersey means to us,” Teodosio said. “It’s about representing something that is bigger than yourself. It means committing to excellence, whether it’s in the weight room, a practice, in a game, or beyond the game itself. It’s always about embracing the sisterhood within the team.”
Again, so much of which she learned as a Seymour softball player.
“I mean coming off a state championship and the legacy of that,” she said. “You always have a family by your side.”
If Teodosio could meet up with that Seymour High senior who walked off the field that day with a future at SHU in her line of sight, what would she say?
Just relax and enjoy the ride, Teodosio said. It is over much too quickly.
She grew up playing soccer, basketball and softball.
Soccer started to slip away when she was 12 or so. Basketball she played until her senior year in high school.
Softball, however, meant something to her.
“The game just stays with you forever,” Teodosio said. “It’s the love of the game. That’s my motto, honestly.”
She wonders how she can walk away from it. Truth be told, she knows she can’t. So, she hopes to give back.
“I definitely want to stay involved,” she said. “I want to give back to this community, and make a positive impact, whether that’s volunteering to a local program, giving back, mentoring young players.”
The Sacred Heart program has helped to mentor the Trumbull Little League Softball players and Teodosio can see the enjoyment and passion in the eyes of the players who make up the future of the game.
“I want to grow the game and inspire the next generation,” she said.
She will graduate from a Sacred Heart University this spring with a finance major and a minor in sports management.
She plans on attending graduate school as she figures out her future away from the game.
“I need to get my feet wet and see what I like,” she said of her professional future.
As her softball career winds to a close, she only wants what is best for the Pioneers.
London knows her senior captain will lead the team in that direction.
“Throughout the years, she’s always been learning from the leaders who came before her,” London said. “She has a lot of those same qualities. She doesn’t shy away from standing up for what she feels is right. She’s always got everybody’s’ back.”
And she loves the game more than anybody knows.
So, on Valentine’s Day in 2025, Morgan Teodosio will begin her final season as a softball player.
As the captain of the Sacred Heart University Pioneers, she simply wants to give her team everything she has left.
She will undoubtedly do that and more.
(From The Dugout is a regular column written by CT Softball Blog Publisher John Nash)
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