RIDGEFIELD—The Keane sisters of Ridgefield High School are, for all intents and purposes, your stereotypical three-sport athletes, who love to get out there and compete.
They play softball in the spring and soccer in the fall. In the wintertime, however, their athletic seasons simply go downhill.
Literally.
Riley Keane, a senior, and her kid sister, Piper, a sophomore, are both high-level skiers who attack mountains the same way they attack waist-high fastballs across the middle of the plate.
With softball season kicking off soon, and the ski seasons all but behind them, the only white stuff under their feet will be as they race up the baseline or slide into bases.
Sort of.
Truth be told, Piper Keane will be taking a break from the Ridgefield softball this coming weekend as she takes part is USA Skiing’s National 16U championships at Sugarloaf/USA in Maine.
The event kicks off on Monday and runs through April 4 on Sugarloaf’s renowned Narrow Gauge trail.
Skiing has always run in the Keane family.
“My mom is an avid skier. She just loves it,” Riley Keane said. “I think we were all on skis as soon as we could walk. From a young age, it just became a part of our lives.”
The family owns a house in Okemo, Vt., but the Keanes have also lived in Finland, and have skied in both Austria and Sweden, as well.
The racing, however, started at Okemo.
“They have this ‘Hopefuls’ program, where you just raced on a trail that was very easy and very flat,” Riley Keane said. “Maybe my parents just wanted to ski so they dropped us off there to keep us in a structured place.”
The competitors in both sisters, however, bought into the racing idea, and the rest is history.
“For me, it’s an escape from reality,” Piper Keane said. “Especially when I’m going down a course. It’s so much fun for me.”
For the longest time, both sisters would leave Ridgefield High and spend their winters at Okemo Mountain School, honing their chosen winter sport while maintaining their studies.
Both Riley and Piper have been ranked nationally in their age group because of their commitment to the sport.
This winter, however, Riley wanted something different as she prepares to make her college choice and decide her future.
Instead of packing up for a winter in Vermont, she opted to ski for the Ridgefield High ski team, instead. It was what she needed at this stage of her life.
“It’s been really nice,” Riley Keane said. “It’s given me some new perspective on skiing. I’ve kind of fallen in love with the sport again.”
With that love came a bunch of a wins. As in every single race she skied in the Connecticut Interscholastic Ski League this season.
This postseason, Riley Keane shined even brighter, becoming the first Connecticut skier to sweep the CISL regular season, two shootouts (one slalom, one giant slalom), State Opens and the Eastern Regionals.
In fact, Riley Keene represented Team CT at Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire, where she won the giant slalom and finished fourth in slalom to take the overall Eastern title. This was from a field of 91 skiers from throughout New England, New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.
While Riley Keane is a three-sport athlete, who is good enough to compete in college in any of her chosen sports, she is taking an academics-first approach before deciding what sports she may (or may not) play at the next level.
One thing skiing has taught both Keane sisters is the importance of the little things, which also translates into their other sports.
When schussing down a mountain between gates, in races that are decided by a matter of tenths of a second, the little things matter in a much bigger fashion.
“It made it a lot more personal for me,” Piper Keane said. “It also forced me to not only become more competitive in ski racing, but also in my other sports.”
Piper Keane is a pitcher and an outfielder. In the circle, she knows how a small adjustment in release point can vastly change a pitch’s trajectory. Or how that first drop step on a ball can make the difference between a catch and a triple.
Usually, in March, it’s time for the Keane’s to put away the ski gear and get out their softball gear.
While Piper Keane will have one more racing weekend at U16 Nationals before her focus returns solely to softball, for Riley Keane, this means one last season with the Tigers.
As her high school athletic career comes to an end with one more softball season, Riley Keane wonders “what if?” from time to time.
What if she had committed to just one sport? How good could she have become?
“It isn’t that I really wanted it, but I just wonder what it would have been like,” she said. “I never wanted to be one of those kids who was burned out and hating the sport they loved when they were little. But if I had focused on just one thing, could I have done this or that? At the end of the day, the decision I made was perfect for the kind of person I am.”
Piper Keane faces some similar decisions, as well—including if she’ll return to OMS after this winter season.
“As of last year, I didn’t ski as well as I wanted to,” she said. “Partially it was my surroundings and partially me. I didn’t have as much as a competitive drive. But this year, I’m really pushing toward nationals. But if I don’t reach all my goals, I might go into high school racing, too.”
This year’s trip to Nationals might change the game plan for next winter, but that is still months away.
Piper Keane will focus on her nationals appearance and then refocus on Ridgefield and its softball season.
First-year Ridgefield coach Rita Jagodzinski has known both Keane girls, who have played for her CT Jags travel program, and she is expecting big things from both sisters this coming season.
“Riley and Piper Keane are the epitome of dedication and versatility,” Jagodzinski said. “As multi-sport athletes, they bring an unparalleled work ethic and passion to every game they play. Whether on the softball field or excelling in their other sports, Riley and Piper are constantly honing their craft, pushing themselves to improve, and inspiring their teammates with their relentless drive. Their commitment to excellence and their ability to rise to any challenge make them not only outstanding athletes but also great teammates”.
Their winter season might have gone downhill (literally, mind you), but hopes are high for this upcoming softball season.
The Keane sisters of Ridgefield High, Riley and Piper, love to compete and they’ll be doing that for the Tigers one final time together this season.
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