The CT Softball Blog

Fate and destiny often walk hand-in-hand through this world, finding people when they least expect it.

Foran High School junior Abby Corris was just nine years old and standing in the outfield of a softball field in her hometown of Milford, easily distracted by her surroundings when her life found a certain path.

“It was when I first started playing,” Corris recalled over the weekend. “My first-ever game and I was sitting in the outfield, actually picking dandelions. I just saw these pitchers warming up and I just wanted to try it.”

It took a single lesson and just like that Corris was hooked.

“My first lesson I was just awful,” she said. “I honestly was, but then I was like, wow, I really liked it. And I wanted to keep going.”

On Friday, Corris toed the rubber at West Haven High School and pitched her undefeated Lions to the Southern Connecticut Conference championship.

Corris faced the No. 3 team in the state and held them to just three hits. She gave up one run, striking out 12 and walking one.

After the game, she was awarded the Danni Kemp SCC Tournament Most Outstanding Player award, an even more prestigious honor given that Foran plays its home games on Danni Kemp Field.

“Honestly, I’m still shocked about it,” Corris said. “I never would have thought, especially beating a great team like Cheshire, but I’ve gotten so many texts, and so many people saying stuff to me. And Danni Kemp from what I heard was such an amazing player and it’s so amazing to hear the impact she had on so many people, so it’s amazing to have an award named after her.”

Here’s the thing, though.

The state of Connecticut is full of pitchers who are opening eyes nation-wide. From Vivian Knott at Darien to Camryn Fisher in Ellington to Cheshire’s very own Jenica Matos, the pitching depth in the Nutmeg State runs deeper than the Housatonic River.

Hidden in the shadows of so many other hurlers was Foran’s No. 20—Abby Corris.

Not anymore.

“I will fight to my last breath talking about how amazing Abigail Corris is,” Foran head coach Gina Georgetti said. “She is exceptional. She’s amazing. I think it’s really important to say that every time she pitches, whether it’s a good day, or a bad day, or a day she doesn’t feel 100 percent, that you just can’t tell because she just gets into a zone and gives it everything she can and she just puts her team first.

“Just that alone talks about her character and integrity and how much she cares about the team,” Georgetti added. “After that, she’ll deal with everything else and herself. She’s just so mature and above her age limit.”

Corris’ stats speak for themselves.

She has pitched in 22 of Foran’s 23 games this season, leading the Lions to an undefeated mark and a No. 6 ranking in the GameTimeCT Top-10 poll.

Over those 22 games, she has given up just 21 earned runs for a stellar 0.64 ERA. She has struck out 273 while walking just 30 batters.

She has six five-inning no-hitters this season, as well. (Games were stopped early due to mercy rules).

A year ago, Foran was a middle-of-the-road team in the SCC, but this year both the Lions are Corris are getting more attention than ever before.

“I think definitely coming off last year, we were not nearly as good as we are this year,” Corris said. “I’ve started getting a lot more attention and it’s different. It makes me a little nervous sometimes.”

That includes some emerging attention from college coaches.

“I mean my recruiting process has started a little bit later and we’re learning a lot about it right now,” Corris said. “I thought I would have been committed earlier but it hasn’t happened, but I’m not nervous at all. I know I’ll like wherever I go.”

She rose up through the Milford Little League Softball ranks and joined the CT Barracudas travel program. These days, though, Corris is playing for the CT Diamond Zone program.

As she rose to reach level, Corris got better both physically and emotionally and it’s all helped her become a better pitcher, a better player, a better teammate.

“When I was younger, I was definitely a lot more emotional about things,” she said. “I would get upset over me making mistakes, or my teammates making mistakes. As I grew up and matured, I wouldn’t let those things bother me anymore.”

Her team-first attitude has been vital to Foran’s success this season, as well.

“At the end of last year, she asked, ‘How can I get better?’” Georgetti said. “She’s always putting the team first and she is just really special.”

After leaving Foran in another year, and heading off to college, Corris is thinking of staying in the game even further down the road.

She wants to become a teacher and a natural extension of that is to become a coach, as well.

“That’s exactly my plan,” she said. “I want to become a teacher because I’ve had something for helping other people and teaching would really do that for me And then coaching.”

First, however, is a hopefully deep run into the Class M state tournament. The Lions open today against Bacon Academy at 3 p.m.

“We’re just trying to win one game at a time,” Corris said. “Not focusing on the future. If we win, awesome, then we get that next one.”

Fate and destiny found Abby Corris in the outfield when she was nine and led her to the circle.

Now there, Corris has a chance to lead her team to even greater heights.

(From The Dugout is a regular column written by CT Softball Blog Publisher John Nash)

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