STRATFORD—Before all the awards and accolades, there was a kid who didn’t quite know how to make a decision.
Before the team MVPs, the All-League honors and the All-State mentions, even before the thought of ever playing a sport in college entered her mind, Stratford High’s Carolyne Burlone was literally on the fence about becoming a softball player.
“I had played baseball up until I was 10, but then I quit baseball for dance,” Burlone said. “Then my freshman year my dad and I were talking about it a little bit, but I was on the fence about doing it.”
Soon enough, though, Burlone was back between the baselines, finding her way behind home plate where she became Stratford’s starting catcher for four seasons.
This past summer, before heading off to Vermont State University-Castleton to continue both her education and her softball career, Burlone got to play with her legendary hometown Stratford Brakettes junior team.
She was also awarded the 2025 Bob Baird Memorial Scholarship, as well.
“Carolyne is probably the most dynamic player that I’ve ever coached—baseball or softball,” Stratford head coach Gary Sherrick said. “She’s got power. She’s got the arm. She can play six different positions if she needs to. She’s just not content. And honestly, she doesn’t act like she’s better than anyone, which I love. She is the most humble player that I’ve ever coached.”
That humble kid, who missed a couple of softball seasons before high school, would become a two-time All-State selection for Sherrick.
She is also Stratford’s third softball player to make All-State with no travel softball experience before high school, something Sherrick is quite proud as he develops talent within his program.
Sherrick deflects his impact on the all-staters, pointing the glory right back at them.
“I think it’s more on the kid,” he said. “They’re coachable. They’re not content. They are so innocent to the game that they’re like a sponge, that they can learn the good things and stay away from the bad things, the bad habits. They all want to get better.”
Burlone actually became one of Stratford’s best-ever players.
A fortuitous break, if you will, helped lead her back to the softball field.
“I got severely injured in dance, so I just quit. I didn’t really love it anymore,” Burlone said. “So then I found softball and it was a different outlet, different people, and I just loved it. I loved Gary, the coaches, the players that were there at the time. It was just amazing.”
All she had to do was reawaken the muscle memory of a baseball career gone by, but as Sherrick and other SWC coaches soon found out Burlone wasn’t driven to just become good.
She wanted to be great.
“I think I just put in the work,” she said. “Some days where people would just be hanging out with their friends and I was at my travel team facility, putting in the work, or I was with Gary, putting in the work, because I wanted the All-State title by my name. I wanted to be someone who people coming up in the program can look at and be like, ‘Wow, she did that.’ When I got the award, when he told me, I was in full tears. I had to sacrifice a lot, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Awards were just part of the equation.
Softball also helped set Burlone up for the next stage of her life: A chance to play in college.
That road wasn’t easy either. Once again, Burlone had to put in the work.
“From middle school to high school it was a big adjustment for me, and I was kind of the kid that just thought I was cool,” Burlone admitted. “But then I realized that it’s not cool to just be rude and stuff. I guess I was just more lazy, stuff like that.”
What changed in Burlone?
“That man,” she said, pointing at Sherrick across the Stratford High gym. “Gary did. Honestly, he just taught me life lessons, taught me how to be a better person on the field and off the field. So did my dad and my mom, but he played the biggest part in it.”
Her grades improved as quickly as her game improved and before she knew it she found herself intrigued by a coach and a program in the Green Mountain State.
Castleton’s coach Eric Kraut reminded Burlone a lot of Sherrick.
“Gary has a very strong personality and he helped me through a lot with just this sport,” Burlone said. “So I kind of knew if I was going to do this in college I wanted it to be with someone like him. I met with Coach Kraut, I went up for a tour and I was just talking to him and he had the humor, like Gary; the attitude like Gary. He was a new guy on campus and I really believed in what he was building.”
She became a catcher simply because that’s the position her brother played during his baseball career.
“When I was little and I played baseball, my dad, he just threw me in the gear.,” Burlone said. “I kind of fell in love with it.”
And the rest became history as Burlone became a back-to-back All-State selection for the Red Devils.
Even more impressive to her, at least in hindsight, is how much she grew as a person in addition to how much she improved as a softball player.
“I’ve grown in so many ways. I’ve grown to become a person I didn’t even think I could be,” Burlone said. “I have learned so much about life, so much about softball, about literally anything thanks to these girls and to the culture and the program here.”
Burlone has become a big part of the Stratford culture, which might not be putting any hardware into the school’s trophy case, but is churning out special kids who have changed themselves and will hopefully someday help change the world.
That alone is not lost on Sherrick in Burlone’s case, knowing where she had come from to the person who marched across the stage at Stratford’s graduation this spring.
“Jackie (Sherrick’s wife) had her in class and she was like, ‘She’s a tough one’,” the coach admitted. “And I was like, good. I like a challenge.”
Sherrick watched and helped Burlone change as a player, student and person. Now, he is excited to watch his prized protégé’s continued improvement at the next level, as well.
“I mean, just like anything, I think she can get better and everyone can get better, obviously,” he said. “She’s willing to get better. She’s willing to learn every day. Her mental game is getting stronger. And I think once that catches up with her physical game, forget about it.”
Stratford High softball will never forget about her. Coach Gary Sherrick will never forget her.
And once she made up her mind to step back between the baseslines, Carolyne Burlone realized she made a move so profound in her life that she will never forget what the sport of softball has given her.
And it’s still a ride that’s not even close to being over.
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