NORWALK—Karen Cella is returning to the dugout.
After 24 years as the varsity softball coach at the King School in Stamford, and the past three years of dabbling in the travel world, Cella was hired last week as the new head coach at Norwalk High.
“I’m actually quite excited,” Cella said. “This is going to be my first year in the FCIAC after 24 years in the FAA. I’m very excited to back in the high school scene.”
Cella will replace outgoing Bears interim coach Brie Muro, who took over the program in April after the season started. Muro is starting to work on her Master’s degree and felt she couldn’t put in the time to be a true head coach at this point of her young career.
Cella, meanwhile, brings a wealth of softball experience to the Bears program.
“We had a strong candidate pool, which we were really thrilled to see, but ultimately the fact Karen has the high school coaching experience we needed made the difference,” Norwalk athletic director Doug Marchetti said. “We’ve got a pretty good core coming back and we wanted somebody who has been through all the stages of the season, and has worked with high school kids before and Karen fits that bill tremendously.”
Cella graduated from the Academy of the Resurrection in Rye, N.Y, and attended Springfield College, where she was a four-year starter at shortstop.
After graduating, Cella knew she wanted to be a physical education teacher and coach and she landed at King Low Heywood Thomas in Stamford—now the King School—in the Fairchester Athletic Association.
With the Vikings, Cella won more than 200 games and won eight FAA championships.
She left King following the 2019 season.
Cella operated the Stamford Stingers travel program for a couple of years following her departure from King.
“After three years, that program fell through,” she said. “A lot of other travel programs are uprooting and forming, and the numbers came down. I merged the girls that were left with the CT Angels, but then those kids aged out and some decided they weren’t going to play as seniors.”
Cella thought about helping out with another program, or even becoming a softball umpire.
Then a slew of coaching jobs opened up in Fairfield County and after doing her homework, the Bears seemed like a perfect fit.
In fact, Cella had actually toyed with the idea of applying for the Norwalk job previously, but she had just started working as the athletic director at the Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy in Stamford, and the timing wasn’t quite right.
“I had reached out to Doug and said I have some questions before I go into this,” Cella said. “One thing led to another, and I needed to withdraw, and he respected that and said, ‘Maybe somewhere down the road’ and here we are.”
Norwalk went 26-14 over the past two seasons, including 15-5 in the regular season last year. The Bears made the FCIAC semifinals in 2024.
“It’s going to be challenging going to the FCIAC side,” Cella said. “Its more competitive and a different level of ball.”
Cella said she is excited to take over a program and not just a team.
While at King, she only had one JV squad in her 24 years.
She’s also excited to work with the City of Norwalk’s recreation department, as well as its town travel teams like the Zoomers and the Riptide, in order to help build the sport even more.
“Those are solid programs and I’m looking forward to getting involved and making a name for myself in the Norwalk community,” she said. “I like being involved in the community.”
As for the future of the Bears, Cella knows she has a solid group of returning seniors, a handful of who have already announced they’re taking their games to the college level.
“I know that means they’re competitive and they take this sport seriously,” Cella said. “I’m excited to see their commitment. They’re all ball players and I’m excited to see what they can do.”
And Cella is a veteran coach who might be entering a whole new world, but that doesn’t change her.
“I’m up for the challenge,” Cella said. “I don’t know everything and I like learning. It might be my first year in the FCIAC, but that doesn’t change me or who I am as a coach.”
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