Today’s the day: The first official day of the high school softball season here in Connecticut.
Sure, the state’s best basketball teams are grabbing all the glory and headlines with the state championship weekend up at a Mohegan Sun, but on softball fields far and wide, the spring softball season began today.
Pitchers and catchers have been going for a week, but entire rosters showed up at the field today for tryouts and/or first practices, so we are just a few weeks away from those magic words.
Play ball!
There are plenty of story lines from around the state, so here are five things to keep an eye on as the season kicks off.
Cheshire to Class L?
Well, yes and no. When the CIAC enrollment numbers came out to put the state’s teams into their proper classifications there was one shocker.
The Cheshire Rams were listed in Class L.
The Rams are the defending Class LL championship, but Cheshire High’s enrollment figures of female athletes put them in the Class L ranks.
While the thoughts of Cheshire facing Masuk or St. Joseph for the state championship might be appealing to softball fans statewide, it won’t happen.
At least not in 2026.
According to Cheshire head coach Kristine Drust, the Rams will be petitioning the CIAC to remain in Class LL for the season.
Does Cheshire, with a lot of returning parts, have what it takes to repeat in Class LL?
Stay tuned.
Who Will Be In The Masuk Circle?
You don’t win seven straight state championships by rebuilding.
Instead, you simply reload.
This year’s Masuk reload comes with two caveats, however.
The first is a new head coach as Leigh Barone stepped down following last year’s seventh straight title.
The Panthers are keeping it in the family, however, as her four-year assistant Emily Woznick takes over.
Masuk also lost its latest All-State pitcher, Julia Bacoulis, who took her hard-throwing talents to Florida Golf Coast University, so do the Panthers have a next in line?
After all, Masuk is the program that has produced the likes of Rachele Fico (2006-09), Tatum Buckley (2011-14), Sam Schiebe (2016-19), Kat Gallant (2019-2022) and then Bacoulis (2023-26).
It’s been a who’s who of great Connecticut pitchers.
Who’s got next?
The front-runner seems to be a sophomore named Mary Saunders, according to Woznick.
Is Saunders ready to step up and shine? Can Masuk win an eighth straight state title?
Stay tuned.
Who’s Counting in Foran?
One of last year’s feel-good stories in the state was the dream season that played out for the Foran Lions.
Twenty-eight games. Twenty-eight wins, including an SCC championship and a Class M state title, as well.
Abigail Corris, the team’s pitcher, is back. So are six other starters for the team that has won 28 straight games, so the Lions are experienced.
But that number—28—is not a number you will hearing uttered around the Foran program, however.
Head coach Gina Georgetti is going to remind her team today that it’s Day 1 and last year, as historic as it was, is simply history.
This year’s edition of Foran softball has to paint its own canvas and it should not feel weighted down by a win-streak, so Georgetti said it is not something she will entertain with her squad.
How far can the Lions extend that unspoken streak?
Stay tuned.
The Nonnewaug Nuance
Speaking of (nearly) undefeated teams, last spring the Nonnewaug Chiefs had a season to remember.
The squad, which had zero seniors, won its first 21 games of the season before suffering its first loss, 7-6, to Northwestern Regional in the championship game of the Berkshire League tournament.
The Chiefs bounced back from that defeat and made a nice run in the Class M state tournament, giving up just one (while scoring 44) and advancing to the semifinals.
Nonnewaug ran into Foran at that point, falling short of a state title.
It was a young team that grew up a lot, however, and with standout players like Scarlett Ivey, Jordan Kovach, Elizabeth Boisits, and everybody else returning, expect another strong season out of the Chiefs.
Can they win the Berkshire League and/or Class M title this time around?
Stay tuned.
A Replay, Or A Senior Moment?
The FCIAC is once again expected to be as competitive as usual.
St. Joseph and Darien both return their starting Division 1-bound starting pitchers (SJ’s Katie Dzialo is headed to Princeton while Darien’s Vivian Knott has committed to Stanford), so nobody would be surprised if this year’s title tilt was a rerun of last year’s 14-inning classic.
That being said, however, there are certainly other teams in the league that are ready to stake their claim to the title, including Trumbull and New Canaan.
The Eagles didn’t have a single senior last season and made the FCIAC semifinals, a run that made the team hungry for more. Four of their eight seniors —Maddie Pippa (Wagner), Kylie Lucia (Quinnipiac), Maren Jones (Albertus Magnus), and Brianna Potok (Clark)—will be headed to college, showing the Eagles have the talent to contend again this season.
The Rams, meanwhile, have a two-headed pitching machine with Lauren Fico and Marissa DelCarmine holding things down both in the circle and at shortstop.
And let’s not forget Ridgefield, which has sophomore pitcher Caitlin McGratty back in the circle. Last year, the Tigers were the No. 8 seed and almost knocked off Greenwich in the quarterfinals. After that, Ridgefield simply made it all the way to the CIAC Class LL championship game against Cheshire.
Can either of those three teams—or can somebody else rise up—to keep the Cadets or Blue Wave out from the league championship game?
Stay tuned.
Around The Basepaths
What else is there to look for around the Connecticut high school softball scene?
Plenty!
Who will replace Camryn Fisher at Ellington? … Can Woodland Regional bounce back after seeing its three-straight state title run fall short a year ago? … Can North Branford and St. Paul’s return to the Class S state title game? … Which new coaches will shine around the state and turn their programs around? … Where will this year’s seminal and historic moments occur? … Who will walk off with league championships?
The season begins today and plenty of these answers will be coming over the next few months.
Stay tuned.
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