The CT Softball Blog

DANBURY—Ava Tong couldn’t have thought of a better 15th birthday present.

Not a new iPhone. Not a new shiny necklace. Not even tickets to see her favorite band in concert this summer.

Instead, Tong, a freshman at Danbury High School, was told she could play softball again.

On Tuesday, the freshman made her varsity pitching debut in a big and important game.

The result? The Hatters posted a 6-5 win over league rival New Canaan; a victory that gave Danbury the No. 2 seed in the upcoming FCIAC tournament, which begins Thursday.

Had the Hatters lost, they would have been the No. 6 seed.

What was Danbury coach Mark Anderson thinking, throwing a freshman coming off a stress fracture in her back and making her varsity debut in such an important game?

“Well, I mean, we looked at what we had going on,” Coach Anderson explained. “We were down a player, so we were filling in some puzzle pieces here and there and we felt she was ready.”

Tong’s journey to that Tuesday afternoon circle was an arduous one. A stress fracture discovered just days before pitchers and catchers reported for spring tryouts completely derailed her freshman season. While she has been with the team, attended events, and went through endless physical therapy, she could only watch from the bench.

Slowly, she worked her way back. She was eventually cleared for modified practice, and then live batting sessions against her own teammates. Because Danbury boasts one of the better hitting lineups in the FCIAC, it proved to be the perfect litmus test to her recovery.

When her medical clearance finally came through on Monday—her 15th birthday—Anderson, and his captains, decided it was time to roll the dice.

“I felt it is a little bit of a gamble, but knowing her, talking to her, I felt it was worth a shot,” Anderson said. “We are a strong defensive team. So, I did trust our defense to help her out and be a part of that. I knew we wouldn’t strand her on an island.”

Stepping onto a varsity pitching circle for the very first time in a de facto playoff-seeding match would overwhelm most ninth graders. Tong knew exactly what was hanging in the balance, but she welcomed the heat.

“I perform better in pressure situations, so I really like having them watch and it’s really cool getting the opportunity to play,” Tong said, referencing the college scouts already tracking her high-level travel ball career. “I felt a little bit of pressure, but I was just ready for the situation. Any game I’m good to come into. I think I treat every game the same.”

When she threw her first varsity pitch, the adrenaline was pumping.

“I believe it was a strike,” Tong said.

It wasn’t. She was threw two balls before that first strike came, according to the Danbury GameChanger play-by-play.

What followed was the definition of an old-school, gritty, grind-it-out performance.

Tong was understandably rusty. She didn’t have immaculate control of the strike zone, battling through eight walks and scattering five hits over a whopping 157 pitches. But when she needed to throw a door closed, she did, racking up seven strikeouts to keep the Rams at bay.

“I was rough getting into it,” Tong admitted honestly. “I’m just coming back so I wasn’t in complete control of the strike zone, but I think our team, we pulled it together. We had some good defense behind me and offense that helped us.”

For Anderson, watching her gut out 157 pitches—far beyond the 70-pitch limit she had built up to in rehab sessions—was a testament to her character.

“We checked in with her along the way and she was feeling good and we trusted her and we trust our defense and it worked out,” he said.

Beyond the immediate payoff of securing the league tournament’s No. 2 seed, Tong’s arrival represents a massive full-circle moment for Danbury softball.

Exactly 15 years ago, Katie Helbig was the head coach of the Danbury program. She retired from coaching when she became pregnant with Ava.

After a recent relocation from New Milford back to Danbury in January, Ava is now playing for the exact program her mother once led.

To make the dynamic even more poetic, her mom—a former standout pitcher at Western Connecticut State University—is her personal pitching coach.

“All growing up I kind of knew,” Tong said of her destiny in the circle. “She helped coach me and I knew that because she played all the way to college that it was just kind of something I really enjoyed doing. She gives me pitching lessons and stuff.”

When asked what it’s like to have her mom guiding her through the intense expectations of being a nationally-ranked prospect in the 2009 class, Tong laughed.

“Oh yeah, it’s really fun. She pushes me really hard to be the best I could be, but I do enjoy having her as my pitching coach,” she said. “Some days it’s difficult… but I really like her advice.”

With the FCIAC tournament beginning Thursday, Tong’s return gives the Hatters a dynamic three-headed pitching monster alongside veterans Abby O’Dell and Jacqueline Marks. It also gives the program a glimpse into an incredibly bright future.

With Odell and Marks both graduating seniors heading off to play college ball, Tong is poised to inherit the program as the definitive ace next spring. Backed by an enduring young core that includes a junior and sophomore catching duo, the Hatters’ future is secure.

“She’s only 15. She just had her birthday on Monday so she’s got some time to grow and get stronger and only get better,” Anderson said. “As long as we get the back healed like it is, we’re in great shape.”

For Ava Tong, the long, quiet months of physical therapy and bench-warming are officially in the rearview mirror.

She is right where she belongs: in the circle, winning big games, and adding the next chapter to a family legacy.

“My team set us up for where we are right now,” Tong said. “It means a lot being able to come into such a strong team and have them put me out there.”

Wednesday’s big win is likely the first of many for Tong, and the Hatters.

Many more may be coming over the next few weeks, as well, as Tong’s return makes the Hatters deeper and far more dangerous heading into the postseason.

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