NEW HAVEN—Abbott Tech softball coach Jon Nadeau thought his team had all the parts to have a pretty good season.
The Wolverines proved him right.
After going 16-4 on the regular season, Abbott Tech entered the 2026 CTC Tournament and marched straight to the championship game for the first time since 2017.
Following a fast start, the Wolverines held on for a 10-6 win over two-time defending CTC champ Norwich Tech at the Shea Softball Complex at Albertus Magnus College.
“The last time we won was 2002, so it’s been quite a while,” said Nadeau, who was an assistant on that team. “The league was very different back then. Early on this year, we only have 12 kids, but we just thought we had the makings of a real solid program. We’ve got a pitcher and a catcher, we’ve got kids who can play the infield. We thought we’d have a good season.”
It ended up being a great season, bringing home some conference hardware before opening state tournament play next week.
Abbott Tech, which is based in Danbury, scored four runs in both the third and fourth innings while sandwiching single tallies in the first and seventh to notch the win.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Wolverines did have to sweat out a five-run Norwich Tech outburst that saw the game-tying run stand in the on-deck circle.
Midway through the Norwich Tech uprising, Nadeau went out to talk to his team and settle them down.
“Yeah, it was just like, hey, we’re just hunting outs right now,” Nadeau said. “They got to get nine runs before we get three outs before this is even a thing.” So we’re just looking for outs.”
Finally, Abbott Tech first baseman Hannah Sussman made a nice sliding catch off a foul ball to clinch the championship.
“I honestly didn’t even think she was getting to that ball over there,” Nadeau said. “It’s a sliding catch there to secure the game and she squeezed it with two hands. It’s everything we taught them.”
Abbott Tech pitcher Nicole Urvina pitched well, throwing seven innings and giving up just two earned runs. She struck out 11 and walked two.
“You know what? It was pretty stressful coming into it, but once we got into it, it was just one, two, three, getting it done,” Urvina said. “You just have to keep going your hardest.”
Having an 8-0 lead after four innings certainly helped as Abbott Tech took advantage of an uncharacteristic five Norwich Tech errors.
Still, the Wolverines posted 10 hits in the game. Adriana Campos (2-for-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI) had a double and a single to lead the effort. Anjalyce Castro (1 run) and Angie Valverde (1 run) both had two hits, as well.
Ava Ramirez had three RBIs in the game for Abbott Tech.
For Norwich Tech, which had 12 hits, Tenley Stimson had an inside-the-park home run; Maya Stimson had a double and a single; Layla Risk-Adams and Emma Garcia both had two singles and Nyomi Barboza had two RBIs.
The Norwich Tech pitching duo of Stimson and Carlie Brown only surrendered three earned runs in the game as the Warriors defense struggled, making seven errors.
“We’ve been lights out defensively and our defense let us down today, for sure,” Norwich Tech head coach Pam Pinch said.
It wasn’t pressure that got to the Warriors, however. After all, the seniors on this team have played in this title tilt all four years, winning the last two CTC titles.
“That shouldn’t be the case because it’s like every other game for us in my opinion,” Pinch said. “We just didn’t have it today. I’ve never seen them play defense like they did today. Today, just wasn’t our day.”
Pinch did want to give credit to Abbott Tech and to Urvina to stepping up their game and playing so well.
“Shout out to their pitcher because she was awesome,” Pinch added. “We just had to put more balls in play.”
With the win, Abbott Tech improved to 19-4 overall on the season.
Norwich Tech slipped to 17-5.
Both teams will head to next week’s state tournament.
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