The CT Softball Blog

MIDDLEBURY—She never ran into burning buildings.

She never kicked in doors or emerged from smoke carrying someone to safety. That wasn’t her role. Not yet, anyway.

But for nearly four years, while balancing honors classes, softball practices, games, and all the chaos that comes with being a teenager, Nonnewaug senior first baseman Elizabeth Boisits spent her Friday nights in a different uniform.

A firefighter’s uniform.

Not because she had to.

Because that’s simply what Boisits do.

For most people, Friday night means dinner out, hanging with friends, or collapsing on the couch after a long week. For Elizabeth, it meant reporting to the Middlebury Volunteer Fire Department from 6:30 until 9 p.m., learning search-and-rescue techniques, studying equipment, training with hoses, packing lines, and preparing for situations she hoped she’d never actually have to face.

And before any of that?

She and the other junior firefighters grabbed mops.

“The first thing we did every week was make sure the firehouse was clean,” Boisits said with a laugh.

Maybe that’s fitting.

Because service isn’t always about sirens and flashing lights. Sometimes it starts with sweeping floors.

It certainly started much earlier than high school.

Firefighting has flowed through the Boisits family tree for generations. Her great-grandfather actually lived at the firehouse. Her grandfather joined the junior program at 13. Her grandmother served with the Ladies Auxiliary and ambulance corps. Her mother became involved as a teenager and today serves as an EMT. Her uncle joined the department. Her cousins followed.

Her father, meanwhile, retired after a career with the Fairfield Fire Department.

In other words, Elizabeth never really had a chance.

“It’s just in my blood,” she said. “I grew up at the firehouse.”

At age 14, she officially joined the Middlebury Junior Fire Department.

And while she wasn’t entering burning buildings, she was learning everything else.

Junior firefighters train on search-and-rescue scenarios. They practice using hoses. They study the trucks. They even train with extrication equipment. When calls came in, junior members could assist outside the scene, retrieving equipment and supporting the firefighters doing the dangerous work.

For Boisits, the experience wasn’t frightening.

Worrying about the people she loved was another story.

“I don’t think I was personally scared,” she said. “But I always worried about the people around me because you never know what can happen.”

That’s understandable when many of those people are family.

As much as firefighting taught her skills, though, it taught something deeper.

Perspective.

“I feel like I just learned how to be an overall better individual,” Boisits said. “Learning to put other people in front of yourself and understanding that you’re not always the most important. It’s other people’s lives too, and you have to care about everyone else just as much as you care about yourself.”

Not bad lessons for a teenager.

Or for anybody, really.

By November of 2024, Boisits had earned the rank of Second Lieutenant, taking on additional responsibility and helping lead younger members of the program. It meant no skipping Friday nights. Leaders show up.

The same qualities that made her successful in the firehouse became apparent on the softball field.

A two-year captain for the Chiefs, Boisits has been one of the steady voices behind one of Connecticut’s top programs. She’ll continue her softball career at Western Connecticut State University, where she plans to major in health education before pursuing a master’s degree in physical education. Ultimately, she’d like to become an athletic director.

None of that surprises Nonnewaug head coach Chris Martin.

“It’s in their bloodline,” Martin said of the Boisits family. “They’re always the type of people that give back and help out.”

Martin has seen firsthand the leadership qualities that firefighting helped reinforce.

“She’s always going to step up and ask what she can do to help,” he said. “Whether it’s helping another player understand something, adapting to a change, or just making sure everybody’s on the same page, she’s one of the kids I can count on.”

Perhaps his favorite quality?

“It’s never me over we,” he said.

That sounds suspiciously like something you’d hear around a firehouse.

Because firefighting, much like softball, isn’t about individuals. It’s about trusting the people around you. It’s understanding that the person beside you matters just as much as you do.

“It’s all like family,” Boisits said.

Looking ahead, she admits she stepped away from the junior program last March simply because life became too busy. Between school, softball, and preparing for college, there just weren’t enough hours in the day.

But don’t think she’s done.

Far from it.

“I definitely feel like down the road I’d pick it up again,” she said. “For a while, I actually wanted to do firefighting as a career. It’s always been a part of me.”

Which probably comes as no surprise.

Some people inherit blue eyes.

Some inherit curly hair.

Elizabeth Boisits inherited something different.

A servant’s heart.

And while softball may eventually come to an end, that part of her story feels like it’s just getting started.

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