The CT Softball Blog

EAST LYME—Last summer, the Shoreline Wildcats Senior League All-Stars weren’t expected to win.

The team, based out of Lyme-Old Lyme and surrounding towns, was the youngest team ever to reach the Senior League (16U) Softball World Series, averaging just 14.2 years old while battling opponents two and three years older on one of Little League Softball’s biggest stages. They finished 10th in the 10-team national tournament, but more importantly, they learned what it takes to compete there.

Now, one year later, that same young core is back.

Only this time, they’re no longer the wide-eyed newcomers.

Behind an experienced roster that returns nearly intact from last year’s memorable run, Shoreline captured its second consecutive Connecticut Senior League Softball championship on Friday, earning another trip to the East Regionals and another opportunity to prove just how much a year’s worth of experience can matter.

“We’re hoping,” Shoreline manager Matt Reed said. “The biggest challenge coaching-wise has nothing to do with their physical ability. It’s what’s going on between the ears. Last year we were the hunter. Now we’re the hunted.”

Reed’s team technically clinched the state championship via forfeit after Enfield, last year’s Junior League state champion playing up an age division this summer, was unable to field a team because of injuries before the deciding game of the best-of-three championship series.

While Shoreline had already won the opening game and defeated Enfield earlier in pool play, Reed admitted he hated seeing his players miss out on celebrating a title on the field.

“There is a celebratory moment after a game when you actually win the championship on the field,” Reed said. “We were ready to go with our best lineup, and I told the girls, ‘Go out and win your second state championship in a row.’ They never got that opportunity.”

Despite having that moment taken from them, the Wildcats will now turn their attention toward the East Regional, in Worcester, Mass., where Reed believes last year’s experience could become their biggest advantage.

“We were the youngest team in the history of that World Series at an average age of 14.2,” Reed said. “When we got down there, we were playing against 16- and 17-year-olds. The speed of the game just got a little quicker.”

Despite finishing 10th, Shoreline gained something far more valuable than wins.

“When we played Canada and the Philippines, those were close games until what I call the deep end of the pool,” Reed said. “That’s when those older girls and their experience really took over. That’s what we’re hoping for this year, that the experience from last year carries us through all seven innings.”

The Wildcats return the nucleus of that World Series team, giving Reed five capable pitchers in Avery Goiangos, Sawyer Barreto, Bea Aldana, Bella Franklin and Brooke Ouellette, along with outstanding defensive depth throughout the roster.

“If you asked who our No. 1 pitcher is, it’s a coin toss,” Reed said. “They all throw well.”

That versatility extends throughout the lineup, where Shoreline features multiple catchers, interchangeable infielders and an athletic outfield capable of tracking down nearly everything hit its way.

“If the ball’s got a hump in it,” Reed joked, “it’s probably going to get caught.”

Those players who shine both offensively and defenesively and make up the rest of the Wildcats roster include: Emma Reed, Isabel Martel, Karalyn Lutyen, Vicky Glaras, Juliana Spencer, Paige Erwin, Josie Arndt, AJ Scrivo, Mia Stokes, Kaylyn Vernon, and Nana Cruz.

The team is coached by Reed, Kurt Scrivo and Nicole Baretto.

Last season, speed was the Wildcats’ identity.

This year, that speed remains, but another element has emerged.

“They’ve gotten a little bigger and a little stronger,” Reed said. “We’re still very fast, but now some of these girls can hit it a long way, too.”

With much of last year’s roster returning, the expectations have naturally changed.

So has the mindset.

Instead of trying to surprise people, Shoreline enters the postseason with a target squarely on its back.

“The challenge,” Reed said, “is understanding the difference between being the hunter and being the hunted.”

For a team that learned those lessons while making history a year ago, Reed is hoping those experiences become the difference as the Wildcats once again chase a return trip to the Senior League Softball World Series.

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