Emily Wood
Sports Editor
Looking up at the walls of the gymnasium, students can admire the FCIAC championship banners citing decades of victories. All sports, except for softball, have been represented on this wall. However, this will no longer be the case.
On May 23, the softball team challenged the St. Joseph Cadets at Sacred Heart University in the FCIAC finals. After previously beating out Fairfield Ludlowe in the semi finals, the Lady Rams made history by beating out the Cadets 2-1 and claiming the program’s first FCIAC championship in school history.
“Going into the game I’d say I was pretty nervous,” senior pitcher Cydney Ventura said. “Saint Joseph is known to be a great softball team and in the semi finals they crushed Darien.” All nerves vanished once on the field as the starting pitcher delivered a stellar performance and was awarded the MVP of the game.
Cydney and her sister, senior catcher Jordan Ventura, were the dynamic duo against anyone who stepped up to the batting plate. The two played seven innings without earning any runs on seven hits, one walk and striking out three.
The Rams also had strong performances while on the field, including junior outfielders Rachel Kortman, Colette Pellegrini and Ali Reilly, and senior infielders Amanda Frattaroli, Abby Jenkins, Marlee Ready and Courtney Rogers.
A major aspect that all the girls agree has helped them bring home gold is that the team has been playing together for almost eight years. Through Storm, a travel softball league during the summer, a group of ten year-old girls formed to create a winning team, building anticipation for what the future held.
“Playing together for so long created a bond that I think no other team really has,” Cydney said. “We know each others strengths and weaknesses and that’s what helps us perform on the field. When one of us is down, it’s not hard to cheer each other up because we are all so comfortable with each other.”
Senior Marlee Ready agrees, saying that Storm is what helped create a family atmosphere on the team. “The fact that we played together for so long beforehand helped us gel on the field and support each other during the game,” Marlee said. “Playing on Storm taught us the fundamentals of the game and what it means to be a team player. The coaches, the families and the players were one big family.”
Now that the Storm team has entered the high school, they have surpassed everyone’s expectations, making history. “It’s probably the most amazing feeling,” Cydney said. “This is something we have all been talking about for so long and we finally did it. It couldn’t be at a more perfect time either because it’s the last year playing softball for most of us.”
With a new banner hanging in the gymnasium, the seniors are excited to leave a legacy for the high school. “It feels unbelievable to say that I was a part of NCHS’s first FCIAC softball win,” Ready said. “I love that I’ll be able to leave the high school knowing that I reached my goal of winning a softball championship with my childhood teammates. As tacky as it sounds, its incredible to know that we made NCHS history.”
The girls competed against the Conard Chieftains on May 29 in the first round of the CIAC Class LL tournament and fell 8-5. Despite the loss, the junior girls are excited to continue the legacy.
Although the team will lose some major key players to graduation, junior Ali Reilly believes the team will still be competitive next year. “Next season will be interesting because so many of our starters are graduating this June,” she said. “But I, along with the rest of the underclassmen, are going to put our best game out there and hope to carry it on.”
