Flawless Week for GHS Softball

Sadie Scurto rounds second base / Rayah Synder throws to first during Glastonbury softball's 17-0 victory over Newington 
 
​Sometimes the bats are cracking and sometimes the gloves are sticky.

Rarely do both happen in the same game but Glastonbury softball experiences the best of both worlds last Monday night, defeating Newington 17-0 in five innings.

“This is the team that I know we can have every single game,” head coach Karen Costes said following the resounding victory, “Softball is a very streaky game, so you don’t always have all of your hitters hitting at the same time but today we did. Every one of our starters got a hit today and that makes it a nice and fun game for us.”

Playing at GHS, the Guardians were spectacular from top to bottom, connecting on 16 hits and playing and error-free game in the field.
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It was a thoroughly dominant performance from start to finish as the home team pounced early, taking an 8-0 lead after the first inning and extending the lead to 11 after two.

Junior pitcher Brooke Tracy struck out seven, allowing three hits and zero walks, in four innings of work. Freshman Kamryn Herrick pitched a hitless fifth inning to cement the victory.

The pitching duo also shined from the plate. Tracy connected on three hits, scoring a run and driving in two others. Herrick scored three runs on three hits, also sending a baserunner home.

Shortstop Rayah Snyder and catcher Sadie Scurto each scored twice.

Costes complimented Snyder, a sophomore, for stepping into a leadership role this spring, “She’s a great athlete with a great head on her shoulders. She’s very mature beyond her years and that helped set the tone, and that’s why we named her a captain as a sophomore.”

Snyder lost her freshman season because of 2020’s COVID-cancellation, further inspiring her this spring.

“That drove me to play to the best of my ability this year,” said Snyder, who also plays club softball for the CT Eliminators, “Missing out on my freshman year was devastating for me because that’s what I was looking forward to the most in high school. I wanted to get off to a good start and it was taken away. This year especially, I want to play the best that I can.”

Tracy was also highly motivated following last year’s cancellation and was fueled even more after missing the first three games in May because of contact tracing.

“I’m enjoying it more than I probably did before just because I learned to never take any game, any play, any second of it for granted,” stated Tracy, who has an ERA of 1.312 this spring, “I have developed as a pitcher and they have developed behind me. We’ve become more comfortable as the season has gone on.”

During Tracy’s absence, the team lost two of three games.

Costes, whose team started 6-0, welcomed the challenge, “It exposed some of our immaturity and we’ve been working on rebuilding that. Our toughest stretch was in the middle and we had to work through how to play tough teams. It teaches them how to play from behind and how to fight through adversity. Now we are on the up, feeling good and playing confident.”

Costes added that Tracy’s return to the mound brings the team back to full strength, “She pretty much picked up right where he left off. As talented of a pitcher that she is, she doesn’t try and do too much. If things aren’t going her way, she doesn’t go overboard and try and control things that are not in her control. She’s very composed in that way.”

Monday’s lopsided win showcased how dangerous the Guardians can be, especially when they get off to a quick start.

“That’s kind of our mojo. High energy right off the bat, high confidence right off the bat,” stated Snyder, “I think today’s game showed what we’ve been working on. I think our confidence and energy really helped drive our performance tonight.”

That confidence bled over into the following games when the Guardians trounced Avon 15-1 in four innings on Wednesday before finishing the week with an 18-1 dismantling of Farmington on Friday.

Snyder was spectacular in the pair of victories, totaling eight runs and driving in seven more.  

Natalie Lessard scored three runs in each game and Scurto drove in seven runs in the two wins, which improved the Guardians to 12-4.
With the playoffs rapidly approaching, the team is hoping those good vibes continue.

“Confidence is what is comes down to,” stated Tracy, “We’ve been trying to focus on confidence and positive self talk, because our team has the talent, but we just need to work on the mental part of the game.”

Costes added, “This is the team I knew we could be the entire time. They just needed that model to see it for themselves instead of just hearing it from us coaches.”

Captains Brooke Tracy and Rayah Snyder following home victory over Newington