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05/31/2014 12:00 AMMorgan softball Head Coach Sal Fiorillo drilled a quote from Theodore Roosevelt into his team’s heads about believing in themselves the entire week of the Shoreline Conference Tournament and it was clear on the afternoon of May 31 that the Huskies took it to heart. Facing defending champion Haddam-Killingworth for the second year in a row at Westbrook in the final, Morgan claimed the title for the first time in nine years with a 2-1 victory.
“When we took over this program seven years ago, it was rebuild, get better, make states, win a game, then last year we got to the finals here and were disappointed in eight innings and one of the things we talked about this week was a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, ‘Believe you can and you’re halfway there.’ And we ran with that,” said Fiorillo. “But let’s just put the facts on the table: I have kids who can win. They win volleyball, they win basketball, they’re winners. And these kids will be so successful in life. This is what we stress in this program—how to do it the right way, how to work hard, and to be as passionate as you can be, and they respond to our methods of coaching.”
Much of the reason for Morgan’s success this year is right-handed starting pitcher Emily Popp, who pitched a seven-inning, two-strikeout game with the help of Tori Hopkins’s steal at home in the second inning and Jamie Fitzgerald’s RBI double in the fourth.
“Last year was definitely our motivation for this year—we know the feeling of what it’s like to lose against them, especially in the Shoreline Championship game, so beating that team makes it feel that much better,” said Popp. “Knowing that they beat us last year and we can still come back and get back at them makes it so much better.”
Popp led off the game with a walk after pegging Caroline Fortuna with the ball in the foot and Lauren McCann hit a shot to Ashlyn Chidsey at third base, who couldn’t corral the ball in time for a play at first. With two runners on base, Casey Jackson hit a grounder to third and Chidsey made the double play, tagging third and throwing to first. Kolby Burger then popped out to end the inning.
Lily Dawson led off the bottom of the first with a grounder through the infield, but was then tagged stealing at second on a perfect throw from Jackson behind the plate. The Cougars’ right-hander Ciara Samuel then got out of further trouble, striking out the next two Morgan batters.
After Popp pitched her way out of the top of the second, Tori Hopkins started the bottom of the frame for the Huskies in a big way, dropping in a hit just inside the right field foul line and sprinting to second just ahead of the tag. Hopkins advanced to third on Kelsey Donaldson’s grounder to the pitcher and Kelsey Hopkins was then walked. As Kelsey Hopkins attempted to steal second and was caught up between bases, Tori Hopkins stole home and put Morgan on the board, 1-0. With two outs, Samuel continued to waver and walked Popp. Courtesy runner Sydney Chomiz went to steal on a wild pitch, but was thrown out by another strong throw from Jackson on the recovery.
In the top of the third with one out, HK scored its one and only run of the game. Fortuna hit a single to left field to bring up McCann, who duplicated Fortuna’s hit. With two on and one out, Jackson popped out and then Burger put HK on the board with an RBI single to left field. Meghan Sepeega then hit an infield pop-up to end the inning with the score tied 1-1.
In the bottom of the frame, Samuel made quick work of Morgan’s batters, forcing three consecutive groundouts and in the top of the fourth, Popp gave up a hit to Meghan Cerino, but forced groundouts the rest of the way to go unscathed.
Jen Dawson began the bottom of the fourth with a bloop single to right field and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Samuel that skirted past the catcher. Dawson then scored on Fitzgerald’s RBI double to left field to put Morgan up 2-1. Tori Hopkins then slapped the ball to the infield for the first out and Fitzgerald was tagged out at third on a heads-up play by Burger. Kelsey Donaldson notched a single, but Samuel got Kelsey Hopkins to pop out and the Huskies went into the fifth with a 2-1 advantage.
Chidsey flashed some leather at third base in the fifth and made a diving stop before throwing Fortuna out at first. With two outs, Jackson tested Chidsey again at third, who made another sparkling play for the final out to preserve the Huskies’ lead.
“This feels great. We won it in volleyball and I just wanted to do it again, especially against HK who beat us last year,” said Chidsey. “I knew that HK does like to go to the left side and I knew I had to be there on defense. Plus, Jen [Dawson] and I work together really well, too.”
Despite a leadoff walk to Popp, Samuel worked out of trouble in the bottom of the frame to bring up the Cougars in the top of the sixth. Burger started off the frame with a single to center and Sepeega followed that up with an infield blooper as Burger slid into second just ahead of the tag to give HK two runners on with no outs. Rachel Senechad popped out and Cerino hit a single that allowed Burger to be tagged out by Jen Dawson heading to third before Delaney Vumback grounded out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Jen Dawson started things off with a single to right field, but was out at second on a fielder’s choice on Fitzgerald’s single. Tori Hopkins then scorched the ball right at Samuel, who couldn’t quite handle the play and with one out, two Morgan runners were on base. But Samuel worked out of trouble, forcing Donaldson into a popout and Kelsey Hopkins into a groundout.
It was last licks for HK in the top of the seventh and Julia Babbitt grounded out to second, followed by Fortuna striking out looking. McCann then slipped one up the middle before Jackson also hit a left field single, giving the Cougars some fire late in the game. With two on and two outs, Fiorillo called a meeting at the mound, which was immediately followed by Burger’s out and a celebration at the mound as the Huskies claimed the title with the 2-1 victory.
“Coach said to us on the mound, ‘We just need one more out and the championship is ours, let’s just do it and get it done. We know we’re going to do it, so let’s just get it done,’” said Popp.
Fiorillo recognizes that championships stem from a number of aspects, many of which are behind the scenes.
“My two assistant coaches are just great: Scott Chidsey is our infield coach and Richie Hopkins is our hitting coach; being without them, we wouldn’t have had the success we have had. I’m just so proud of these kids,” said Fiorillo. “This is the first title I’ve won as a head coach, so this is pretty special. I don’t know if it was revenge so much as it was finishing the job. One of the things we talked about was embracing the moment. This year we have a lot of wisdom—we understand what we need to do in big games now.”