Turning it Around for Portland Softball

Adversity brings out the best in players or the worst. Thus far, the Portland High School softball team (1-7) is showing its resiliency and perseverance in a season that started out with seven straight losses. The first win of 2011 came on Friday, when the Highlanders defeated visiting Windsor Locks 8-1 for the first varsity victory for freshman pitcher Morgan Wyslick.

Before Friday’s victory, there had been no quit and no loss of purpose as the Highlanders had compiled an 0-6 record in the Shoreline Conference. Portland hadn’t quite done well enough on the mound, with the gloves, on the base paths or at bat to have earned a victory before its eighth game of the season. Injuries were playing a role as well.

Coach Dave Opuszynski admitted that confidence was beginning to erode after the 0-7 start. Two of the losses were close. The season opener was a 9-7 loss at home to Goodwin Tech, and on April 15, Cromwell escaped Portland with a 5-4 win. The other five losses were more lopsided – they had been decided by a total of 65 runs.

Opuszynski essentially issued a challenge to the team following a five-inning 22-0 loss to Hale Ray on April 20. Two days later, the Highlanders responded by beating Windsor Locks (1-6).

“We met with the team after the Hale Ray game,” Opuszynski said. “They were facing big challenges from big teams. They were beginning to develop the expectation that they’d be playing poorly. We, the coaches, reinforced their ability and strengths. I challenged them to step up and play to their ability and not to be overwhelmed. It seemed like they came through. They answered the challenge with a good game on Friday.”

The game against Windsor Locks didn’t start out so promising. Sophomore pitcher Megan Wache was missing her second straight start, tending to a lingering injury to her lower back but able to play in the field. The Raiders grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning off Wyslick. But junior captain and catcher Meagan Morris drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, then Wache singled to give Portland a 2-1 lead.

It stayed that way until the sixth inning when the Highlanders added six runs. Erin Fitzpatrick hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly, then Morris drove in two runs with a single for a 5-1 lead. Wache singled to put runners on first and third before stealing second base. Emily Guilmette followed with a two-run double and Nicole Caruso closed it out with an RBI single.

“He told us to step it up. We talked about how we go back to whatever caused the old Portland funk,” Morris said. “We’d have one bad inning, we’d hang our heads and that’s been the problem.”

That wasn’t the feeling on Friday against Windsor Locks, Morris said.

“We had a lot less errors,” she said. “We only had a couple of errors. We didn’t have one of our bad innings. Morgan pitched the whole game. She did great. They left a lot of runners on. At first we had trouble hitting. Then we caught on. The second pitcher they had in there was a lot easier to hit.”

Five strikeouts, six hits and two walks punctuated Wyslick’s complete game. Against Hale Ray, she was relieved by Sarah Nesci. Wyslick and Nesci might be replacing the two players who started the year as pitchers, Wache and Alex Decina, sophomores who pitched last year.

“Megan [Wache] is seeking treatment and we’re waiting to hear if she has limitations, if any,” Opuszynski said. “We want to see what we can do to facilitate her stretching.”

The Highlanders lost five starters from last year’s team that went 3-17, so everyone was expecting them to be more competitive than they have been to date. The goal, Morris said, was to improve on their win total from 2010.

Portland will look to build on the win on Monday when the Highlanders travel to Clinton to play Morgan at 3:45 p.m. in a conference game.

“We’re hoping success breeds success,” Opuszynksi said.