Cheney Tech Softball Season Perfect So Far

Two jet-black braids framed Katie Sirois mischievous smile as her teammates took care of the post-game field maintenance behind her Monday afternoon.

She was talking softball with a visitor near third base on the bright green turf behind Howell-Cheney Technical School in Manchester and enjoying a little down time.

Chances are pretty good that she won’t be called out for neglecting chores.

Moments earlier, the senior from Enfield helped the Beavers extend their season-long winning streak to 14 games with a crisp 14-2, complete game victory over Grasso Tech. She pitched again Tuesday in 24-6 win over Putnam High and had a start rained out on Wednesday. But she will take the ball when Cheney (15-0) throws down against Constitution State Conference rival Goodwin Tech (13-2) on Friday (May 11) at home under the lights.

Life is pretty good for Katie Sirois this spring. She is Cheney’s female scholar-athlete, will be a double-major (forensic science and criminal justice) and pitch at Bay Path College next year. But for now, she is savoring her senior year and focused on her team’s quest to defend the conference title.

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“My only sport is on the field here,” Sirois said. “I was born and raised on the softball field and I can pitch every day. This is a dream.”

Sirois has enjoyed success throughout her four-year career at Cheney, having been part of two championships – a regular season title in 2009 when she was a freshman and a tournament championship last spring. Sirois is one of four seniors, a captain and the go-to person for program founder and head coach Al Hovasse, but she doles out credit to her teammates easily.

“My arm does get tired at times from all of the movement,” she conceded stubbornly. “But I know that I have the support around me on field and I just go out there knowing my job for the team is to pitch.”

Sirois gets bat and glove support from first baseman Jackie Ellis (.597, team leading 37 RBI, 15 extra base hits) and shortstop Paige Marshall (.540, 40 runs, 17 steals) and power from outfielder Kristen Charest (four homers). But catcher Sierra Dockum gets the Oscar in the supporting role category.

Hovasse had envisioned Dockum, a junior from Coventry who is preparing for a career in the HVAC industry, as a middle infielder and had been playing her in the outfield when she volunteered to go behind the plate midway through last season.

“The biggest problem I’ve had when we had a good pitcher like Katie was getting a catcher,” Hovasse said. “I pretty much tried everyone. And Sierra, out of the blue, turned out to be outstanding.”

Dockum stabilized the position during last year’s championship run when Cheney posted a 20-4 record, and she has helped Sirois spin a 14-0 record with a 2.47 ERA so far this year.

“Sierra stepped in last year as a sophomore,” Sirois said of her battery-mate. “She said, ‘coach, if you need me I can catch.’ We worked on her all last year. She is that girl that never gives up and this year stepped up even more. She cracks me up when I’m on the mound - we throw jokes between pitches. People won’t hear it, but we look at each and we know what we are saying.”

Is Hovasse, who started the program as a club in 2000, surprised that his jokesters are still undefeated this late in the season?

“At this point a little bit,” said Hovasse, who teaches culinary arts at the school. “We won the league championship last year and only lost two players, so we knew we were going to be good. But how good we were going to be determined by how they carry themselves. And so far they have been focused. We have our two toughest league games coming up with Goodwin Tech on Friday night and we have Wilcox Tech (May 16 in Meriden) where we will see some better than average high school pitching coming in. Those will be our real tests before we get into our tournament.”

Sirois and her teammates, who she refers to as “little sisters,” are trying to play things inning by inning, game by game. But the tournaments, the CSC and CIAC state, are hard topics to avoid.

“The goal for the team is to defend the championship,” Sirois said. “We have a lot of new girls who are determined to push us and help us win the championship. But right now we are not even looking at the tournament we are just focusing on each game ahead of us.”

An undefeated season is unlikely, but Hovasse’s girls are going to max out their potential and give it a run.

“We are like a big family,” the charismatic pitcher with the big smile and black braids said. “So if you have the determination like every girl on my team has, we can do whatever we put our minds to.”