Good morning!
The St. Michael’s College softball team in northern Vermont hasn’t had a winning season since it began posting records online in 2006. After last season’s 18-19-1 record, coach Nick Goodreau was hopeful a talented freshman class and solid group of sophomores would help put the Purple Knights in the black, but that was before losing his two best players — pitcher Kate Parker and catcher Brooke Bishop who was All WMass at Drury— to season-ending injuries.
Their absence helped push freshmen Madi Liimatainen of Turners Falls High School and Shaylee Branon of Monadnock Regional High School in Swanzey, New Hampshire, into more prominent roles. Off the field they’re roommates and on it they anchor the left side of the infield — Liimatainen at shortstop and Branon at third base.
The season began March 13 at the USSSA Space Coast Complex in Viera, Florida, former spring training home of the Washington Nationals. “We’re here to see where the pressure cracks are and find ten or eleven players we can count on,” Goodreau said.
There was a time when teams could fix their weaknesses under the radar, but nowadays the games are livestreamed and anyone can watch. The saying goes that being there is twice the fun, so I rented a car and drove 100 miles up I-95 in a Plymouth that kept beeping and messaging me that I needed a coffee break.
Like manmade lakes and faux rock siding, Viera’s one of those instant cities in Florida that developers seem to build overnight. Once called Cocoa Ranch, today there’s a Viera East and a Viera West, determined by which side of the interstate you exit. It has gas stations, banks and Strarbucks but few trees and no sense of community.
It was supposed to be the longtime spring training home of the Washington Nationals, but the Nats moved to West Palm Beach in 2017 when they finally realized nobody was going to drive that far for Grapefruit League games.
The U.S. Specialty Sports Association subsequently signed a long-term lease with Brevard County and now hosts year-round baseball and softball tournaments, similar to what happened in Vero Beach after the Dodgers left town.
Local restaurants advertised “$3 drafts and $6 happy hour food specials… free ice pops for every kid.” A steady 20 mph wind blew under dark cumulus clouds and the “ping” of balls off aluminum bats echoed across the diamonds into parking lots where buses from as far off as Canada were parked.
Supervisors putted around in golf carts and parents ambled past concession stands in T-shirts emblazoned with the school colors of teams from St. Anselm, Widener, Minnesota State and so on.
Madi’s mother was an outstanding athlete at Keene State who died when she was young. Her father Jay was in the stands with his brother Pat who lives in Millers Falls. Former TFHS player Holly Myers was in Viera with the University of Hartford, and Colrain’s Hannah Gilbert who played for Tech was playing for the Mass. College of Liberal Arts — better known as North Adams State College to alums like Bingville’s Bill Wardwell.
The Purple Knights were watching Wayne State take infield practice. Liimatainen was wearing No. 33 — her father’s number in high school — because sophomore Ella Nickerson was wearing her own No. 5 from TFHS.
I spotted the coach at the end of the dugout, introduced myself and asked him about Madi. “She’s coming along,” said Goodreau, who’s about 35 and a no-nonsense sort. “College softball is an adjustment, the entire level goes up.”
The Purple Knights had already lost to D’Youville University of Buffalo, 5-4, Saint Thomas Aquinas College of Orangeburg, New York, 8-0, and Purdue (Ind.) Northwest University, 9-2, but had beaten Felician University of East Rutherford, New Jersey, 6-3. Liimatainen played in three of the four games and made two errors in her first college start.
“It’s a nerve thing,” said Goodreau. “This isn’t Turners Falls. She needs to realize ‘I can’t take this long to throw the ball anymore.”
Liimatainen was batting fifth in the lineup and St. Mike’s was trailing 4-2 when she lined a two-out double to right-center field to drive in two runs and tie the score 4-4. Shortly afterward thunder rumbled and the skies opened up and the umps cleared the field.
When play resumed Wayne State took command and won, 11-5. By then I was on I-95 driving through a pouring rain back to Jupiter.
Later that afternoon Goodreau put Liimatainen in the circle against Minnesota State, which was like Don Zimmer starting rookie Bobby Sprowl against the Yankees in 1978. Mankata as it’s referred to by Minnesotans is not a program to be trifled with. The Mavericks were 21-7 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last season and made it to the NCAA D-II Regionals. Five years ago the hockey team reached the Frozen Four.
Sprowl pitched two-thirds of an inning against the Yankees, walked four batters and gave up three runs; Liimatainen faced eight batters, got two outs and allowed six unearned runs on two hits and three walks. The game was run-ruled, 14-2.
“She was very nervous,” her father texted. “It’s all part of it.”
Goodreau concurred: “There has to be a struggle component in order to grow.”
After ten games in the Florida heat, the Purple Knights flew to New York to play Pace University, the defending D-II Northeast Ten Conference champions and were swept four straight.
The good news is that Liimatainen has established herself as an everyday player — one of the ten or eleven that Goodreau can count on. She leads the team in slugging percentage (.531) and doubles (5) and is fourth in hitting (.281). In the field, she’s made only one error in 41 chances since her first game.
On Saturday she smacked her first collegiate home run, a three-run blast in the sixth inning of a 15-8 loss. This weekend the Purple Knights are in Waltham for back-to-back doubleheaders against Bentley. They’re 2-10 but losing is incentive to win, even if it takes a year.
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According to Elite Prospects, Greenfield’s Asa Bouchard has moved up to the Boston Hockey Academy’s Under-15 team after scoring 15 goals with 11 assists in 75 games for the Under-14’s. Prior to that he scored 50 goals in 70 games for the Springfield Jr. Thunderbirds.
On its website, the BHA characterizes itself as “A Tier 1 hockey academy that offers high-end development [with} more NHL scouts in Greater Boston than anywhere in North America.”
“He’s 14 and that’s a critical year for development,” says power skating instructor Kerry Togneri.
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SQUIBBERS: After Dylan Darling’s winning layup with no time left against Kansas on Sunday, CBS courtside reporter Tracy Wolfson asked him what St. John’s coach Rick Pitino was doing during the time out. “Yelling at me,” said Darling. “Yelling at me per usual. Telling me to do something. It was ugly but we got it done. We got a bunch of dogs.” … Deerfield Academy’s new dining hall “The Brick” will be officially dedicated today. The commons is named for Brick Johnson, Class of ’25 and heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune. … The UMass hockey team averaged 5,405 fans in the Mullins Center this season, tenth best in the nation and second only to BC in New England. … Memo to Al Norman — Thanks for the compliment but we had Holsteins on the farm, not Guernseys. … If the Red Sox want to go deep in the playoffs Roman Anthony will need to be the Fred Lynn of this century. In 1975, Lynn batted .331 and led the league in runs (103), doubles (47) and slugging (.566). … It’s a different world, South Florida. Waiting for an oil change at Schumaker Subaru in Delray, I took a stroll through the showroom and saw an Outback with an aluminum ladder on the passenger side that led to a canvas tent on top, the rich folks’ idea of roughing it.