By BOB YORK
A little bit of old and a little bit of new helped spark the Deerfield Academy softball team to a 4-6 record this season.
As for the old, that was rather far and few between as you glanced down this year’s Big Green roster. Just two seniors – two-year team captain Hannah Insuik and Elisabeth Perez – could be found on this year’s roster. The remaining 10 will return in hopes of at least reversing this spring’s showing.
“We had a very young team this year,” said coach Becca Sherburne, “but the kids learned a lot and we’re hoping they use the experience they gained this year to put it to work next year.
“We’ve obviously got a strong nucleus returning from this season and I know we’ve got some strong candidates coming in and between the two, I think we have the opportunity to be a really strong softball team.”
As she did her entire career at Deerfield, Insuik lugged a booming bat to the plate, and, as before, produced a plus .300 batting average. Her bat and her play behind the plate combined to earn her a berth on the Western New England Prep School Softball League All-Star team, and later would play a part in her being named the recipient of this year’s Deerfield Softball Award.
On the younger end of the Deerfield softball spectrum, freshman Taylor Morash proved to be the glue to the Big Green infield. Despite her rookie status, she played fluidly at shortstop by gathering up just about every ground ball that was hit her way. Offensively, she came up big at the plate, too, finishing the season with a plus .300 batting average as well.
Kayla O’Connor (14) handled the third base chores in able fashion this spring, while Caroline Baldwin (14) was situated at first base.
As for the Big Green’s pitching department, that consisted of Amanda Deskavich (16) and Elly Stankovits (16), “and although they were both just freshmen, they did pretty well for themselves,” said Sherburne. “They both have good speed and they can change their pitches up to keep opposing batters off balance.”