Wildcats eager to add to championship tradition

By RICK WILSON

SEYMOUR — It’s not about being there. It’s about winning there. The goals have always been lofty for the Seymour softball program. The Wildcats play to win a state championship. There is pride in creating the opportunity, but there is a lust for the winning result.

The No. 3 Wildcats tangle with No. 5 Rocky Hill for the Class M title tonight at 7 at DeLuca Field in Stratford. Seymour will be making its 17th appearance in a state championship game and will be seeking its 10th title. Rocky Hill won its only other appearance in the Class M final, defeating Granby, 6-0, in 2012.

The rich history and disappointment of a semifinal loss to St. Joseph a year ago has increased the championship appetite for the Naugatuck Valley League champion Wildcats, who last won the crown in 2014 over East Haven.

“The young kids are hungry. The sophomores want it bad,” said Seymour coach Ken Pereiras. “Up and down the lineup, they all want it. Once you’ve had the feeling of winning a state championship, it’s a nice feeling and you want to do it again.”

Seymour (25-1) appears to be in peak form after dusting Stonington, 10-1, in the semifinals with a lethal 17-hit attack highlighted by two-run home runs from Beca Findlay and Chelsea Avila. Findlay had four hits and Tori Kellogg three in the onslaught.

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Pitcher Raeanne Geffert, a certified member of the pantheon of great Seymour hurlers, was equally impressive with a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts.

Rocky Hill and Seymour have a tad bit of history with the Wildcats defeating the Terriers, 4-3, in the 2014 semifinals. Rocky Hill (22-1), ranked ninth in the state, will be a formidable opponent.

The Terriers upended top-ranked St. Joe, 1-0, in the semis behind the six-hit pitching of Jessica Greenspan.

“Greenspan has a lot of pitches — changeup, riser, curveball, the whole bag of tricks,” said Pereiras. “Is she going to blow the ball by us? I don’t know. But she moves the ball around. I don’t think she will overpower us, but she moves the ball around. St. Joe is a very good hitting team, and they only got six hits off her.”

Greenspan can also wield a productive bat as her triple followed by a suicide squeeze from Arianna Genovese provided the only run in the semifinal win.

Key players for Seymour include, from left, Amanda Harkins, Rebecca Johnson, Beca Findley, Cassie Rossetti and Raeanne Geffert. (Erin Covey/RA)

The Terriers’ only loss was a 3-2 decision to powerful Southington. The teams do have one opponent in common: Woodland. Seymour beat the Hawks, 6-2, then squeezed out a 1-0 win in the NVL Tournament. Meanwhile, Rocky Hill blasted the Hawks, 14-0, in their opening game of the tournament.

So what to make of that?

“What I read into it is that (Rocky Hill) is pretty good,” said Pereiras. “Maybe they’re the favorite in this game.”

Rocky Hill rolled through the early games of the tournament, following the defeat of Woodland with a 16-1 win over Coginchaug. Things tightened up after that, with 11 innings needed to subdue North Branford, 5-2, before the St. Joe game.

Meanwhile, Seymour has been efficient, defeating Montville, 5-1; nipping Oxford, 1-0, and dumping Granby, 6-1, before the Stonington win.

Does experience favor Seymour? Maybe.

“You hope it does, and it will help prepare them, but they are kids. It is really going to come down to the team that executes,” said Pereiras.

All Geffert knows is that the Wildcats are primed. “We are always ready,” she said, “no matter who it is.”