No one can remember the last time the Farmington Girls Softball U9/10 Allstars team – usually made up of Farmington and Plainville girls - won the District 5 Title.
This year, the team got no girls from Plainville, took all who tried out and still made history, coming out on top at the end of a great season.
The team, led by dad and Farmington Youth Softball League Tony Sardilli, won the 2012 District 5 Tournament and went on to play some great games in sectionals. The girls finished in fourth place in Section 1.
“In the district tournament, we played Berlin, Bristol and Wallingford and we did unbelievable. We outscored our opponents 59-2 in five games,” Sardilli said. “The top two teams advanced to play the best 2 out of 3 and we finished 3-0 in that round. Berlin was second, we played htem the best two out of three and beat them in three games.”
Much of the team’s strength came from its pitching, by Jessica Sardilli and Mackenzie Collins.
“We didn’t have to play a lot of defense on the field because our pitching carried it out,” Sardilli said.
Jessica’s record, in which she pitched three no-hitters and one one-hitter, was remarkable, Sardilli said. Mackenzie walked six or seven girls and gave up one hit, Sardilli said.
Mackenzie also ended the season with the team’s top batting average: .600. Jessica ended at .571.
The team had other strong hitters, including Carolyn Piera, who, with an average of .583, scored 13 of the team’s runs, according to the coach. Carolyn also played shortstop and Sardilli called “my general on the field.”
He also has high praise for catcher Sydney Caccamo, who caught every inning of every game the team played.
“She was a rock behind the plate,” the coach said.
And he credits her with helping the pitchers succeed.
“A good catcher can make a good pitcher great and a bad catcher can make a good pitcher bad,” Sardilli said. “The girls had never played together before but they were super comfortable together. It’s amazing how they got along.”
“It was a great group of girls. A lot of them knew each other for the last few years, some played together on their teams this year and some knew each other but had never played together,” Sardilli said. “They had great chemistry.”
The coaching staff did, too, he said. Chris Caccamo, Mary Mihalek and Alane Wolkoff led the team with Sardilli.
“Not one of us could have guided this team alone,” he said. “It was a true team effort on the field with the girls and a true team effort with the coaches.”
