BRADFORD, Vt. — The defending VPA Division III state softball champions don’t exactly play in an imposing venue. There’s no outfield fence, the backstop extends a mere few feet on either side of home plate and the only seating structure is a tiny portable bleacher stand down each foul line.
But the Oxbow High girls make their abode work just fine. The Olympians have built a dynasty of sorts in recent years, winning three of the last four state titles and most recently beating BFA-Fairfax in last year’s championship game to cap off Chuck Simmons’ first season as head coach.
A small town like Bradford, in a climate far from conducive to year-round outdoor sports, does not become a softball hotbed overnight. Several Oxbow players play on travel teams, and the feeder program has grown immensely over the years.
Robin Wozny finished her 28-year head coaching tenure with an undefeated championship season in 2017, and the Olympians repeated the following year under Carl Hildebrandt. After losing in the semifinals to White River Valley in 2019, Oxbow was back on top in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 season.
“They were a super positive group. They just learned to flush things and move on,” Simmons said. “Having (travel ball players) on the field makes everything else so much easier for all the girls. They feel a lot more comfortable having all those girls out there.”
Last year’s championship came with no shortage of adversity. Senior Sierra Longmoore made an inspirational comeback after being critically injured in a car accident the previous summer. Starting catcher Makenna Simmons, the coach’s daughter, underwent ankle surgery in mid-May. Her backup, Laila Ellsworth, collapsed on the field during Oxbow’s semifinal win, forcing Aspen Longmoore — Sierra’s twin sister and a shortstop by trade — to put on the catcher’s gear for the remainder of that game as well as the final.
With 10 returnees from that team, this year’s Olympians should be ready for any challenge that comes their way. They’ll be led in the pitcher’s circle by freshman Anastase Bourgeois, who threw nearly every game last year as an eighth grader and is on track to play Division I college softball. Bourgeois has help this season in the form of junior Brianna Gray, who started Oxbow’s opening game against Blue Mountain on Tuesday.
After Gray allowed a pair of unearned runs, Bourgeois relieved her in the third inning and retired all seven batters she faced. The Olympians came roaring back, scoring four runs in the fourth and then 10 in the fifth to win, 14-2, via the run rule.
“(Bourgeois) is a girl that is always driven by success,” Simmons said. “Even when in her mind she’s freaking out, she looks like she is composed. There’s nothing that’s going to knock her down, and that made a really big impact in that championship game.”
Oxbow returns most of its offensive production as well. Sophomore Hadlee Allen, who made the all-Southern Vermont League first team as a freshman a year ago, patrols center field. Makenna Simmons, now a junior, is back behind the plate, and the infield contains the senior core of Taylor Bean, Darcy O’Connell and Alexa Kosakowski.
Kosakowski, the third baseman, said Simmons’ practices are difficult and fun at the same time, and he does a good job getting the players to trust in their preparation.
“The softball program has always been great because we’ve always had good and dedicated coaches who always put the team first,” Kosakowski said. “Chuck would do anything for any single one of us on the team, which is really important. It makes it more of a family than a team, and I’ve never been on a softball team like that.”
The Olympians will face a pair of difficult tests later this week, starting with a trip to Lyndon, last year’s Division II state champion, on Thursday. Oxbow then heads to South Royalton on Saturday to face White River Valley, which enjoyed an undefeated regular season last year and was the top seed in the Division III playoffs before being upset in the semifinals by BFA-Fairfax.
Those games early in the season will teach the Olympians a lot about what they do well and what they still have to work on as they chase back-to-back titles.
“They understand what it takes to be leaders,” Simmons said. “The starters I have coming back are what makes (this team) just as good or even better.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.