NORWICH — When the Hanover High softball team visits archrival Lebanon on Friday, it will load bats, balls and a hefty dose of optimism onto its bus.
The Bears are off to an 0-4 start and are a combined 4-29 the past three seasons. But you sure wouldn’t know it by watching them.
During a 24-1 loss to previously winless Bow on Monday, Hanover’s players competed intensely, made several nice fielding plays and left the Dresden Athletic Fields upbeat and chattering about the contest.
“They’re such a happy group of kids, and I don’t want them to lose that,” said fifth-year coach Mariruth Graham, a local Realtor and former college player and coach. “But they want to win, and they’re not satisfied with losing.”
Hanover and Lebanon are in nearly identical softball situations. Neither has much of a feeder system at the elementary- and middle-school levels, meaning many of the players take the sport up in ninth grade. Neither has a full-time, paid assistant coach or a junior varsity team.
The Bears, in NHIAA Division II, and the Raiders, in Division III, must often contend with polished opponents who play club softball in the summer and fall. This produces a specific inequity in pitching, where experienced foes may throw faster than 50 mph and feature three different types of pitches.
The biggest softball hurdle for both Upper Valley schools, however, is that athletes are siphoned off by lacrosse, track and crew. Others choose to specialize in soccer or basketball at the club level during the spring. Those who remain are often hesitant to join a team that loses so often. Hanover has been outscored, 63-1, so far this spring; Lebanon has as well, 116-64.
So why not ask the NHIAA to play in Division III, where Graham said the Bears played the past two seasons? Well, it didn’t make much difference.
“I found Division III schools don’t offer as many spring sports as we do, so more of the spring athletes play softball,” said the coach, whose team travels to road games in the same vehicle as the Hanover baseball team. “It balances out. The Division III trips are a lot shorter on the bus, but the competition is just as good.”
In addition, the NHIAA recently implemented a rule that teams petitioning to play at a lower level than their enrollment would indicate aren’t eligible for postseason play. While presumably created to stop teams from dropping a division in search of an easier route to a state title, it doesn’t seem to take long-struggling programs like Hanover and Lebanon softball into account.
Lebanon athletic director Mike Stone encountered a tough choice last year when he had to decide whether or not to ask for his softball team to remain in Division III after the current two-year scheduling cycle ends after this season. Stay down and have no chance at the playoffs, or be put back in Division II with bigger schools?
Stone, at that point optimistic he could hire an experienced coach and that enough players would sign up to allow Lebanon to field a JV team for a second consecutive season, made the latter choice. But a pair of coaching candidates fell through and fewer players joined the program. So the Raiders (1-4), led by first-year coach and attendance secretary Bethany Robinson, will be joining the Bears in Division II next spring.
For Graham, winning and losing is secondary. The onetime Dartmouth assistant coach has had two children go through the Hanover school system. She believes students shouldn’t merely jump from one grind to another when leaving the classroom for the playing field.
“There’s a lot of pressure at Hanover academically, and this is a great opportunity to learn how to fail and come back from it,” said Graham, who attended the University of Virginia. “Nobody’s going to get hurt, and it’s not going to mess up your college applications if you miss a ground ball. It’s more what you do afterwards and how to deal with adversity in real time.”
Graham, who talks and teaches constantly during practices and games, is aided in that effort by senior catcher Haily Stewart, the Bears’ best and most experienced player. A club ball competitor during junior high, she’s a four-year starter and a fountain of positivity.
“I’ve never fallen out of love with this sport,” Stewart said. “This is my happy place. We’re focusing on overall knowledge of the game and knowing what you need to do with the ball in a given situation.
“Physical mistakes you can only control so much, but you have to keep your head in the game.”
To that end, Graham took her players to a Dartmouth College contest earlier this season, having each of them watch their fielding position and discussing how and why certain plays were made or fumbled.
The Bears also gathered at her home one evening to watch a college game on ESPN. Graham often paused the telecast to ask questions and point out how higher-level players handle occurrences such as a dropped third strike, tagging up on a fly out and the infield fly rule.
“You have to play this game a lot to understand it, and it’s helpful if you start at age 9, but that’s not the case with most of our players,” Graham said. “After games, I let the girls talk. It’s better when they pipe up about what we did well and where we need to improve.”
Said Stewart: “I love these players and this opportunity to play, whether we’re winning or not.”
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com.