CASTLETON, Vt. — After the initial hugs and screams and tears, after the VPA Division III softball trophy had been presented to Oxbow High for the fifth consecutive year and individual medals were handed out Saturday, coach Chuck Simmons herded his team into shallow left field at Vermont State University-Castleton.

Fifteen minutes after the top-seeded Olympians defeated second-seeded BFA-Fairfax, 13-0, the fifth-year boss circled his players up and took a knee. Simmons took his time talking to them, knowing it was the last time this exact group would sit together, dirt on their uniforms, sweat on their skin, joy in their hearts.

The well-wishers — moms clutching camera phones, boyfriends bantering with each other — could wait. As he’d preached all season, Simmons wanted his players to savor the moment.

“Every year is special to me because for four months of the year, they’re all my kids,” Simmons said later. “I like having a big family, and there’s no better way to celebrate Father’s Day than with a championship.”

Oxbow posted its 13th shutout of the season and its closest game was a 5-0 defeat of Division II runner-up Lyndon. The Olympians have won 66 consecutive contests and during Saturday’s game, a Bullets fan held aloft a sign reading “Wrong Division — AGAIN” in protest. His team finished 13-3.

Simmons previously said his school missed a deadline to file for competition in a higher division several years ago. Saturday he wasn’t sure where things currently stand.

“It would be fun to play up, because I think we could do really well,” he said.

The Olympians (18-0) won’t be able to take pitcher Stassi Bourgeois with them, however. The senior hurled her final game Saturday, a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts and no walks. Her changeup left multiple Bullets batters out in front and off-balance.

“She’s stone cold,” said classmate Maggi Ellsworth of a player headed to pitch at West Virginia State University next season. “I think I saw her smile once or twice tonight. For her to not get frazzled up is amazing to me. She’s 100% business.”

Said BFA-Fairfax coach Frank Drury: “She’s got all the pitches. She has a great changeup that’s always a strike, plus the rise ball and the drop. It’s not blistering speed, but she has location and she gets batters into tough counts.”

First baseman Brooke Osgood, a sophomore, had two hits and three RBIs. Juniors Maize Bourgeois and Noemi Rosa and Ellsworth each had two hits. Maize Bourgeois hit a no-doubt home run over the left-field fence, part of an offensive outburst that gave the Olympians an 8-0 lead after two innings.

“Maize hit four or five home runs last season and she’d only hit one so far this season, so I knew she’d eventually come alive,” Simmons said of a catcher who was voted the Capital League A co-player of the year. “She got a hold of that ball and that made a statement.”

During Oxbow’s postgame talk, the championship plaque rested in Ellsworth’s lap. The shortstop suffered a serious knee injury during a soccer game late in 2023 and couldn’t play softball last spring. A product of Topsham-Corinth youth teams coached by her father, Jesse, she’s headed to Norwich University and hopes to play basketball for the Cadets.

“I get emotional thinking about a girl who supported her team last year and this year she earned her spot back at shortstop,” said Simmons, who loses only Stassi Bourgeois and Ellsworth to graduation. “I’m super proud of how she overcame surgery and it means so much for her to end her softball career this way.”

Tris Wykes can be reached at ctwykes@aol.com.