You make the call: Lincoln-Sudbury softball catchers control the flow of games
SUDBURY – The rush of air blows through Ashleigh Lent's mask when the softball pops her glove.
She waits a beat before throwing it back to her pitcher or carries it back to the dugout if it ends the inning.
"There's no greater feeling than catching that strikeout pitch," Lent said.
But it's about more than catching a ball or missing a bat for Lincoln-Sudbury's junior catcher. The strikeout pitch doesn't happen if the pitcher doesn't hit her spot or without the two strikes before it, the pitches fouled off or balls thrown in the correct areas around the zone. Lent calls nearly every pitch the Warriors staff throws when she's behind the plate. Ditto for her little sister Nicole when she catches.
"I love pitch calling," Ashleigh Lent said. "It's one of my favorite aspects of the game."
She started catching in elementary school, entering the family business. Her dad Jon Lent played catcher at Clinton – winning a state championship in 1993 – and Hamilton College. Her grandfather John Lent also caught at Maynard.
"I come from a family of catchers, so It's kind of in my blood," Ashleigh Lent said. "It's almost instinct."
Lent asked L-S coach Devan Morrison if she could call pitches when she joined the varsity program as a freshman. The Ashland-raised Morrison played at Marian and Southern New Hampshire. She caught and played in the outfield, playing for some coaches that called games from the dugout and others that let her decide.
Morrison didn't need to be convinced to hand the freshman the reigns.
"I value the high IQ of the catchers we have, the knowledge that our pitchers have," she said. "I have all the trust in them to do it. If they're stuck, I'll help them, or if I have a pitch that I think should be thrown in a specific situation, I'll call it. But for the most part they've called more than 99 percent of the pitches this season."
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They've made the right calls so far. Lincoln-Sudbury is 5-0 this season. The Warriors have thrown three shutouts and didn't allow a hit in an extra-innings win over Silver Lake last week. Both Ashleigh and Nicole catch, while L-S features a three-strong pitching rotation among reigning Dual County League MVP and UMass commit Kelsey Blanchette, Lia Mazzochi - who just struck out her 200th batter, and Sophie Jojorian, author of one of the shut outs.
"You really do have to know all three of your pitchers in and out to be able to call games for them confidently," Morrison said. "It's relationship building."
L-S' pitchers and catchers grew up playing together. They check in before games based on scouting reports and agree about what's working and what isn't. Ashleigh Lent knows her pitchers' favorite pitch, their comfort strike one pitch and their two-strike pitch to get the batter out. The catcher delivers the pitch signs pointing between her legs so the pitcher can decipher them but away from the batters' eyes. The Warriors began tracking batters this season to tailor strategy for subsequent at bats based on previous results.
"We stick to the plan, and I trust her. If I don't like it, which I rarely don't like it. I usually like what she calls," Blanchette said. "Ashley does a good job not just making me throw but making the pitch and really be decisive about which pitch and then throwing one."
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Those relationships lead to an understanding as they work through hitters. Both parts of the battery discern what works and what doesn't. Ashleigh Lent will go to the mound when she can tell her pitcher is off or needs a moment. L-S met with its pitchers and catchers before the season started and asked them what they wanted to hear when they are struggling so the Warriors could deliver the right message instead of cliched "you got this" or "you're doing great."
"It's really cool because we have a lot of girls on this team that play year round or for club teams in the area and that want to play at the next level in college," Morrison said. "they are looking for that next level. And to be able to bring a little bit of that next level to the high school program is really cool. Because it's about more than just picking pitches to throw them. You've got to look at all the other parts of the game broken down."
Contact Kyle Grabowski at kgrabowski@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kylegrbwsk.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Lincoln-Sudbury softball catchers call their own games to great effect
