Swampscott Girls Play the Game

Swampscott Girls Play the Game at Another Level

When it comes to the local girls’ softball team, it’s best to have Lauren Fahey sum it up. Lauren, a seventh-grader, lives in Swampscott and has this to say about playing for the North Shore Breakers softball team.

"Being part of the Breakers means a lot to me. It means being friends with people who live beyond Swampscott. I think this team has made me a better softball player by having practiced with the 3 age groups at the same time, so I can play with different girls who are older, and I can learn from coaches who coach different ages."

Or this, from Gianna Irving, also a seventh-grader who lives in Swampscott: "I am very grateful to be a part of the Breakers team.  It has made me into a hard worker, a better player and a leader. The tournaments are very challenging, but we all come together as a team and work really hard to do our best at each game. I especially love cheering for my teammates and seeing each other's progress every week.”

Quite a lot of Swampscott residents play on each of the Breakers’ three teams: age 10 and under, 12 and under, and age 14 and under. These teams did not exist a few years ago.

Both Lauren and Gianna—and all of Swampscott, actually—have Heather Vieira Husain to thank for the opportunity to play the game. Heather founded the team, and she is actively engaged in managing and maintaining the integrity of the three teams. Heather is engaged with the team in several significant ways, and it’s because of her that there is even an opportunity for local girls to play fastpitch softball.

Heather has lived in Swampscott for four years, moving to the area from Connecticut with her husband. They love living in Swampscott and are grateful they decided on living here.

Heather says, “we really try to develop the players in a competitive sport, and at a level that did not exist before the Breakers were founded.” The Breakers play all year. When the team can’t play/practice outside, they work on their skills inside, at the Beverly Sports Complex, which is also one of the sponsors of the team.

Heather and her colleagues have also built a relationship with the Salem State Vikings softball team. Salem’s coaches and players visit the Breakers each winter to conduct one of the team’s practices; additionally, the Breakers frequently attend the Vikings’ games. It’s a meaningful partnership and has helped the Breakers grow and develop a better understanding of, and feel for, the game of fastpitch softball.

"Playing for the Breakers has been awesome. It has improved my softball skills by playing in tournaments throughout New England. I have also enjoyed making friends from the surrounding towns who play for the Breakers," says Maddie Lilley, a sixth-grader who lives in Swampscott.

These were Heather’s twin goals from the beginning: help the girls get better at a difficult sport and put them in a position to make friends and develop their social skills whenever they play.

Heather’s team (and she’s had ongoing help with the team from numerous local individuals and businesses) is a part of the USA Softball League. The USA League is a “feeder” group for the women who want to play the sport at the highest level, which includes the Olympics. According to its website, the “USA Softball provides people of all ages the opportunity to play the game they love at a variety of levels. USA Softball offers recreational, league, tournament and National Championship play for fast pitch, slow pitch and modified pitch and annually conducts over 100 National Championships.”

For the first time since 2008, women’s softball is again an Olympic sport. The United States team won the 2018 Women's Softball World Championship to qualify for the Olympics later this year in Tokyo.

Come June of 2020, 75 members of the Breaker family will attend an important event: the Stand Beside Her Tour, when the Olympic Bound Softball team plays an exhibition game in Massachusetts. As you might imagine the girls are anxiously awaiting an opportunity to see the US team before it heads off to Tokyo for the games, which begin in July.

Heather has been involved in girl’s fastpitch softball for years, and when she moved to Swampscott she noticed a deficiency in the options for local girls to play truly competitive softball. Heather set out to create a softball team that would play at the “travel team” level—which is to say, at a high, truly competitive level. The North Shore Breakers play throughout New England during the season.

It's because of Heather that there is even an opportunity for local girls to play fastpitch softball at a tournament level. And yet Heather easily adds that without the support of the local Swampscott community, she would never have been successful in getting the team off the ground.

If you’ve never seen a girls’ fastpitch softball game, then plan to do so this season. It’s an awesome experience. This is fastpitch, which means that excelling at it requires talent, of course, but also hard work and the discipline to train year-round. When Gianna says “the tournaments are very challenging” she is being honest and accurate.

If you have seen a girls’ fastpitch softball game, you’ll understand why it’s tough: because the players just simply work hard to be very good. And if you play on any of the three age-group teams, as many Swampscott residents do, then you should be congratulated. It means you’re good. And it means that you excel at a demanding sport. Playing fastpitch softball at any age is difficult because it’s such a tough sport—even more reason to congratulate all the players and particularly those who live in Swampscott.

With its numerous players on the team, Swampscott is a major contributor to the Breakers team. Most, certainly not all, players in the three “leagues” are residents of Swampscott.

Jocelyn Spickard, a seventh-grader from Swampscott, sums it up nicely: “They’re not just my teammates. They are all part of a softball family; a family that works hard, has fun, and doesn’t mind getting a little dirt on their uniforms.” Jocelyn may have just articulated what we all aspire to in life—working hard at something we love, making friends, and getting dirtied up now and then (because it’s good for the soul).

Now that the weather is improving, do yourself a favor and watch the girls play this spring and summer. You’ll be entertained and you’ll be impressed. Odds are you will watch and support them regularly.

More than anything, you’ll be proud of these exceptional girls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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