BY GARY HAWKINS

Staff Writer

Additional Photos

Staff photo by Joe Phelan This May 2012 file photo shows Sonja Morse playing in a game against Oxford Hills at Cony Family Field. Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Sonja Morse didn’t transfer to Cony High School just to play softball, but she has to admit things have worked out pretty well so far.

The junior pitcher and her teammates are unbeaten and on the cusp of a state championship. They’ll find out today when they face Western Maine champion South Portland at St. Joseph’s College.

“It’s always been my dream, pitching in a state championship,” Morse said.

Morse pitched a 1-0 shutout against Brewer in the Eastern Maine Class A championship game Tuesday night in what was Cony’s closest game of the season.

“That was one of her best performances,” Cony coach Rocky Gaslin said. “She’s had quite a few, though.”

Morse has shared time on the mound with freshman Arika Brochu. So far she’s 12-0 with 136 strikeouts and 42 walks in 80 innings. Her earned run average is a minuscule 0.52.

A year ago, she was pitching for Erskine Academy and one of her wins was a 4-2 decision against Cony, one she still savors.

“It was pretty awesome,” Morse said. “They were like our rival.”

She has since returned the favor, beating her old team twice this season. The decision to transfer was difficult and one she kept secret until the final day of school last spring.

“It was very difficult because I was very close with my teachers and my coaches,” Morse said. “I brought them into the room the last day of school and told them all face to face. I just really needed a change and felt I’d be better off. Softball was on the back of the list.”

The transition to a new school was eased by a couple of factors. First, her older brother Steve had already transferred from Erskine to Cony and become a successful member of both the football and wrestling teams. Second, she had played with four of her current teammates on the Capital Maineiacs, a team that won a New England softball age group championship a few years ago and went to the nationals in Alabama.

Cony catcher Nicole Rugan didn’t hear of Morse’s transfer until just before field hockey season started in mid-August.

“It definitely caught me off guard, because I had played softball with her all summer” Rugan said. “I was very excited. She had asked me for the field hockey coach’s number.”

Rugan caught Morse over the winter for a team out of the Frozen Ropes training facility in Portland and saw a significant change in just a few months.

“When I caught for her this winter I saw a big improvement from what I saw last summer,” she said.

Morse throws a rise, a screwball, a changeup and a fastball that has topped out at 63 mph this season. Her changeup was particularly effective against Brewer but her fastball has been her out pitch.

“That is quite an advantage,” Rugan said. “We haven’t had to use her junk pitches.”

Morse, who is 5-foot-5 1/2 and weighs 140 pounds, said she feels much stronger this season than last. It’s not only translated to success on the mound but at the plate as well.

“I’m more muscular than I look, I guess,” she said.

The cleanup hitter in a good-hitting lineup, Morse batted .479 this season with 30 RBIs and three home runs. When she doesn’t pitch, she plays first base.

“She’s a good fielder,” Gaslin said. “She can throw the ball well and she runs bases well. She’s not fast but she runs bases well.”

Just as important, Morse has fit in well with a group that prides itself on team chemistry.

“She’s very lively and funny,” Rugan said “We all just joke around, we’re not a quiet team.”

Gary Hawkins — 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com

Related Stories