Classical softball looks for an encore

Coming off a record-setting 2011 season, the Lynn Classical softball team is hoping to build on its success this year.Click here for a photo gallery.”It’s a tough task,” Rams coach Chris Warren said on Monday, the first day of tryouts, noting that the team’s 21-3 mark last year represented the most wins in school history.”We want to qualify for the state tournament,” Warren added. “We always want to win the Holland Tournament. If we have a chance late in the year to compete, we’ll try to win the league championship.”The Rams have won back-to-back Northeastern Conference championships the last two years. Last season, they reached the Division 1 North quarterfinals, falling to Acton-Boxborough. The 2011 Rams had one senior, shortstop Hannah Byrne, who is now playing at St. Anselm.On day one of tryouts, 39 players showed up, and Warren put them through a comprehensive workout in the school gym.”We did a lot of ground-ball work,” he said. “We have a batting tunnel with five hitting stations. We did a lot of tee work with golf balls and a small stick.”Defensively, I’m real big on very, very slow fundamentals, going back and forth with the ball, the little things some people forget to do ? We start from scratch and build our way up.”You could certainly say that the four captains – Chelsey Bartlett, Mackenzie Coppinger, Katie Cuozzo and Jennie Erekson – have built their way up, with the Rams accumulating 13 wins in the quartet’s freshman year and 18 in their sophomore year before last season’s breakthrough.”They’ve been around for a while,” Warren said. “They have a lot of experience.”The captains include two pitchers, Coppinger and Cuozzo, as well as a catcher, Bartlett, and a third baseman, Erekson.All started as freshmen four years ago “and they’ve done a great job with the program,” their coach said.Cuozzo went undefeated (8-0) in 2011 while Coppinger finished 13-3. Coppinger pitched two no-hitters last year while Cuozzo had a one-hitter against Salem, losing the no-no bid with one out to go. (Coppinger and Cuozzo also play outfield and first base, respectively.) Bartlett and Erekson are three-year starters behind the plate and at third, respectively.One aspect of his pitchers that Warren mentioned is their unselfishness.”They shared duties very well,” he said. “They get the hang of the team concept.”He added that if one pitcher was not starting, they would be “in the field or lineup, hoping the other would do just as well on the mound.”The team also has a fifth senior, Adriana Raymond, who came off the bench in a pinch-hitting role last year, and played first base.Juniors who saw some significant time in 2011 include Sam Earp, whom Warren said took all the reps at second; Danielle Moran, a conference all-star two years in a row in center field; first baseman Olivia DeJoie (“a great year with the stick last year,” Warren said); and right fielder Angela Erelli.Meanwhile, sophomore outfielder Franki Galeazzi led the team in hitting last season.”We made her a lefty,” Warren said, “and she got the hang of it at the end (of last year).”The Rams will prepare for the season with 15 scrimmages. They will also benefit from unusually warm early-spring weather and practice at Breed on what Warren described as their first and earliest outdoor sessions.”I would like to thank the people at Babe Ruth who did a boatload of work on the field,” Warren said. “We have new dirt out in the infield and they leveled it all off, Babe Ruth (volunteers) and parents.”Next month, on April 11, the Rams will play Salem on that same field in their season opener. Warren forecast a challenging regular-season slate, both in the conference and in nonleague games.”It is a tough league,” he said, noting that NEC teams have been successful in the state tournament.The Rams will also face nonleague challenges in Malden, whom they will play twice; back-to-back state champion King Philip of Wrentham; St. Mary’s (in the Holland Tournament); and Reading, which is coming off