THOMASTON — There are plenty of clichés that get used in sports, and that extends to the high school level.
One popular one is “next man up.” In the case of the Thomaston High softball team, that would be “next woman up”, but then again, the cliche doesn’t apply to this edition of the Bears. Not one bit. That’s because once you get past the starters, there is just one reserve on the bench.
Thomaston has just 10 players on its varsity roster: five seniors, three juniors and two sophomores.
“This is the lowest number I’ve had. I even looked into the rule about playing with eight, and I never thought I’d have to do that,” Bears coach Kelly Finlay said after her team’s 17-3 win over Wolcott Tech on Tuesday in an unseasonably cold and windy season opener at Bev Lowden Softball Field. “You can start with nine and finish with eight. Hopefully I have nine show up for the start of the game, and if one needs to leave, gets sick or whatever, we can finish with eight. We’ll do what we have to do, but hopefully that day doesn’t come.”
The previous low number for Finlay was 12, and that was during Thomaston’s 2014 Class S state championship season.
“It’s tough not to have players to rely on besides the nine that are out there. We have a solid top five or six I’d say, but practices, it’s tough. You can’t really simulate too much like a real game,” Finlay said. “I have some girls, one has never played before, so she wants to try it out and she’s improving every day. Two that played a couple years ago, they’re relearning some things.”
Finlay said she doesn’t want to have to think about forfeiting games.
“It’s a little tough to think about that situation because Thomaston softball has been such a great program for so many years,” Finlay said.
As to why the numbers issue is happening, Finlay had some thoughts.
“I think this day in age, not too many kids either grow up playing sports or stick with sports. There’s things that impact. I think social media and technology really impacts kids playing sports, or they’re really sticking to just one sport, so it’s tough,” Finlay said. “In a couple years, we might have a group of a solid five or six coming, but until then we’re scrounging for some players. I just don’t want to have to be the team to forfeit a game because I don’t have enough.”
Thomaston isn’t the only program to struggle with numbers. Terryville had to forfeit the remaining games in its season in both 2023 and 2024. They also had to forfeit a game late in the 2022 season due to a lack of players. The Kangaroos have 14 players listed on their varsity roster for this season, six of whom are freshmen.
“After a tough season last year, we have filled out our lineup with some talented younger players rounded out with a strong group of upperclassmen,” Terryville second-year coach Maggie Bossi said in her season preview.
Litchfield had just 11 players (six juniors, five freshmen) during the 2019 season, the last before the COVID-19 pandemic. The Cowgirls joined Wamogo as a co-op in 2021 and that lasted through 2024, the last year that Litchfield and Wamogo were independent schools. They have combined to form Lakeview.
Finlay knows her team has talent. There’s a pair of strong pitchers in senior Sloan Walmsley and sophomore Madison Decker. There are also several hitters who have some pop.
“We have enough of the tools to be successful. We just have to stay healthy,” Finlay said.
April 8, 2025