MARIANNE KILLACKEY/Register Citizen Correspondent

Torrington softball may have had its season ended on Friday afternoon with a 5-1 Class L quarterfinal loss to Brookfield, but the Lady Raiders have a bright future ahead of them. Torrington finished the season with a program-best 21-4 record.
The Raiders lose senior shortstop and leader Mollie Bartles (All-NVL Copper Division, .338 AVG, 11 RBI)  to graduation, but everyone else is slated to return. Sophomore pitcher Sydney Matzko (All-NVL selection) and freshman catcher Marissa Morris (All-NVL Copper Division) now have a year together under their belts and could continue to wreak havoc next season.
In the pitching circle, Matzko was one of the most dominant forces in the state. Matzko finished the season with a 21-4 record, a 0.287 ERA, an astounding 338 strikeouts to just 18 walks and 14 hit batters. She gave up just 24 runs on 57 hits. Matzko threw four no-hitters this season.
Morris caught every single pitch that Matzko threw this season, and called all of them.
Both Morris (.352, 2 HR, 17 RBI, 1 SO in 71 AB) and Matzko (.313, 2 HR, 28 RBI) can also hit the ball. Matzko will be a junior next year while Morris will be a sophomore.
Torrington has plenty of players to build around the combination of Matzko and Morris. Baylee Vinisko will be the lone senior who saw significant playing time while Nicole Jamieson, Alexa Potter, Sam Pelow and Sara Heath will all be juniors. Brittany Anderson (team-leader in AVG (.375), HRs (3), hits (27)) and Brittany Young will be sophomores.
Torrington will also need to find a replacement for Bartles at shortstop, which will not be easy. Someone will need to take over the leadership role that Bartles held as a senior.
The Raiders showed much improvement, turning a 14-9 team in 2011 to a 21-4 squad this year. Torrington got to the Naugatuck Valley League Tournament final, then won a state tournament game for the first time since 2005. The Raiders have a chance to get even higher in the next couple of years.
Both Bartles and Matzko said the team will need to work on its hitting and defense in order to continue to improve. Torrington will need to find ways to score more runs and give Matzko the support she needs. On defense, the Raiders will need to avoid the mistakes that cost them in both losses to Seymour this season.
There is plenty of potential in Torrington softball in the next couple of years. If things come together, the Raiders could win an NVL title and get deeper into the state tournament. A run to the state final wouldn't be out of the question.
NOTE: A special thanks to Tyler Morris for the statistics that I used in this blog post.