’74 SHS softball champs were first

By Tom Haley
RUTLAND HERALD
Before Mary Rose Jasinski graduated from Springfield High School, she had pitched her way to a 60-5 record during her four years with the Cosmos on the softball diamond. She had also helped to take the Cosmos to state titles in 1974 and 1976.

But that first one was special. It was, for one thing, the first state championship softball game ever played in Vermont. The title game was also against nearby rival Bellows Falls after the Cosmos had beaten Rutland 22-1 in the quarterfinals and Essex 5-0 in the semifinal game.

The local rivalry only spiced up the championship game.

The Cosmos had already beaten BF twice during the regular season.

“There was some talk about whether we could do it three times or not,” said Springfield coach Nancy Nicolson recently from her winter home in North Carolina.

They did, beating the Terriers 9-2 to finish with a 13-3 record and as the first Vermont state softball champions.

Jasinski was only a freshman that year and her catcher Cindy Currie was a sophomore.

“Cindy caught every pitch that Mary Rose threw,” Nicolson said. “They were solid.

“Mary Rose was a smart pitcher.”

The captains were Mary Barton and Jasinski. The captaincy in Jasinski’s case was unusual since she was a freshman.

“Maureen Barton was a great outfielder and a great leader,” Nicolson said.

Carleen Sheehan was also a standout in the outfield and a powerful hitter who batted in the cleanup spot.

“Carleen Sheehan could hit the ball a mile,” Currie said.

“Rhonda Rabtoy was quiet but people listened to her. They were all good, fun-loving kids,” Nicolson said.

“There are some stories about those bus trips. It’s a wonder coach has any hair left,” Currie said.

Nicolson was the bus driver and coached field hockey, basketball and softball, all at both the varsity and JV level.

Other players on the roster included Jean Cioffi, Laurel Harrington, Sherry Richardson, Sharon Jones, Debbie Muse, Candi Kamel, Darlene Robinson, Sherie Lockwood and manager Jennifer Barton.

Currie, Richardson, Cioffi, Jasinski and Kamel played all three of the years, 1974 through 1976, so they were part of two state championship teams. Currie believes the tone for the season was set by the opening game in 1974, a 1-0 loss to Burr and Burton.

“Everyone hit the ball that day but they were all caught,” Currie said.

“The next day coach said, ‘No more pop-ups. We need to hit the ball hard on the ground.’”

Hitting the ball hard on the ground became a strength of the team.

And so was its camaraderie.

“We did everything together. We’d all go to the drive-in movies in Bellows Falls,” Currie said.

“I hope that it’s still like that today.” Nicolson’s practices were serious business.

“We worked on bunting, bunt coverage, double steals and slash hitting,” Currie said.

That is not surprising since Nicolson was a softball coach for 29 years, a career that included a stint as the head coach at the University of Wyoming.

The 1974 season, being the first one in which a tournament was held, meant that softball was still not on the radar, at least not in Springfield, said Currie.

“We would look in the paper the next day for our game and there would be nothing,” Currie said.

That inaugural tournament began to change that. The day that the Cosmos met Bellows Falls for the state championship game, there were a couple of newspaper reporters there to chronicle it.

“I remember Charlie Spencer (Rutland Herald) and Red Forbush (an area weekly paper) were there,” Currie said.

Soon, softball and all of the girls sports began to receive extensive coverage in all area papers. Jasinski even had her own column about women’s sports while in high school in the Eagle Times of Claremont, New Hampshire.

Jasinski’s 60-5 record landed her in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd section.

Currie caught her for three years and felt she just kept improving through the years.

“I thought she got a lot better. She got more confidence,” Currie said. A strength of that first state championship team was the outfield. Nicolson said Barton in left and Sheehan in center were exceptional.

“We had two double plays from our outfield in the state championship game against Bellows Falls,” Currie said. “Maureen caught a ball in left and threw the runner out at home who was tagging up from third.

“Then, in the last play of the game, Carlene Sheehan caught the ball on a full run and got Maureen Bresland out at home.”

Currie said there was a large crowd for that championship game in Brattleboro.

Today, Currie lives in St. Albans but is planning to make it back to Springfield in March when she and her 1974 teammates are inducted into the Springfield High School Athletic Hall of Fame.

That camaraderie so evident with trips to the drive-in movie and on the softball diamond will be rekindled on March 5.

tom.haley @rutlandherald.com