Staff photo / Brian Yauger Chalker sophomore Morgan Strock slides into home during the team’s 18-1 season-opening victory over Bristol this past Tuesday. The Wildcats have a tough stretch of games this week featuring Lakeview, Poland, and Mathews.

SOUTHINGTON — Entering the season with high hopes and high expectations, Chalker has made quick work of its opening games.

Boasting a run differential of 47 runs scored compared to 5 runs surrendered through three games, things are going well for the Wildcats.

This upcoming week will be a true test, however.

Starting on Tuesday, Chalker has games against Lakeview, Ashtabula St. John, Poland and Mathews, then on Saturday, a doubleheader with Sebring.

“We’re looking forward to it, obviously playing against some good talent,” Wildcats coach Rich Hudak said. “We need that to be able to prepare ourselves for the postseason. We need those tough games. Whether it’s a win, or we’re learning, either way, we’re going to go be competitive, we’re going to work our tails off. That shows us where we stand as far as what we need to work on, what we need to be better at and how we line up with other teams that we typically don’t play. Other divisions or other conferences that are obviously bigger schools, and it gives us a good measuring stick of where we’re at.”

It’s extra important to get these tests in because Chalker is a relatively young team. A lot of the team’s core this season consists of underclassmen. Pitcher Tatum Hudak and catcher/outfielder Abby Grimm are both freshmen and both Sam and Morgan Strock are sophomores. All of whom are key parts of this Chalker roster.

Hudak is hitting an astounding .778 with five RBIs and Grimm isn’t far behind with a .714 and six RBIs.

Making the jump to varsity ball in high school is an adjustment, so the Wildcats hitting the ground running is a great boost of confidence for the younger players on the team.

“It’s very important,” freshman Tatum Hudak said about the early success. “It’s important for the freshmen especially because (it helps them) know that they can do it. It’s just good for everyone.”

Individually, the younger Hudak is handling the transition well.

“There are good hitters in our league,” she said. “There are very good hitters in our league. And you know, it’s not like rec ball. It’s not where you can blow the pitch by everyone. You have to spot your pitches and if you don’t spot your pitches, it’s going to the outfield. It’s definitely a good experience. It’s different, but it’s good.”

Despite the youth being prominent in the lineup, there’s still plenty of veteran experience on the team. Gabriella Nieves, who is currently batting 0.778 this year, is a junior and one of the team’s leaders. Seniors Natalie Piecuch (with a 0.857 batting average) and Mia Russomanno (batting a .444) are anchors for this Wildcats group.

One of the staples thus far for this Chalker squad is its mental toughness.

Through three games, they’ve found themselves in a handful of jams, but have always been able to escape dangerous innings relatively unscathed. A young team easily could have fallen apart, but the Wildcats have been able to stay cool under pressure. That’s a testament to the team’s leadership, coaching and players alike.

“(Being a senior, I’m) one that’s going to be there to pick our team up and be like, ‘Hey, it’s going to happen. All we need to do is learn from our mistakes and move on,'” Russomanno said. “I feel like our team, as young as it is, we do that very well and it really shows… I do believe that we handle ourselves very well. I think not just me, but we have a lot of the younger girls who even are seen as leaders on this team and I think that’s so important for these girls.”

These players have been playing together for years rising up the ranks. Russomanno remembers playing with the underclassmen years ago and has been eagerly awaiting their arrival to the high school ranks.

“This group of girls, we’ve been waiting for this group,” Russomanno said. “Me as a senior, I’ve played with these freshmen and sophomores when it was my last year of rec league, and I’ve been so excited for them to come up and play. You can just tell how well we all work together in the infield and the outfield, like keeping each other up, handling mistakes that we make and just moving past those. Even when we’re having great games, we just continue on and keep that level of intensity up and it’s great.

That connection shows itself both on and off the field.

“We all know everybody, we’re all friends, we all know what’s happening,” Grimm said. “So, going out there, we trust each other. We trust that they’ll back each other up. We’ll trust that they’ll make the right play. We all have a really good bond.

“Trust is a really big thing. If you go out there and don’t trust your team and you’re trying to make all the plays yourself, it’s not going to go very far. The trust and backing each other up, it’s good between this team.”