John Scarsella, father of senior and varsity softball pitcher Jessie Scarsella, replaced former varsity softball head coach Erin Lawley this year. “This is the eighth year that I’ve had a daughter pitching at Tam, and the opportunity presented itself because the last coach, Erin [Lawley], who did a great job, took a job as an assistant at Dominican,” Scarsella said.

He has always loved the games of baseball and softball. “When we were little, we grabbed bats and balls and went to the field, and just played ball all day. That’s what we did, we played all day, every day, and just grew to love the game,” said Scarsella, who has additionally coached both his daughters in travel ball. “When I got to start coaching my daughters, I grew to love softball. It’s a little different than baseball and I appreciate it for it’s own uniqueness.

This season, over 20 students tried out for the team, over twice as many as last year. “We’re actually keeping them all. We don’t have quite enough for JV, I hope next year we will, but this year we’re going to keep them all on, and there’ll be a group of girls that’ll be on the practice squad, and a group that’ll be suiting up for games,” Scarsella explained.