Call it swagger and it's not a bad thing to have.
The Lyman Bulldogs girls softball team come in with the attitude that they're going to win, every time they step on the field, and coach Gary Hoyt is happy to see it.
"The senior class think their freshman year was not a successful one and yet, we went from 3-17 to 9-12," Hoyt said. "Their attitude was we were only 9-12. We started 17-0 the next year and I told them we weren't going to win them all and they were like 'Why not?'."They've been that way and it's a good thing. They walk on the field expecting to win."
Such as the Bulldogs did on Wednesday as they pounded out 14 hits in a 10-1 win over St. Bernard. Chrissy Bourgoin and Holly Shinkle both homered in the game for the Bulldogs who improved to 8-0 on the season.

Matt Smith said he spoke to his high school vice-principal l shortly after noon time and was amazed to find out that the golf match between his Tourtellotte Tigers and the Putnam Clippers was still on.
Indeed it was.
On a day that was not suited for the sport, the top two ECC Small Division teams met at Putnam Country Club and it was to be the home team's day. Putnam, thanks to a 36 by Andrew Senecal and a 38 by Josh Rice, easily knocked off their neighbors to the north.
Interesting side to this match, though, the transformation that Putnam Country Club is going through. The course only has nine holes open as its entire back nine is undergoing a facelift with new tees and a lot less trees than those familiar with the course will remember.
On Tuesday, of course, that facelift also meant a lot more mud on the side of the fairways especially along the first hole.

If there's one thing you should bring with you when you go to a game down in Southeast Connecticut this time of year- it's a jacket.
The sun was shining brightly on Monday afternoon down in Groton, but it did little to account for the chill coming off the water.
That left those who were sitting in the bleachers and chairs along the sidelines at Sutton Park in Groton huddled under blankets and heavy jackets to watch the Fitch Falcons blank the NFA Wildcats 2-0 in an early season ECC Large Division matchup.
The win for the Falcons should come as no surprise, many had them picked as the team to beat in the ECC. The Falcons have one of the best and most experienced pitchers, Kristina Torres, in the circle. They also have a tough lineup headed by Brittany Duclos and Arielle Cooper.
Fitch also had a secret weapon on Monday.
Brianna Turgeon may only be a freshman, but as coach Jon Grossman pointed out, she has a good pedigree for the sport. Turgeon, batting third for Fitch, delivered the game-winning two-run triple in the fifth inninng for the Falcons.

Cold, but happy.
The East Lyme Vikings are showing signs they will be one of those teams that will have to be reckoned with this spring when it comes to high school softball in the Eastern Connecticut Conference.
The Vikings, who dropped their first two games, have found their hitting stroke as evidenced by their 11-1 win in Montville on a chilly Friday afternoon.
Add to thata senior pitcher in Rachelle Fecteau who limited the Indians to one hit and an experienced coach and you have the makings of a contender.
"(East Lyme coach) Judy (Deeb) always has a well thought out program and kids who can do the job," Montville coach Allison Delaney said. "You can never count East Lyme out- goodness, no."
The nice thing for Deeb, it's also a team that she's having fun with.
The Vikings were all smiles on Friday afternoon, joking around with one another and their coach in the dugout as the game went along.
Of course, as Deeb pointed out, it's a lot easier to do that when you scored eight runs in the first two innings.

Its about time, it fijnally felt like baseball weather at Montville H igh School on Thursday afternoon.
People actually out in shirt sleeves and shorts, wearing sun glasses, and watching a baseball game.
Gotta love it!
Unfortunately, it's not going to last as wein New England all know.
Teams were already in the process of moving games from Saturday to Friday to try and escape the rain that Mother Nature is predicted to throw our way on Saturday.
Montville, who walked away with the 4-3 victory over Norwich Free ACcademy on Thursday, moved the scheduled game with East Lyme to Friday to try and beat the anticipated weather as did Putnam and Ledyard.
The Indians will come into Friday's game with a good feeling about themselves as they played well, especially defensively, against the Wildcats.
Tyler Seeley, who was playing in just his second varsity baseball game, made a huge play for the Indians to save a run in the fifth inning.
The question for Montville, as with many teams this time of year, when will its offense make an appearance. The Indians scored five runs in a win over Bacon Academy in their opener and just four runs against NFA. Montville also mustered just three hits against the Wildcats.

To every good thing, must come an end.
The Griswold Wolverines have found that out this season as they no longer have someone named Arremony in the circle and it hasn't been an easy adjustment.
Griswold saw its record slip to 1-2 Wednesday afternoon as Alicja Wojtkiewicz pitched well, but ran into trouble after the fifth inning and Plainfield took advantage to score the 3-2 win.
Griswold coach Rick Arremony doesn't want to use the term rebuilding, but the Wolverines have some work to do.
Wojtkewicz is normally an infielder but has been pressed into service pitching for Griswold. The rest of the Wolverines, meanwhile, are trying to find a new identity.
Arremony, himself, admits to being a little torn this season. Hiis daughter, Jessica, now plays for UConn and his coaching inhibits his ability to go and see her play.
Still, when the state tournament rolls around, expect the Wolverines to make some noise.

Here we go again.
After a brief two-week break, high school sports is back..
The thing about the spring season, however, is that while it may be the busiest in terms of the number of different sports going on, it's also the shortest.
On Wednesday, we embark on a brief two-month run that will see upwards of 50 sporting events per day at times on the high school calendar (more with rain outs).
High School baseball and softball play threee games per week in most instances, as do the tennis teams. Don't forget lacrosse, track and field, golf and even boys volleyball.
As we begin the new season, the high school page in the Norwich Bulletin will returrn with one change. All of the linescores will now appear on page C4.
Look for our seasonal notebooks to return as well with softball and baseball notebooks running on Mondays and other sports throughout the week.
Just a couple of other notes, look for our Connecticut Defenders preview on Thursday as the Defenders open their season at Dodd Stadium on Thursday night. Our local high school previews also continue with boys lacrosse Wednesday and girls lacrosse on Thursday followed by track and field and tennis.