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Tom Pia jumped immediately from one softball season to another. It was not easy. "Our last game in the high school season was Saturday night,'' Tom said. "Our first game of summer ball was Sunday. We were playing at such a high level that if you made one mistake it could cost you the game and we went right into the new season. It took half the summer season to adjust."
Pia's not complaining. He coached the Westhill High School softball team to the Class LL championship in June. It was the Vikings' second state title, and first since 1992. He also coaches the Tradition South 16-and-under softball team during the summer, and took them to two national tournaments. The Tradition finished ninth in the National Softball Association World Series in North Carolina in July.
"The week before we went to North Carolina, I felt bad for the kids,'' Pia said. "I tried to get them to turn it on, and we hadn't prepared them. It was tough. It was my first time going through something like that."
The Tradition's season turned out fine. It pales in comparison, however, with winning the state championship, Pia says. He has been Westhill's coach for seven years. He previously coached at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich and has had a variety of summer league teams that included his daughters, Jackie and Tami. "I didn't know what the feeling of the high school state championship would be like,'' Tom says. "When that last out was made, I don't think anything beats that."
Pia will return to Westhill next season. He did consider other opportunities. "There are a couple of groups coming up that I want to stay with,'' Tom says. "I thought it might have been a good time. I also thought about going to Bassick (which went 0-18 this spring) or some school that has really struggled. Wouldn't it be something if you could get them to win five games?"
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