Latest / Kendall County News - Shaw Local / Oswego’s Morland sisters savor state run as freshman third baseman, coach: ‘It makes my heart want to explode’

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Oswego’s Morland sisters savor state run as freshman third baseman, coach: ‘It makes my heart want to explode’ · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Oswego's Moreland sisters savor state run. As freshman third baseman coach.
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  Speaker 1: It makes my heart want to explode. Written by Joshua Welgan.
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  Speaker 1: This article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  Speaker 1: to you by Everlett. Separated by nine years, Aswego sisters
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  Speaker 1: Hailey and Sophie Moreland seem inseparable in softball. Sophie Aswego's
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  Speaker 1: freshman third baseman and Hailey, an assistant coach, still recall
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  Speaker 1: when kid's sister was like a mascot for Big Sisters
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  Speaker 1: Aswego high school and travel teams, dressed up by their
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  Speaker 1: mom and tutoos for overnight tournaments. I was with the
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  Speaker 1: team every second that I could be. Sophie said, they
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  Speaker 1: win a championship, and I was in the picture, running
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  Speaker 1: the bases, a little ball magnet. Aswego Softball and the
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  Speaker 1: Moreland sisters have grown up a whole lot since then.
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  Speaker 1: The school went twenty two years without a winning season
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  Speaker 1: until Hailey and Currant head coach Annie Scaramuzi's group arrived
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  Speaker 1: as players. Now Oswego, defending Class four A champs, are
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  Speaker 1: headed to state for the third straight year, making the
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  Speaker 1: journey back even sweeter for twenty four year old Haley,
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  Speaker 1: in her fourth year as assistant at her alma mater,
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  Speaker 1: is doing it with fifteen year old Sophie, who bat's
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  Speaker 1: second as Oswego's youngest player. It's absolutely incredible, Hailey said.
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  Speaker 1: Some days it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.
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  Speaker 1: These days, the sisters spend don't spend much time apart. Hailey,
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  Speaker 1: who works for a general contracting company, moved back home
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  Speaker 1: to Oswego from Woodridge during softball season, a busy schedule
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  Speaker 1: that starts with five thirty am lifting, Haley picks up
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  Speaker 1: and drops off Sophie for games and practices, and sometimes
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  Speaker 1: helps get hitting work in before practice. It's helped a ton,
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  Speaker 1: especially with mindset and physical adjustments. I can go right
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  Speaker 1: to her, Sophie said in the car. I can just
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  Speaker 1: be like, can you help me with this? What am
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  Speaker 1: I doing wrong? It's so easy to go to her.
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  Speaker 1: The age gap can make Haley feel like part sister,
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  Speaker 1: part another mom to Sophie at times, but she values
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  Speaker 1: every moment with one of her favorite people on the planet.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes the lines definitely get blurred playing mom, but I
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  Speaker 1: think we have a real good balance with our relationship,
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  Speaker 1: Hailey said, she can come to me to vent. I
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  Speaker 1: don't think it's ever got to a point where I
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  Speaker 1: can't be around her. Hailey, as we Goo class of
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  Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, was with Scaramuzy part of the program's first
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  Speaker 1: winning season in twenty two years as sophomore's conference champs.
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  Speaker 1: As seniors, she played at Dominican University for two years,
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  Speaker 1: then transferred to Aurora University. While coaching Sophie's Genuine Rain
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  Speaker 1: Travel team, Haley connected with then Oswego coach Paul Netzel
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  Speaker 1: through a family friendship between the Netzeles and one of
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  Speaker 1: Sophie's teammates went to an open gym that preseason met Netzel,
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  Speaker 1: and that's how it started for me coaching here, Haley said. Sophie. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: while did not expect to be playing a ton this year,
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  Speaker 1: she started four games in right field, three at second base,
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  Speaker 1: and one at shortstop before settling in full time at
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  Speaker 1: third base the second week of April. She had big
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  Speaker 1: holes to fill at two spots, replacing all staters Abriela
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  Speaker 1: Garza at third base, Kia Chavezz Oswego's number two hitter,
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  Speaker 1: but hasn't tried to do too much, just trying to
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  Speaker 1: play my role for the team as a two hitter.
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  Speaker 1: I have been bunting so much, Sophie said, I know
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  Speaker 1: I am there to get Adeline fugut over do a job.
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  Speaker 1: I am not playing selfish. I am trying to play selfless.
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  Speaker 1: I know we have Betsy Jack, Jalen Anthony and Olivia
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  Speaker 1: East to get Adeline in. She's done quite nicely for herself,
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  Speaker 1: batting point three one two and one hundred and nine
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  Speaker 1: at bats with three doubles, twenty four runs scored and
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  Speaker 1: eighteen RBIs. She has done a great job of knowing
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  Speaker 1: she will be her own player. Hayley said, I coming in.
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  Speaker 1: You look at Garza with fourteen homers or Kia hitting
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  Speaker 1: point five to seventy one. It can be an oh
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  Speaker 1: sh I have to live up to that moment. We
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  Speaker 1: have never tried to put that pressure on her be
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  Speaker 1: Sophie Morland, she has done a great job accepting that role.
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  Speaker 1: She's always going to get the job done. She's a
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  Speaker 1: super selfless player who's going to lay her at bat
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  Speaker 1: down for her teammates, sacrifice herself. Scaramuzi said, she's been
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  Speaker 1: put in that situation quite a lot because of how
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  Speaker 1: Adaline gets on base. Sophie has done a great job
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  Speaker 1: embracing that role. That place on the team goes beyond
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  Speaker 1: what Sophie brings between the lines. I think she has
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  Speaker 1: brought a lightness to our team, Haley said. Even though
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  Speaker 1: she's one of the younger kids, she's always the loud one,
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  Speaker 1: the one cheering in highlight reels. Something we have tried
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  Speaker 1: to preach to our team is take up space, bring
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  Speaker 1: your own energy. She has fully grown into that. So
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  Speaker 1: too has Sophie and Haley's growth as sisters and as
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  Speaker 1: player and coach over the years. It was definitely a
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  Speaker 1: lot harder at the start. Was always easier for us
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  Speaker 1: to bicker at each other, Sophie said, As a ten
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  Speaker 1: or eleven year old, you don't like hearing you have
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  Speaker 1: to do this and you have to do that. I
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  Speaker 1: would get heated. As we grew ourselves and as siblings,
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  Speaker 1: it got a lot better. She is never too hard
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  Speaker 1: on me, and I'm never yelling when we're on the field.
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  Speaker 1: That's my coach, not my sister. It's unbelievable to Sophie
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  Speaker 1: that she will be taking the field next on Friday
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  Speaker 1: at State. As we go plays Mondoline at four forty
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  Speaker 1: five pm at the Louisville Slugger Complex in Peoria. I
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  Speaker 1: honestly don't think it's fully registered that we are going
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  Speaker 1: to state, Sophie said. I don't think it will until
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  Speaker 1: we get there. While it's not a new experience for Haley,
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  Speaker 1: it will be with her sister. I am so blessed
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  Speaker 1: to be able to share this with her, Haley said,
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  Speaker 1: I never thought about it last year because I was
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  Speaker 1: so focused on that team, But oh my gosh, now
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  Speaker 1: to have her with me, it makes my heart want
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  Speaker 1: to explode.