AMHERST — Macy Ring’s first appearance as a player at Sortino Field was eight years in the making.
The 16-year-old Frontier Regional School sophomore began idolizing Elaine Sortino, the Hall of Fame UMass softball coach, when she was a bat girl for the Minutewomen as a child. Ring and her best friend Allison Markowski collected bats during games for UMass.
“We both got the opportunity,” Ring said. “We both loved it. We got to hang out with Elaine and the team.”
Under Sortino’s direction, everyone involved was part of the team. If Ring and Markowski were not cheering, they would be reprimanded.
“I remember Elaine screaming at us,” Ring said. “She would yell, ‘You’re not cheering loud enough.’ It was a really big family. Everyone was part of the team and she was the mother.”
Sortino passed away in 2013, and her passing hit both Ring and Markowski hard.
“We were all really close,” Ring said. “She was like a mother figure to us. She would yell at us, she would congratulate us and tell us, ‘Hey, one day you’re gonna play on this field.’”
On Friday, the Frontier softball team beat Hoosac Valley, 16-11, to advance to the Western Massachusetts Division 2 finals. Ring, the Red Hawks shortstop, went 2-for-4 with three RBIs.
“It means a lot,” Ring said. “But it’s kind of hard.”
Ring, who transferred from Hopkins Academy after her freshman year, had attended several games at Sortino Field as a spectator.
“It’s different being on this side of it,” Ring said. “I’ve always been behind the dugout cheering my heart out for UMass. But now I am on the field, cheering my heart out for Frontier.”
Before the game, there was a visit to Sortino.
“I went to her grave when I found out we were coming to UMass,” Ring said. “I told her, ‘Hey Elaine we did it, we’re going.’ She was really a big leader in my life. Such a strong powerful woman. I look up to her every day I play.”
The young Ring did not just run around collecting bats, she soaked in pertinent softball information like a sponge just by being around the UMass legend.
“I learned to never give up,” Ring said. “And that your team is your family. That if you work hard enough at something, you will achieve your goals.”
The pinnacle of WMass softball is playing at Sortino Field. It was a clear-cut goal for Ring to return during her high school career.
On defense, ground balls to shortstop on two different occasions sent Ring to the ground after collisions with Hoosac baserunners — both resulting in outs after the runners were called for interference. Ring appeared somewhat angry after the second collision, but her teammates helped return a smile to her face as she trotted back to the dugout.
“They said, ‘They’re only running you over because they know you have an arm,’” she said.
Frontier will play No. 1 Hampshire Regional at 4 p.m. Saturday at Sortino Field.
“We want to do it for our school,” Ring said. “We want to pull through.”
