As the head coach at Jamesville-Dewitt High School, Phil DeAugustine knows it isn’t easy to play Division I softball. Every year he says goodbye to another senior class, of which nearly every member has played her last meaningful game.

‘Probably most of my girls will never play competitive softball after high school again,’ DeAugustine said in a phone interview Saturday.

DeAugustine knows perhaps better than anyone else that when a softball player from Syracuse breaks through to reach the highest level, it’s a big accomplishment. And it becomes even more special when that athlete stays nearby to play.

Since her arrival in 2006, SU head coach Leigh Ross has made in-state recruiting her top priority, and the current Orange roster includes two local players. Sophomore catcher Leah Porter played for DeAugustine at Jamesville-Dewitt, while freshman Morgan Nandin attended Cicero-North Syracuse High School.

‘When I came here I was surprised that there wasn’t a single player on the squad from New York,’ Ross said.

Porter and Nandin help link the team to the community. And with that, they both make the transition to Syracuse easier for teammates coming to Central New York from across the country.

Coming out of their respective high schools, both Porter and Nandin were certainly strong players. Under DeAugustine, Porter began playing high school softball in eighth grade and earned All-CNY honors three times during her career. Nandin led her team to a state championship, while also earning all-league and second-team All-CNY recognition.

As an upperclassman, Porter led the team with her bat and her glove, and, as DeAugustine puts it, many of the younger girls looked up to her.

‘Now we get to come from our practices and go see her games,’ he said. ‘The girls like to see that and cheer for her, especially the girls that started out when she was a senior. The younger girls can see what kind of success she is having now.’

Porter played a similar role when transfer Lisaira Daniels first arrived on campus from Georgia during Winter Break. With most of the girls having returned home, Ross said it was Porter who met with her and made sure she was settled in and adjusted to life in Syracuse.

For Nandin, attending SU certainly made her family and friends happy. She said both of her parents cried after hearing that she decided to stay in Syracuse because many of the other schools she was looking at were much farther away. Living only a few minutes from the campus means that her friends have an opportunity to see her play in home games as well.

Perhaps even more valuable to the team is that the Nandin family has helped make life easier for some of the girls. With those players coming to Syracuse from across the country, having a family nearby can help smooth the transition to college life.

‘Earlier in the year I had the whole team over to my house for dinner,’ Nandin said in a phone interview Sunday. ‘And sometimes I will just go home and bring a couple of girls from the team. A few months ago two girls on the team came home with me and brought their laundry so they could do it at my house and not have to pay for it. We do stuff like that all the time.’

The primary reason Ross recruited Porter and Nandin was clearly for their ability on the field as softball players.

But what they bring to the program stretches beyond that. And Ross doesn’t plan on stopping SU’s recruiting efforts in New York anytime soon. If the coach has her way, there will be more Nandins and Porters to come.

Said Ross: ‘The area is strong. I think it is my responsibility to find the best kids in New York and go after them first.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on March 8, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13