“More Than A Game” for THS Pitcher Sophia Pergola

Torrington’s Sophia Pergola readily admits that she comes from a family known for basket-ball players, which she is not. Her performance on the softball field, however, is bucking that trend in a big way. The rising senior at Torrington High School has made a huge impact on the school’s softball program, and now she gears up for her final year of high school with a verbal commitment to Western Connecticut State University to play softball in tow.
It has been a yearslong road for Pergola, who began playing at age six. Now, she’s Torrington’s only pitcher, logging 123.1 innings with a whopping 230 strikeouts this past season as she helped get the Raiders back to the postseason tournament for the first time since 2022.
Torrington ultimately finished the regular season 8-12, grabbing one of the final spots in the Class L tournament before losing to St. Joseph’s in the first round. Softball has long been the primary focus for Pergola – though she will play soccer this fall for the first time since her freshman year, purely for the enjoyment of the game and to be around friends. 

She plays travel ball for the Watertown Rapids, where she also plays first base. It was playing on the travel circuit around 10-years-old that Pergola says she really developed her love for softball. “It was more than just a game,” Pergola told The Goshen News. ”It was all the friendships that I was making, the coaches and everything, and I stayed there ever since. I haven't moved from the Rapids and I love it there.”

Perhaps more impressive for someone Pergola’s age than pure physical skill is how cerebral a player she has matured into. While the Raiders are brimming with gifted athletes, many are raw and not lifelong softball players. 

Instead of just raring back and letting it rip every time, Pergola is aware that she has to be able to eat innings every time out while also limiting the risk of injury to herself as the team’s workhorse. Because of that, she has the soft-ball IQ to pitch to the situation to put her teammates in the best position for success.

“She is able to read players, she's able to read the field very well.” her longtime pitching coach, Kim Bogen, said. “So when she came up against those stronger teams like Seymour and Woodland, she kind of knew how to pull back to save herself. …

“Sophia does that really well. When it comes to those bigger games, she knows how to pitch effectively and to not allow herself to get so fatigued. She knows that when she's playing against some schools that aren't as great, she knows how to just get ahead and stay ahead and limit her pitch count. 

“She's resilient, she knows how to bounce back from those games where Torrington got the loss and maybe took a loss really bad, and then come back that next game against maybe even another stronger team and know how to stay with them the whole time.”

Pergola committed to Western Connecticut on June 24. The school checked a lot of the boxes her sights were set on in her college search: a competitive team in Connecticut where she can pursue an education degree in hopes of becoming a teacher.

“[Pergola] wants to keep growing, and she wants to see what more there is for her out of this game and out of that pitching circle,” Bogen said. “And I think it just really clicked that (West Conn’s Heather Stone) was the coach that's gonna get her there.”

Until then, she plans to keep growing as a leader as she tries to set the Raiders up for continued success after she graduates. “Definitely (hoping to) grow with all the players again this year and getting all those great connections and preparing them for their future,” Pergola said.