A Cardinal catch
Greenwich’s McClammy one of the best backstops in the state
From the first moment Olivia McClammy put on the catcher’s gear as a kid, she knew it was the only thing she’d ever want to wear.
She loves the action, the physicality, the command of the game and the vision of the field from her spot crouching behind the plate.
“I can see the entire field and love being involved in every play,” McClammy said. “I love the leadership that comes with being a catcher. It’s a great position and I have played it almost my whole life. I love it. I liked the gear right away and I always liked watching baseball catchers. I like how tough you have to be back there. You get a lot of bumps and bruises but you also get to make awesome diving plays on foul balls. It’s pretty fun.”
McClammy is now a senior on the Greenwich softball team and widely considered one of the best catchers in the state both for her defensive prowess and powerful bat.
She was selected as one of the 25 CIAC softball players to Watch by GameTimeCT prior to the season.
After hitting 12 home runs as a sophomore during the 2019 season, she
was named to Second-Team AllFCIAC.
“As a sophomore she wasn’t noticed for some reason. She had 12 home runs and wasn’t FirstTeam All-FCIAC. Even when she’s not hitting a home run, her outs if you’re not paying attention, will kill you. She got overlooked sophomore year,” Greenwich coach Mary Beth Fratello said. “She took to the leadership aspect of catching right away. Her freshman year she was a little quiet being a freshman on varsity, but sophomore year she was the McClammy we all know. She was one sophomore starting with all seniors and she took to them and they all took to her.”
Fratello had not been tipped off by middle school coaches that McClammy was coming, but it only took a few minutes during tryouts for her to catch the coaches’
eye.
“When she came in freshmen year we had a bunch of juniors but we needed a catcher. During tryouts I saw her and I immediately called the other coaches over and said ‘You need to watch this kid because she’s going to be our starting catcher,’ ” Fratello said. “She has improved so much because of her attention to detail. Everything she does is 100% and she wants to make sure she’s getting it right. Every day it’s the same drills and she wants to go over everything.”
McClammy does not seem satisfied by past accomplishments and said she will keep working to improve her game this season and beyond when she goes to play at Swarthmore College next year.
In the offseason, she plays for Connecticut Impact out of Cheshire and has had the opportunity to play with top players from schools like Cheshire and East Haven, catching some of the best pitchers in the state.
“I love playing for them and getting to play against great competition,” McClammy said. “Really fun catching some of those great pitchers. Watching the ball move from some of those pitchers is incredible. It’s so fun and has made me such a better catcher.”
At Greenwich, McClammy has gone from unheralded freshman to among the best in the state behind the plate and with her bat.
She said all of that is due to the hours she puts in behind the scenes.
“I had to work on receiving. A lot of people focus on blocking, but you are receiving every single pitch. That’s the biggest thing you can do to help your pitcher is be a good receiver,” McClammy said. “Throwing down to second is another area where I worked a lot. I got stronger on the throws to second and got my pop time down. And then blocking is important and trying to reduce the number of pass balls. I have been working with hitting coaches the
last few years. I have gotten more powerful and hoping to improve on how I hit sophomore year. Sophomore year was a lot of fun. I was seeing the ball really well. As fun as making a diving catch or throwing out a runner is, hitting is the best feeling in the world.”
Senior Kayla Darling is the Cardinals starting pitcher this season and knows McClammy well, having played with her since fifth grade.
“She has been my catcher for a long time,” Darling said. “She knows how to redirect me and calm me down. She knows my pitches and helps a lot with framing. She knows what works for me in games. I trust her a lot. It’s good to be able to trust her because I know she knows what she’s doing.”
McClammy began her career playing baseball in Greenwich youth leagues before making the switch to softball in fifth grade, where she first caught Darling,
though the two became friends years before.
Fratello said McClammy has all the makings of a good coach and even sees her playing the part at times.
“She is almost like a coach out there. When it comes to hitting, the kids are spread out at cages and she will go over to other players and say ‘how about this or try this out.’ She’s always willing to help. She does it in a good and constructive way,” Fratello sad. “She calls the plays, the defense and her leadership is unmatched. She has to handle the pitchers. That’s her thing. She tries to calm them down, get them motivated and works so well with them. Olivia is great at giving little signals to the pitcher. She’s so great a picking up on little things they need to correct.”