Player of the Year Browne finds perfect fit at Wood

Marisa Browne didn’t know a whole lot about Archbishop Wood’s softball team when she transferred to the school this year.

To be fair, the Wood coaches didn’t know much about their newest addition when the team began practicing and workouts. After one year together though, it’s pretty apparent for both sides that it was a pretty natural fit.

Browne, a sophomore right-handed pitcher, was tremendous for the Vikings as they had one of the best seasons in program history. The Vikings placed second in the PCL during the regular season and won a District 12 Class AAA championship while Browne was named the conference’s Pitcher of the Year.

Reserved and quiet, Browne still said quite a lot during the season with her arm. As such, she has been picked as the Montgomery Media Softball Athlete of the Year.

“Playing in games together is what really helped to get to know them as teammates,” Browne said. “I just tried to do my best all the time and give them support when they needed it.”

Browne, who hails from Willow Grove, went 11-6 this season in 17 starts, throwing 121.1 innings with a miniscule 1.21 ERA. She allowed just 35 runs all season and just 21 of those earned, giving up a total of 69 hits while striking out 131 batters against just 21 walks. The sophomore had 16 complete games and threw five shutouts.

Even with plenty of travel ball experience, both with the Warrington Blue Thunder 16U and now the Philadelphia Spirit 18U Gold, Browne admitted to being nervous her first few games with Wood. While the Vikings dropped their first game of the season, the team came together well the next few weeks.

In turn, that let Browne find her footing and settle into her role within the squad.

“Playing against some of the better teams and seeing I could continue to perform well, especially in our games with extra innings, helped me get into my groove,” Browne said. “Looking back and comparing where we are this year to where the team was last year, it’s kind of surprising. I don’t think anyone expected Wood to do this well, but we did and it feels good.”

Up until this fall, Browne also played soccer. Now, she’s pretty much all softball in the summer, fall and spring and workouts in the winter. She said it can be a little crazy at times, but she wouldn’t be doing it if she didn’t love playing as much as she does.

Since moving up to 18U, Browne’s been able to play against some excellent hitters and it’s helped her out quite a bit. Her pitch arsenal is well-stocked and she’s been able to see how best to mix her stuff to keep hitters guessing.

After learning a change-up to go with her fastball at 12U, Browne added a drop curve a few years later and kept developing from there, now able to throw a regular curve and drop plus screwball and she’s also working on a rise ball.

“I really like my curveball,” Browne said. “But I’m really comfortable throwing pretty much anything.”

Wood’s five seniors did an excellent job setting a tone for the rest of the relatively young roster. That let those young players like Browne, outfielder Taylor Carter and second baseman Jules Donchez to take the field not feeling pressure.

“That was a big thing for our team,” Browne said. “We liked to have fun even though we were also willing to compete. I think just by having fun and relaxing and having confidence we would do well helped us to put everything together and do well this season.”

Wood was shut out in four of Browne’s six losses with a fifth, a 4-1 loss to PCL regular season champ Cardinal O’Hara, coming in 11 innings. Wood’s season came to an end in the first round of states in a 1-0 loss to Bishop Shanahan, two games after falling to Hallahan 1-0 in the PCL quarterfinals.

Finding some more offense will be one of the Vikings’ biggest tasks for next year, as well as replacing the production and intangibles of the departing seniors. Browne, who does hit in the lineup, knows she’ll be one of the players asked to help do that.

“I’d really like to focus on getting the rise ball and just getting better at hitting too,” Browne said. “I’d like to hit some dingers. We need to really stay organized and working hard at practice and work on our hitting, I felt like that was a point where we could do better.”

All season, Browne’s teammates and coaches marveled at her composure, her ability to pitch her best in the biggest games and how despite all the success, she stayed humble and constantly striving to work harder. It wasn’t a one-sided feeling.

“Everybody impressed me,” Browne said. “I’m really happy with where we are.”