MHS junior one of League’s Best in 2023

By Chris Villani

Cae Pellegrini may have a hard time topping her statistics after a stellar sophomore season with the Scarlet Hawks’ softball team, but the Milford High School junior is hoping to step up her role as a leader and help MHS get back to the state tournament.

“I just want to help out my team as much as I can,” Pellegrini said. “We have captains and I don’t want to intrude, but I am very passionate about softball. When I was a freshman, I was nervous coming in and the seniors and juniors helped me. So I want to be the outlet for younger players.”

Pellegrini was one of the top players in the Hockomock League a season ago. A corner infielder, she hit an eye-popping .524 with three home runs and 16 RBIs, all of which led the Scarlet Hawks.

“I had been training pretty hard in the offseason, and I ended up doing the best I could, all of the hard work I put in finally showed,” Pellegrini said. 

When she is not playing for Milford, Pellegrini plays for the Firebirds club softball program out of Hopkinton. She has also begun the college recruiting process. Pellegrini said she is hoping to attend a school in the prestigious NESCAC, with Bowdoin, Colby, and Hamilton among the schools she has her eye on.

“I am really focused on academics, that’s a huge thing for me,” she said. “I know those schools are academics-first, but I really want to play softball in college too."

Pellegrini plans to major in biochemistry with the goal of becoming a dentist someday. She said the pace of recruiting and her contact with coaches will likely pick up this summer after the softball season.

A week into the season, Pellegrini said the 2024 Scarlet Hawks are gelling quickly after most of the team played together last year. She said she is trying to work on her mechanics at the plate to follow up on her success from last spring.

“I definitely want to do as well as I did last year,” Pellegrini said. “Playing in the Hock, it can be hard to play all of these good teams, but it’s good to play against good competition.”

And, after a number of less successful seasons, Pellegrini and her teammates want to at least match the 2023 team’s performance.

“We are definitely aiming to make the playoffs again,” she said. “We did last year, and it was a huge jump since our team has not been as strong in past years. It was great to play the playoffs and show the town that we are a team on the rise.”