By ALEX SPONSELLER

The future looks bright for the Cranston West softball program, as its junior varsity team beat Cumberland 21-7 to claim the state championship.

After going 13-1 and 5-0 in tournament play, the JV Falcons cemented their place as the state’s best JV program.

“We knew that a couple of the returning girls knew what we expected from them, our philosophy is to treat every day like you’re competing for a spot on varsity. Our approach from the first day was to never take our foot off the gas pedal and to encourage them. We wanted to allow them to have fun and showcase themselves. We knew that we had something special early in the season,” said West coach Caroline Crudale.

Hard work and operating as a unit helped propel the Falcons to a championship level, according to Crudale.

“We clicked and we always told them that the harder you work, the more you’d get noticed. (West assistant coach) Joe (Tortolano) said that this was probably the hardest grinding team he’s ever coached. They came to practice every day, ready to get better. These girls just used their energy and their guts, internal motivation as a team. They had that special kind of chemistry,” Crudale said.

The varsity program is in the home stretch of its regular season and has already claimed a spot in the Division I playoffs once again. The coaching staff throughout the West program is excited to be building such a sturdy feeder system for the future.

“(West varsity coach) PJ (Bessette) was ecstatic rooting for us all weekend. We practice with varsity so he sees them every day so he’ll know what he has coming up,” said Crudale, who believes that her two top pitchers will be right in the mix to earn a starting role next year. “Our pitchers Mia Crudale and Aliyah Conner proved that they are two definite frontrunners for varsity. We are happy for them, but sad knowing that we will be losing some girls to varsity. It was a great season.”

Members of the state champion Falcons include: Ani Ayanyan, Dani Hughes, Sofia Marella, Lily Buco, Talia Petit, Aliyah Conner, Jenna Malloy, Siena Nardelli, Mia Santomassimo, Mia Crudale, Gianna DiSpirito, Sami Pilozzi, Illiana Alves, Kyleigh Davis, Kaydence Holden and Macie Jose. Coaches were Caroline Crudale and Joe Tortolano.