Sayonara, Swab Summer

New London - The final day of Swab Summer at the Coast Guard Academy, called Sea Trials, was one of the days Kelly Grills remembers thinking she didn't have it in her to take another step.

"Basically 16 hours working out straight," Grills said. "We got up at 3:30 in the morning and we finished at 6:30 at night."

Grills, a 2010 Stonington High School graduate and an all-state shortstop for the Bears' softball team, was back on more familiar ground Wednesday afternoon during a Coast Guard softball practice.

Teams are allowed by the NCAA to practice 15 days during the fall to help lay groundwork for the spring season. Grills, a freshman at the academy, will have the opportunity to fill in as a middle infielder this season - the Bears lost only one position player from last year's NCAA tournament team.

Now a fourth class cadet assigned to Coast Guard's Gulf Company, Grills reported on June 28 for a seven-week Swab Summer, during which she was not allowed to be in contact with her family or any other members of the outside world.

That's why the day of Sea Trials stood out to Grills.

"It was the day Swab Summer ended, so it was the worst day and the best day at the same time," she said.

Here are a few of the things the swabs accomplished during their 16 hours (in the rain): an hour of calisthenics in the morning, a few trips around the obstacle course and a run out and a row back. The swabs also carried a log and a raft for an extensive amount of time, emphasizing teamwork.

The final leg for Grills this summer was a stint aboard the barque Eagle, joining the cutter in Wilmington, N.C., and remaining aboard until the Eagle returned home to New London after a journey that began in late April and encompassed a total of 10,000 nautical miles.

"It was so much fun," Grills said of being on the Eagle. "There was a lot more free time than we were used to. I learned a lot."

Coast Guard coach Donna Koczajowski was able to have contact with her incoming freshmen during the summer. She said Grills was never someone about whom she worried, although Grills jokes she worried about herself from time to time.

"She's very quiet, but you'd ask how she was and she'd say, 'OK, coach,'" Koczajowski said. "When they can smile and say, 'I'm looking forward to softball,' then it's OK.

"(This spring) I would get e-mails from her saying, 'Coach, I'm following you.' She was a student of our team."

Koczajowski said usually the biggest challenge for a freshman is learning the speed of the game, with slap hitters able to reach base on a simple ground ball. Also, learning the various movements of collegiate pitchers will take some time, she said.

Grills, a .387 hitter at Stonington and an All-Area selection by The Day in softball and field hockey, is taking things as they come with regard to playing time.

But, having started classes - she's currently a government major - Grills has come to a realization.

"I like it here way more than I ever expected," Grills said with a smile. "I was just thinking last week, 'This is the right thing.'

"It was really, really, really hard, the hardest thing I've ever done ... (but) in the last seven weeks I've made friends I'm going to have my entire life. It's been interesting."

v.fulkerson@theday.com