Old Town High School will have its third head softball coach in four seasons this spring.
John Milligan has replaced Morgin Cossar and will guide the Coyotes this season. Cossar, a 2008 Old Town High graduate, compiled a 25-10 record in her two seasons after taking over for Jenn Plourde. Plourde won three Class B championships in 2012, 2016 and 2017.
The Coyotes went 11-5 during the regular season last spring to earn the fourth seed for the Class B North playoffs. They topped No. 13 Waterville 10-0 in the first round before being upset by No. 5 Lawrence of Fairfield 11-1 in the quarterfinals.
The team went 13-3 the previous season to claim the top seed and a first round bye before being ousted by No. 8 Winslow 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
“John has a lot of experience,” Old Town athletic director and assistant principal Jeremy Bousquet said. “He has been active in the Maine Amateur Softball Association. He has coached at a lot of different levels from the little kids to the high school level.”
Milligan, a Bradley native and Old Town High School graduate, said he is looking forward to his first venture as a high school head coach.
“We have great community support and we have a great group of hard-working young ladies who just want to play softball,” Milligan said. “We’re going to have fun and work hard.”
Pitchers and catchers have been doing arm conditioning workouts this week and the first practice for all players will be on Monday. Milligan will be assisted by Brent Fournier and Jasmine Smith.
This year the school has a young team with a large influx of freshmen. Milligan said he has a simple philosophy for success.
“I told the girls if they work hard and are professional, good things will come,” he said.
