About

When you think of Amesbury High School Softball, the first name that comes to mind is Coach Chris Perry.  His journey didn’t begin on the softball field though. In fact, if you had asked Chris about coaching softball, he would have laughed, and yet it’s where he solidified his greatness as the most successful softball coach in Amesbury High School history.  

Chris grew up in Georgetown, MA and attended Georgetown High School where he played football, basketball, and baseball all four years.  He loved the competition as much as he loved playing. He went on to Springfield College where he played 2 years of football. After graduating in 1973, Chris became a teacher and taught in Amesbury for 35 years.  His 41 year coaching career began with 15 years of coaching men’s basketball, baseball and football, from the seventh grade through junior varsity level.  He spent 6 years as the head football coach at Amesbury High.  Being a huge lover of football, he continued his football coaching career at Pentucket Regional High school for 31 years.  Chris made the switch to women’s sports in 1985.  The men’s loss was the women’s gain, as Chris spent 25 years as the women’s varsity basketball coach and 31 incredible years as the varsity softball coach at Amesbury High School.  

When Chris began coaching women’s sports, it was a big change for him, particularly making the switch from baseball to softball.  The softball game is quicker than baseball and is played on a smaller field.  How pitchers are managed is totally different as well.  Chris, understanding that pitching was the name of the game, dove head first into learning the ins and outs of windmill pitching.  It wasn’t easy teaching speed over accuracy to the novice windmill pitchers who were asked to throw 500 pitches against a wall everyday in practice. But with loads of patience, as many walks as strikeouts, and lots of early losses, Chris turned out some of the best windmill pitchers the Cape Ann League had ever seen.  

Amesbury softball quickly became the blue ribbon standard for pitching and winning.  The Amesbury High School Softball program turned into one of the most respected, admired and feared programs in the Cape Ann League and beyond.  Imagine, in just five short seasons of taking over the program, Chris’ 1988 and 1989 teams won back to back state championships with a combined record of 49-0! 

It’s safe to say Chris and Amesbury were a good match.  He enjoyed his time with some great teachers and coaches, learned a lot and had tons of fun. When asked about his success, he always turns his thoughts to the players and other coaches he worked with.  Fellow coach Gail Kelleher calls Chris the “best of the best” and “the most dedicated coach she has seen in her 50 plus years of involvement in Amesbury High School athletics.”  She loved sitting by him on the bench on game day in both basketball and softball, learning so much from him.  Fellow AHS Athletic Hall of Fame inductees Michelle Cassavaugh, Nikki Savastano Gadsby,  and Tiffany Clark Nigro all feel so fortunate to have been coached by Chris.  All 3 athletes were coached by him for 8 seasons (4 seasons in both basketball and softball), and agree that he was not only a coach, but a mentor who could find each players’ strengths and get the best out of each of them. They all have funny stories about his motivational techniques, and how he would utilize them to allow his players to blossom both on and off the field. And who could forget those memorable trips to Cape Cod and Provincetown! Tiffany said, “Coach Perry led each practice and game with intensity, but always with a positive attitude and respect for his athletes, the opponents, coaches and officials.”   

Over the 25 years that Chris coached the Amesbury High School Varsity softball team there were many talented, amazing players and teams, incredible plays in the field, timely hits and heads up baserunning. But it was the preparation and hard work on the practice field, led by a coach that never cut any corners and had high expectations of himself and his players, that paid off huge dividends for Chris and his teams.

 For all of his hard work and success, Chris was awarded the Boston Globe Coach of the Year on three separate occasions, as well as recognition numerous times as the CAL Coach of the Year.  Year after year, season after season,  game after game, and practice after practice, 22 Cape Ann League championships or co-championships were earned and won, along with 9 sectional titles and a total of 4 state championships in 1988, 1989, 1997 and 2000.  A winning tradition was established and solidified by Chris.  It is a tradition that continues to this day.