By Clark Judge
(May 13, 2026) — Maybe it’s because he’s been coaching the Haddam-Killingworth High School softball team the past 27 years or maybe it’s because he’s 81, but Jeff Talbott readily admits retirement is always a topic he confronts at season’s end. In fact, if the truth be told, he thought he’d walk away after last year’s 14-5 finish.
But he didn’t and it had nothing to do with signature victories, come-from-behind rallies or another no-hitter he might miss. No, his decision was all about two players — Senior co-captains Grace Natanzon and Emma Giaccone.
“Seriously?” he was asked.
“Ninety-nine percent,” Talbott answered.
Natanzon is a two-time all-state catcher and four-year starter. Giaccone is an all-state pitcher who started all but one game the past two seasons. Together, they helped Talbott make a difficult decision easy. But they did more than that. By returning, their coach not only was allowed to witness their career achievements; he was able to celebrate one for himself.
And it all happened in a space of nine days.
GRACE NATANZON
The catcher-turned-shortstop took the first bow on April 27, 2026 when she produced her 100th career hit in a 10-7, 10-inning defeat of Lyme-Old Lyme — a come-from-behind victory followed by a photo op where teammates joined Natanzon as she and Giaccone each held hand-made posters that read “Grace 100 Hits.”
The two stood side by side and why not? They’re best friends, with Grace serving as Emma’s catcher back to when they were six years old and all the way through summers with the local Breakers teams. But they’re trusted allies, too, with Grace calling all of Emma’s pitches in high school. Moreover, they played basketball together as co-captains of the 2025-26 HKHS Girls team and spend weekends working at the same store.
Close? Try again. They’re virtually inseparable.
“We basically wear the same clothes to school without contacting each other,” Emma said.
If you want a read on Grace, you ask her confidante. And what she can tell you is that her friend’s greatest success has less to do with 100 hits and more with playing — specifically, playing through pain. Plagued for most of her high-school career by chronic back misery, Natanzon this year has suffered through an intolerable nerve injury to her right forearm that forced her to move from catcher, a position she’s played seemingly forever, to shortstop. The anguish she experienced … and still experiences … is so intense she once considered quitting, was evaluated at the Mayo Clinic, tried hitting left-handed vs. North Branford and may require surgery after the season.
“It’s been difficult,” Natanzon admitted, “but when it comes down to my team and the bonding we have, the pain goes away.”
No, it doesn’t, and Giaccone, her teammates, her coach and her family all know it.
“You can see it in her face,” said Giaccone. “Her freshman and sophomore years, she would have some pain in her back, but she would be able to play through it and keep it together until she got home. But this year is different. I’ve never seen her in so much pain. I’ve never seen her cry in a game before, and I’ve never seen her hit left-handed.
“She’s trying everything she can to play through it, and I know it hurts her not to catch me. But she’s pushing through it, and I admire her for it.”
There’s plenty to admire about this year’s Cougars. They won 12 of their first 14 games, Freshman Sadie Mallon not only has settled in at catcher but is the team’s leading hitter, and Grace Natanzon somehow, some way is batting over .500 and made it to 100 career hits.
“It was a goal I wanted to reach,” she said, “but you know what I’ll remember most about my career? It’s not the 100 hits. It’s the friendships, and most of them are from sports.”
EMMA GIACCONE
Next up was Giaccone, the indefatigable left-handed starter who reached 400 career strikeouts in an April 29, 2026 loss to defending conference champion North Branford. If 400 sounds like a lot, it’s because it is. It’s a school record. According to those in and around the HKHS program, nobody ever had more than Kaleigh Bodak, who left after the 2023 season with 374 strikeouts.
So, yes, it’s a big deal.
“To have 400 strikeouts is amazing,” Emma said, “especially since Coach Talbott has never seen anyone get 400 strikeouts.”
But pitching landmarks are nothing new for Giaccone. She has three career perfect games, including one last year vs. Valley Regional; threw three no-hitters last season and once fanned 18 batters as a Sophomore. She also was the winning pitcher last summer when she and Natanzon were the battery in a Breakers tournament victory.
So she’s a big deal, too, except there’s really nothing big about Giaccone. She stands 5-1, weighs barely a hundred pounds, and looks nothing like you might imagine as a pitcher. Bodak, for instance, was 5′ 9″ and threw hard. But Emma? Velocity is not what makes her pitches effective. Everything else is.
“I rely more on spin than speed,” she said one day after practice. “I don’t throw as hard as other people because I’m not as tall. My screwball and curveball are my go-to pitches for getting people jammed inside. I do throw a fastball, but I never really throw it down the middle.”
So we’ve established that she doesn’t fit the prototype of a pitcher. What we haven’t is why she ever decided to play the position. According to Emma, it goes back to her formative years when coaches were sorting out positions, and she ended up being the one who “liked pitcher the most.” Okay, fine. But why?
“I don’t know,” she said. “I normally don’t like attention and pressure, but it’s the most pressure-filled position. I’m not sure what the motivating factor was, other than I like the action.”
Her coach likes the results. She holds the team record for career victories. Her 163 strikeouts last season bettered Bodak’s 149 in 2023. And her 40 career victories are one more than Bodak. Granted, Bodak missed the entire 2020 season when Covid cancelled it, but Giaconne pitched sparingly her Freshman year, winning the only game she started.
“Let’s just say she’s one very solid pitcher,” said Talbott.
Amen.
JEFF TALBOTT
Finally, we have the coach checking in with his 400th career victory, a 12-0 defeat of Portland on May 5, 2026 in a game stopped because of the “mercy rule,” invoked after five innings when a team is ahead by 12 or more runs. The final score wasn’t unexpected, but the celebration afterward was. Players showered Talbott with a blizzard of silly string.
“They had their hands behind their backs,” he said, “so I didn’t know what was coming. I just told myself: I hope it’s not whipped cream.”
Later, they feted him with a cake made of pull-apart cupcakes and a wooden carving board with the number “400” inscribed on it. His wife, Linda, was there for the game and after-party, as was their son, Michael, a former HKHS Baseball star. As players left for the locker room, Talbott stayed behind to reflect on a career that includes a state championship, two Shoreline Conference titles and a 2005 no-hitter vs. Nathan Hale-Ray that broke the Noises’ 42-game win streak.
“I really enjoy being here, and it’s just gotten better and better,” he said. “When I started this in 1999, I thought, Okay, I’m going to give it five or ten years, and maybe get 100 wins … which happened. But when you get players like our current group of ninth graders (five are starters), you just can’t leave. You want to see them through graduation. Then somebody comes behind them, and it just keeps repeating and repeating.
“That’s why I came back this year. Four hundred wins wasn’t all that important to me. It would’ve been nice, but the two Seniors returning – a pitcher and catcher who were all-state players – that was just too much. You have to see them through.”
And so he has, with all three celebrating unforgettable achievements. Talbott doesn’t know what the future holds, though he’s certain he’ll face a “tough decision” after this year. After all, he has four granddaughters who will enter 12th, 11th, 10th and 9th grades next year, and they all play Spring sports. So now the question (and stop if you’ve heard this before): What’s next?
That’s up to Talbott. All that’s certain is that it’ll be hard to duplicate what just happened. Sure, there will be five freshmen starters who return. But no Grace, no Emma and, in all likelihood, no career accomplishments to celebrate.
“I’m going to miss them more than a lot,” Talbott said of Natanzon and Giaccone. “As much as any captains we’ve had here. They’ve been almost like assistant coaches.”
Photo above by Clark Judge. Left to right, Emma Giaccone, Grace Natanzon, Jeff Talbott after his 400th career win.
