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Nellie Feeney has played outfield since she was in T-ball. Growing up, she had to find ways to occupy her time. It wasn’t like there were many fly balls coming her way.

“I’d be making flower crowns out there,” she said. “You take a bunch of dandelions, twist them up and make a crown.”

It’s a different story these days for Feeney, now a senior playing any of the three outfield positions at Edward Little. As she said with a laugh, the time for arts and crafts is over.

“If I even look at the ground, the ball’s going to go past me,” she said.

At the youth levels, the outfield can be a place of inaction, where few balls are hit and a safe haven can be found for weaker fielders. But at the high school level, the outfield becomes a busy zone where balls fly, instincts are crucial, and a play can decide the biggest games.

Darcey Gardiner, the coach at Windham and a former center fielder for the Eagles, has seen outfield play provide a highlight in big games each of the past three seasons. In 2023, Windham beat Oxford Hills 3-1 in the Class A final when a diving catch by Hannah Heanssler saved at least one run. The next year, a diving catch by Kyla Harvie kept at least two runs from scoring in a 3-1 win over Cheverus.

And last year, Cheverus center fielder Hailey Lamontagne’s sensational over-the-shoulder catch momentarily preserved a scoreless tie in an eventual 1-0 Windham win in the A South final.

“Outfielders truly save games,” Gardiner said. “I need athletes in the outfield. … In these games, infield saves runs. Outfield saves games.”

And yet the players who play the position and the coaches who look for players to put there acknowledge that the position can be underappreciated. Pitchers, catchers and infielders are in the center of the action. Asking someone to play the outfield isn’t always an easy sell.

“Players I’ve coached in the past, yes, I’ve had to coax them because there is a stigma around a certain position, or a clout thing,” South Portland coach Drew DiMauro said. “Ladies grow up from Little League and they want to be at the action positions. They’re so used to Little League, the infield’s where all the action is.”

One of his players, junior Annie Soucy, had to shake that thinking when she was moved to the outfield as a freshman after growing up playing shortstop.

“Absolutely. When I was younger, it was definitely a thing where the bad players are sent into the outfield,” she said. “But as I grew up, I realized how important the outfield is, because as you get older, so many balls get hit into the outfield. … You can just fly all over the place and you can make diving catches out there.”

Once players get to high school, the game changes. Hitters get stronger and soft liners that were hit to infielders start to carry. Pitchers throw harder, so hitters meet the ball later, and right field falls under fire. Scoring becomes harder and every run is crucial, so a read on a fly ball or an accurate throw to a base can be the difference between a win and a loss.

Windham senior center fielder Nola Bryant played second base growing up, then moved to the outfield upon joining the Eagles. Windham had plenty of infielders, so the outfield was her easiest path to playing time. It soon became where she felt at home.

“At first, I thought it was kind of like I was looked more down upon because I was getting pushed to the outfield, but that’s definitely not the way it was,” she said. “I actually ended up falling in love with it. It’s a great chance to use your athletic ability; you’re covering a lot more space.”

The adjustment, however, wasn’t easy.

“It’s changed my whole throwing game,” she said. “I always threw sidearm when I played second base. When you play in the outfield … it’s not a short little throw. That definitely changed after I practiced; my arm ended up getting a lot stronger.

“And a crow hop, also. You have to crow hop.”

Feeney, the Edward Little outfielder, said she realized around under-14 ball that being in the outfield no longer meant watching the action, but being in the middle of it. She also started to learn the little things that could give her a big advantage.

“I’ve learned to position myself before the ball even gets hit. I’ll look at the batter and see if she’s swinging early, if she’s swinging late,” she said. “It’s a big, open space. You have a lot of ground to cover. You kind of have to have it in your mind before it gets to you, what you’re going to do with the ball.”

And when anticipation and skill come together, the result can change a game.

“I love the diving catches and the great plays that everybody makes,” said Allie Michaud, Edward Little’s junior left fielder. “It’s so fun and energizing, and it boosts the mood if something’s bad and somebody goes and makes a diving catch.”

There may be no one in the state better with her glove than Lamontagne, the Cheverus senior who started at first base but now patrols center field.

“I never really liked first, to be honest,” she said. “My travel coach was like, ‘You’re fast, let’s put you out there.’ And I loved it. … I just feel more comfortable there. I feel loose.”

Playing behind Addison DeRoche means plenty of games where the ball rarely leaves the infield. But in the big games, as she saw last year, she has to be ready.

“When you just talk about softball to other people who don’t know baseball and softball, they just think, ‘Oh, you’re in the outfield, you don’t do anything,'” she said. “But I think everyone that’s in this world knows how big of a role it is.”