Chloe Hespeler is the younger sister of an All-American, former Ledyard High School swimmer Jessica Hespeler. So when you learn that Chloe, a right-hander for the Ledyard softball team, is the only pitcher this season to lose to second-ranked Fitch by fewer than five runs — and she did it twice — it’s not as surprising as it might be.

Ledyard, under first-year coach Brittany Connors, is 8-10 overall, 2-7 in the tough Eastern Connecticut Conference Large Division.

The Colonels had to fight to qualify for the state tournament, doing so with a 16-4 victory Monday over Windham.

Then there’s the matter of Ledyard’s pair of games against Fitch, both pitched by Hespeler.

Fitch won 1-0 on April 16 and 4-0 on May 6. Norwich Free Academy’s 8-3 loss to Fitch is the next closest margin.

So what, exactly, would be in Hespeler’s “how-to” manual regarding how to face the Falcons?

“I face every team the same,” Hespeler said this week. “I try not to get psyched out. Like, ‘Oh, my God! They’re Fitch! They’re defending the state title!’ A lot of times it ends up benefitting me in the game.

“The first time we played them, the one run was a changeup to Jackie Lewis. I thought, ‘Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t throw a changeup to her again.’ I really wanted revenge the second time we played them. I was really optimistic — my back was killing me the first time and the second time it was pretty much all the way better — but unfortunately it didn’t turn out.”

Hespeler, a junior who has committed to play softball for Division III Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C., has another reason to stay calm no matter who she’s facing. It’s not life or death, like some things are.

“Last year I was in the hospital for 19 days. I came close to dying and stuff,” said Hespeler, who had the flu, then pneumonia which developed into septic shock. “I lost 20 pounds. It was obviously a horrible experience, but it made me a stronger person. I’m lucky to have the opportunity to be alive. You dig deep in yourself and find that.”

Hespeler, too, is surrounded by successful people. There’s Connors, the head coach, who pitched for Waterford High School’s team which was the Class L state runner-up in 2007 and later at Western Connecticut State University. There’s Hespeler’s personal pitching coach, former Ledyard great Christy Dukehart, who is a member of the Connecticut Scholastic and Collegiate Softball Hall of Fame. There’s another hall of famer from Ledyard, seven-time state championship coach Ellen Mahoney, who addressed the Colonels this season. And there's Hespeler's teammates, who will play alongside her in the state tournament after failing to qualify a year ago.

Then there’s her sister, Jessica, headed to the Olympic Trials.

“Being compared to her wasn’t my thing,” Chloe Hespeler said. “That’s why I didn’t want to do swimming anymore. I’m a completely different person. But I’m so proud of her. I can’t even say how proud I am of her. I guess we have the same determination, the same drive.

“… There’s so many games we should have won. I know there’s more important things, but at the time it does feel like it’s the most important thing.”