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By Mike Morton
Brooklyn Daily
St. Edmund Prep softball coach Rowena Motylewski has learned that her team is resilient in pressure situations, and it didn’t take long for her squad to find themselves in one early in Tuesday’s title game.
Starting pitcher Angelica Fox was pulled from a bases-loaded, two out jam in the third inning with her team trailing 2–0. Motylewski turned to freshman Kayla Maiolo, who said her approach in that situation was simple.
“I hope I strike them out,” Maiolo recalled thinking.
She did just that, fanning the first hitter she saw to end the Tigers’ (11–2) rally. Maiolo struck out four batters overall, while allowing just five hits and two unearned runs in 4–1/3 innings of relief, leading her team to a 5–4 win over defending champion Bishop Kearney at Bergan Beach Park, and earning the respect of her manager in the process.
“She’s only a freshman so for her to show that sort of composure and discipline; you gotta give credit where credit is due,” Motylewski said. “She very easily could have been nervous or overwhelmed by the atmosphere of it being a championship game, but she did what she had to do.”
St. Edmund, which also won the regular season title, watched Kearney erase a two-run deficit in the top of the seventh inning to tie the score, only to come right back. The Eagles got singles from Kellie O’Neill and Stephanie Samir and a walk from Alex Samosiuk, who also had an RBI, to start the bottom of the frame to set up Nicole Quintana with the bases loaded and no outs.
Quintana swung at the first pitch she saw, driving it over the outstretched arm of Kearney’s leftfielder Christina Heyer to give the Eagles the win. Quintana led the St. Edmund (12–1) offense with three hits and three RBIs in the game. Following the victory, she could barely put into words the excitement and emotions she was feeling, but just knew she got the job done.
“I just went up there wanting to hit the ball, get the run in and finish the game,” she said.
But the guts and moxie were no surprise to the coach, who has come to expect great things from his squad.
“They were absolutely 100 percent disciplined and didn’t let the emotions get the best of them,” Motylewski said. “I’m really proud of them.”
Reach reporter Joseph Staszewski at jstaszewski@cnglocal.com. Follow him on twitter @cng_staszewski.