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A one-hit wonder: Soph lifts Spartans
By Joe scalzo
BAZETTA
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Boardman ace Nicola Gabriele (10) beat back the flu and the Ursuline Irish, throwing a one-hitter in her first varsity start on the mound.
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Ursuline’s Brianna Curd (1) successfully tags out Boardman’s Angela Martin (9) on her way to third base during the sixth inning of a game Thursday at Candlelight Knolls in Bazetta. The Spartans went on to defeat the Irish, 3-0, behind sophomore pitcher Nicola Gabriele, below.
So did you hear the April Fool’s story about the sophomore pitcher who beat back the flu to throw a one-hitter in her first varsity start in a shutout win over the defending state runners-up?
Well, it happened Thursday.
No foolin’.
Boardman sophomore Nicola Gabriele gave up one infield hit, walked three and struck out six to lead the Spartans to a 3-0 win over Ursuline at Candlelite Knolls.
“I had talked to her last night and I said, ‘I know you’re feeling better but I want your honest opinion about how you feel. I know you want to pitch badly but this is a team game,’” said Boardman assistant Marco Marinucci. “She said ‘I’m ready.’”
Gabriele missed school on Wednesday — when asked about the illness, she laughed and said the details are too gross to put in the newspaper — but as soon as her stomach recovered from the flu, it was battling nerves. The Irish return eight letter winners, including seven starting seniors, from last year’s Division III state runner-up team.
Fortunately, her pitching coach was at the park. Unfortunately, his granddaughter, Casey Lower, was starting for the Irish.
“I talked to him before the game, but he didn’t really say anything to me about pitching,” Gabriele said, laughing.
She was in trouble twice. In the second inning, she walked junior Kelli Kolenich, then gave up a bunt single to senior Anna Donko. After a pop-up and a strikeout, she walked junior Sara Marr to load the bases, then induced a foul-out to end the threat.
Then, in the fourth, she committed back-to-back errors to put runners on second and third with two outs. But Marr’s liner was snagged by second baseman Missy DeMarinis.
Ursuline only had one baserunner over the final three innings and hit just one ball out of the infield — a flyout to left in the first inning.
“It was a good game for us even though we lost,” said Ursuline coach Mike Kernan. “I don’t think they realize we have a target on our back with everyone coming back on our team and coming off the state runner-up finish from 2009.
“In addition, they needed to be grounded a little bit too, as we realize we still need to come to play and stay focused to get the job done.”
Julie Sokol and Danielle Petrus each went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run, while Sarah Maxwell added two hits and scored a run for the Spartans (1-1), who scored all three runs in the fifth inning. They finished with 10 hits on Lower, a first-team all-Ohioan last year as a junior.
“She probably wasn’t her sharpest, but we played a quality lineup and we’re going to have to play some defense,” Kernan said of Lower. “We need to play teams that are going to get the bat on the ball because we need to get some reps on defense.”
Sokol and Gabriele will be Boardman’s top two pitchers for the next few weeks as junior standout Alex DiDomenico recovers from a broken pinkie. Gabriele won close to 20 games on JV last season and spent the winter working with her father in hopes of cracking the varsity lineup.
“She knows she’s our No. 2 pitcher right now and she could be on the varsity the whole year, depending on how we do here,” Marinucci said. “We’re looking for good things this year but it’s gotta be a team effort.
“The girls already know they cannot rely on Alex DiDomenico pitching every game.”
The Spartans will be in Florida next week on a spring break trip, which is the beginning of a tough schedule designed to get Boardman ready for the postseason.
“I really strengthened the schedule for this team knowing the talent that we have,” said Marinucci. “I even told somebody, ‘We may go .500 this year.’
“We may win 20 games. We may win 14 games. Who knows what could happen? But I know one thing — we’re going to be ready once it gets to the tournament.”