Workaholic

Six no-hitters. One hundred and fifty-two strikeouts in 92 innings pitched. An 0.83 earned run average. Sixteen victories against zero defeats in league competition. Nicole Marra’s numbers speak for themselves.
Any pitcher would only dream of such a season, let alone one in her first season in the circle. “I’m shocked,” Bayside’s junior ace said. “I never would’ve guessed I’d be doing so well.”
Still, she does not act like one of the city’s best pitchers. Marra is worried it can all fall apart at any moment, that she could lose control or wilt under pressure. “I don’t know if I’m going to crack in the game,” she said, adding, “when the pressure is on, like bases loaded [and] no outs, I’ll let runs score, walk people.”
“Not as much at the beginning of the season when I was nervous in games, but I’m still worried what I might do and what I might not do. I guess if I am not focused enough, I do not know what is going to happen. I might get wild.”
She combats her nerves with a relentless work ethic. During the off-season, she worked with manager Stephen Piorkowski during both her gym classes, throwing upwards of 400 pitches a day. She has toned it down during the season to save her arm, but he will never have to force her to pick up the ball. Even during basketball season - she was a member of the varsity - Marra would be working on her delivery on practice breaks.
“She works every day,” Piorkowski said. “I don’t have to ask her to pitch. She volunteers to pitch. That is tremendous desire on her part. … She does drills on her own; she works out on her own. She pitches around the calendar. That’s what makes her successful.”
“Hopefully with all the work I do, all my pitches will work and they’ll be extra sharp,” she said.
Pitchers with fragile nerves aren’t new to the 16th-year coach. He has seen girls hyperventilate on the mound, vomit, and fall apart because of the immense stress. Always serious and focused before she toes the rubber, Marra just gets tense. It has not affected her performance.
“Whatever nerves she has,” Piorkowski said, “she tempers them very well. She does not expose them to the opposition; she only really exposes them to be. It might be in her nature. I don’t think anybody is that cocky and confident where [success] is a given. She’s a 16-year-old kid. That’s really what it is. I think it’s a positive. I’d be more worried about the opposite, being overconfident; ‘Now I don’t have to work as hard.’ ”
To start the season, Marra wasn’t nearly the dominant windmill pitcher she is today. The Fresh Meadows resident walked 10 batters in a season opening 10-0 loss to Catholic power Molloy, and dropped her first four starts. She was wild, her confidence lacking. However, when the league season started, she improved, now to the point where she can throw several pitches for strikes and has been clocked at 59 miles per hour.
“I knew I’d be able to do it; I didn’t know how good I was going to get,” she said. “It was gradual, game after game when we won and I’d see how many strikeouts [I’d get], I would get just more confident.”
“It’s her dedication to do well,” catcher Terry Yip said. “She’s always working at it. She’s always trying to learn different things to get better. She’s never like ‘I’m good.’ She’s always practicing hard.”
As the playoffs start this week, a whole new kind of pressure arrives - win or go home. Marra’s regular-season stats will be rendered meaningless. One gets the idea it will just mean extra time in the gym or on the field. More pitches, more side sessions - just the way she likes it.
“I want to work all I can,” she said, “every chance I get so I’m ready.”