Bats come alive for Bayside

All season, Bayside dominated the competition on the strength of an ace pitcher that threw six no-hitters and a lineup that battered the opposition.
Suddenly, when it mattered the most, both were struggling.
Their junior ace, Nicole Marra, was battered in a 10-0 loss to Tottenville that sent the fourth-seeded Commodores into the loser’s bracket, a defeat where the lineup
mustered just three hits.
Losing to the top-seeded defending city champs was one thing, but Monday afternoon, Manager Stephen Piorkowski saw the same problems haunting his club again as they faced elimination against No. 6 DeWitt Clinton. Marra was on her way to walking eight batters and hitting three others. The offense, despite scratching out five runs in the first five frames, was still struggling.
“It was very much the same game,” Piorkowski said, referring to the Tottenville setback.
Well, at least for five innings. In the top of the sixth, Marra, who would finish with 10 strikeouts, stranded two runners on by whiffing Mitchell Batista and Christie Baerga, and the dormant bats came to life. Eleven Commodores came to the plate and seven runs scored on five hits, lifting Bayside to a dramatic 12-7 win over Clinton that kept their season alive.
“The only way it’s going to happen is through offense,” Piorkowski said. “We’ve been hitting all year. Basically all I told them was take your pitch and drive it to the outfield.”
Cynthia Webster rocketed a two-run homer to right; Krystal Lopez drove in another with an RBI double; and Marra plated two more with a sharp single to left. “That was phenomenal,” Marra said.
But for Bayside to continue to march on, Marra must be on her game. She was the best pitcher in Queens by far during the regular season, winning 16 times with a 0.83 earned run average, but since, she seems to have lost her confidence.
“I just got to pitch my game,” Marra said. “I got to control myself. It’s mechanics at first, and I see I’m not [pitching well] and I fall apart. I just can’t get it together.”