By Marc Raimondi
If Larry Alberts were a betting man, he would have put good money down that his best hitter, sophomore Anna Laboccetta, would not play this season.
“Honestly, I thought we would have to play without her,” the Cardozo softball coach said.
Laboccetta, a sophomore first baseman from Howard Beach, moved to Tampa, Fla., with her family in August, but things didn't work out down there and they moved back to Queens in December. Because of issues in getting transcripts from her school in Florida, Laboccetta, a TimesLedger PSAL All-Queens first-team selection last year, had to sit out the first game of the season back at Cardozo.
“It was frustrating seeing someone else play my position,” she said.
But the following week she got a break: her transcripts cleared and she was allowed to return to the Judges. Things haven't been quite the same, though. Laboccetta is hitting .467 with a .767 slugging percentage great numbers but last season, one of the best Alberts says he's ever seen from a freshman, she hit .567 and slugged .891.
The coach thinks the time off and the uncertainty of whether she would play or not affected her. She might be behind the other players because of that, he said.
“I don't think she's really hit her peak yet,” Alberts said. “I do expect more out of her.”
A good time to pick it up would be Thursday. Cardozo (11-1) will play at home against undefeated Bayside and its star pitcher, Nicole Marra. Last time the two neighborhood rivals played, the Commodores came away with a lopsided 14-1 win. But the Judges have won eight in a row since then.
“We made a lot of errors (last time),” said Laboccetta, who has played softball since she was 7 years old with Ozone Howard Little League. “But we're capable of playing with them…It does motivate us. It's very mental. We psych ourselves out.”
Reach Associate Sports Editor Marc Raimondi by e-mail at mraimondi@timesledger.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 130.
