Music to their Ears

Bryan Brown has an interesting way to measure the focus of his ace hurler Tina Deluca. It has nothing to do with mechanics or location, movement or velocity.
He uses his ears. When the Francis Lewis softball coach cannot hear Deluca’a bellowing grunts, he knows there is a problem. It means his junior right-hander is not trying hard enough.
“I always say, ‘I can’t hear you,’ ” Brown said.
That, however, has not been a problem too often this spring. Deluca has led the Patriots to within two games of Bayside atop Queens I A, winning nine of her 11 starts while posting a miniscule 1.93 earned run average with 71 strikeouts in 53 innings. The Fresh Meadows resident has walked just 22, just nine more than she allowed all of last year in 30 more innings.
As a sophomore, Brown used Deluca as his secondary pitcher, opting for Angelica Farrell, a more seasoned pitcher. Deluca spent the off-season improving, playing club ball over the summer and taking pitching lessons at Queens College. Along the way, she picked up grunting, Deluca said, that now comes naturally. It was awkward initially because it sounded funny. She eventually grew comfortable with the odd sound, and now cannot imagine her windmill windup without the audible exclamation point.
“It makes me go a lot faster,” Deluca said. “I’m putting all my power into it, releasing [the sound] out of my body. It comes from my heart.”
“I really think it affects other hitters because they don’t expect it,” she added. “When I’m pitching, they probably get a little scared, like where did that come from?”
In fall practices, her teammates were “shocked” by the new Deluca, from her finishing “music” to increased velocity and confidence. The pitcher who used to curl into a ball when hit hard and often lose control on the mound had become self-assured, the picture of composure and poise.
Now, as senior Victoria Lynch said, “she’s the best thing we have. We rely on her a lot. She puts in all her time and effort; she does not quit; she keeps going. Even against Bayside, her head was in it the whole time.”
Despite falling short against the undefeated Commodores (11-0), the setback served as a turning point to the season. Lewis lost by just a run, 2-1, on April 16, leaving the bases loaded late in the game. Deluca drew confidence from her effort, yielding just three hits and striking out four. Her teammates, stout in the field, did too. Since then, the Patriots have won four in a row, including Monday’s impressive 8-2 shellacking of Cardozo, who blistered them, 15-11, on March 27, smacking Deluca around for seven earned runs on eight hits. In this recent hot streak, they have outscored the opposition 55-9.
“Right now,” Brown said, “we’re hitting our stride.”
In her second meeting with Cardozo, Deluca was in complete control, striking out six, giving up five hits and walking two. She successfully mixed up her pitches, working fastballs to each side of the plate while keeping Cardozo off balance with a deceptive changeup.
Holding onto a 6-2 lead in the top of the sixth inning, the Judges loaded the bases. After a meeting at the mound, Deluca calmly sent down the next three hitters in order - strikeout, popup, and groundout. Every pitch was followed by a higher decibel and desired result.
“When I’m in a tough spot,” Deluca said, “my grunt gets even louder.”