WEB EXCLUSIVE
BY ZACHARY BRAZILLER
zbraziller@queenscourier.com
In three successive days, fourth-seeded Bayside staved off elimination. Much, if not all, of the credit goes to Nicole Marra, their ace right-hander.
Her performances got better by the day. On Monday, she blanked No. 5 Curtis in a 13-0 rout. Tuesday she struck out 14 in a 2-1 victory over No. 5 Susan Wagner. And on Wednesday, Marra punched the Commodores first-ever ticket to the PSAL Class A final, striking out 12 in a 1-0 shutout of No. 2 Madison at their home field in Brooklyn.
“This is everything,” Bayside Coach Steve Piorkowski said. “This is what you shoot for.”
So, to recap, in 19 innings when facing the possible end of her high school career, Marra allowed one run, struck out 31 and gave up 10 hits.
“Wow, crazy,” left fielder Adana Atkinson said. “She’s amazing.”
Added Marra: “I’ve never felt better.”
No kidding.
The senior windmiller was at her best late in the game with the result very much in doubt. Bayside touched up Madison’s sophomore starter Marie Oneto for a run — the only one of the intense game for either side — in the fourth when shortstop Mariel Perez tripled and scored on junior third baseman Nicole Vitiello’s run-scoring fielder’s choice. Marra held the lead from there, despite allowing six base runners over the final four frames.
She stranded seven runners in all, including two apiece in the fourth and fifth. Her greatest challenge came in the seventh when sophomore first baseman Nikki Panaro led off with a double. After Natasha Lezama advanced Panaro to third with a groundout, Marra capped the historic afternoon by whiffing Jennifer Gabay and Oneto with high fastballs, her bread and butter.
Marra, of course, had help from her teammates. Bayside didn’t commit an error. Most importantly, Atkinson saved them — and herself — in the fourth. One play after miss-judging Brittany O’Brien’s soft line drive, she snagged a sharp liner down the left field line by freshman Kayloa Hill with a headlong dive, and promptly popped up to double up O’Brien at second base.
All of the principles involved — Marra, Piorkowski and even Atkinson — figured it was a hit upon contact. Piorkowski was thinking homerun.
“She saved my life there,” Marra said. “After that, I was like, we should have this.”
“The first thing that came to my mind was to get the ball,” Atkinson said. “I was shocked. I was like, the ball is in my hand?”
Bayside will take on Tottenville Sunday at LIU. The Commodores, who lost to the four-time defending champs 11-1 in the winner’s bracket semifinals a week ago Thursday, must beat the Pirates twice to garner their first ever crown.
The berth in the city finals meant a great deal to Piorkowski, who has made the semifinals eight times in his 11 years at Bayside. He never attended the finals before, even though friends have coached in the game. Until his team made it there, Piorkowski wouldn’t attend.
“This,” he said, “is history.”
He was unhappy after the loss to Tottenville. The veteran coach is still bitter about the umpiring, which, he said, greatly favored the Pirates. Bayside wouldn’t have won the game, Piorkowski made sure to point — they committed too many errors for that and didn’t hit nearly enough — but the officiating made a difference.
“Look at the scores, look at what we’ve done, we shut teams down the whole route, and then we go against Tottenville and its lopsided?” he said. “Nicole is a very good pitcher; she didn’t have an off-day.”
Now, after three gutsy efforts, the Commodores can get revenge, for this year and last, when they also were blown out in the postseason by the Staten Island juggernaut. Those experiences may help.
“We knew what they got now,” Marra said. “Hopefully we’ll have better umps, not as many errors and we’ll just bring it to them like they brought it to us. … Now we’re all mentally together. Nobody is feeling down about themselves. Everybody played great today.”
