By Five Boro Sports
SYOSSET, L.I. — Julia Lipovac has a simple solution for getting out of a slump.
“Basically, I was trying to aim at the pitcher’s head,” the Archbishop Molloy junior said. “When I am in a slump, my dad always tells me to aim at the pitcher’s head. That’s the best thing you can do.”
So Lipovac was attempting just that standing at the plate down a run, with two outs, two strikes, Anniela Vaccaro on first and Molloy’s season on the line in the top of the seventh. She would smack a pitch from Amanda Barrese, who came on in the sixth in relief of Meghan Seaman, over the head of St. Joseph by the Sea centerfielder Jackie Bonamassa. Her RBI triple scored Vaccaro, tied the score and gave the Stanners new life.
“It was two strikes, so I just kind of choked up on the bat and tried to pop it over there,” Lipovac said.
Added Molloy Coach Maureen Rosenbaum: “We knew she was due.”
Lipovac took a bit of a wide turn at third and was caught in a rundown and tagged out easily as she reluctantly had to try to come home. It ended any chance of Molloy taking the lead with cleanup hitter Janelle Boyd on deck.
“I wasn’t sure where the ball was,” she said. “I heard the parents screaming, my teammates screaming. I didn’t hear the coaches, really. I kind of just stopped half way. I couldn’t hear and I kind of messed myself up there.”
The Stanners (16−2) would go on to lose the CHSAA semifinalâ„city championship game 4−3 to St. Joseph by the Sea, which swept a double−header earlier in the season from Molloy, at Our Lady of Mercy in Syosset. Jackie Kelly provided a walk−off double in the bottom of the seventh well of the head of Lipovac in right.
“We kind of knew once it came off the bat and it was over their heads there was no way to get to that fast enough,” Rosenbaum said.
The coach also glowed about Lipovac. She said she had been solid at the plate this season and last, but had just not come up with that big run−scoring or game−breaking hit to garner much attention. She predicted much bigger things for the right fielder next season.
“She is going to be a big bat,” Rosenbaum said, “and I tell you she is going to be one of the best players in the city next year.”
