By Laura Amato
The St. Francis Prep softball team is not used to being surprised on the field.
The Terriers pride themselves on their preparation and have built a season on making sure they know the ins and outs of every opponent they face off against. That changed Tuesday.
St. Francis Prep fell 7-3 to Nardin Academy, out of the Diocese of Buffalo, in the New York State Class AA CHSAA softball semifinal at Preller Field, ending a successful season for the squad. In the end, it was the unfamiliarity between the two teams that made the difference. The Terriers, quite simply, didn’t know who they were playing against.
“You think you know so many of the teams that are out there and when we heard who we were playing, I had to Google it,” Terriers coach Ann Marie Ditizio-Rich said. “That was an interesting thing, to completely not know the school you’re playing. It was a competitive game, good game, we just couldn’t put those hits together.”
St. Francis (10-5) got a run on the board first as the Terriers put the top of their lineup to good use, but Nardin was quick to respond. The Gators started putting bat on ball in the bottom of the second inning, plating three runs on four hits and effectively getting under the skin of St. Francis ace Monica Zhivanaj.
The senior had an uncharacteristically difficult day in the circle, giving up nine hits in the first six innings as Nardin’s batters settled into a rhythm against her.
“I think it was just finding spots,” Zhivanaj said. “We’ve never played them before so I was just trying to find spots where they could or couldn’t hit or even just try to pitch around. It’s hard going up against a new team and not knowing what I need to throw or where to place the ball.”
The Terriers did their best to battle back and even cut into the Nardin lead when Alyssa Seiss blasted an RBI double to deep left field in the fifth inning, but the usually potent St. Francis lineup couldn’t seem to come up with that game-changing hit. Through five innings, the squad left six runners on base.
“It was very frustrating, especially when we left runners in scoring position,” said Seiss, who finished 3-for-3 with two RBI. “We could have gotten them home and that was tough.”
Nardin managed to keep the Terriers off-balance at the plate throughout the game, even switching up pitchers in the fifth when Julianne Menna took over for starter Rachel Perelstein in the circle. The switch caught St. Francis by surprise and forced the lineup to get used to a brand-new pitcher midway through the game. That, of course, was easier said than done.
“It was a little bit slower and some different spots,” Seiss said of the new pitching. “I was very surprised that they switched pitchers.”
St. Francis Prep walked away from the field disappointed with the way the season ended, but proud of everything the team accomplished this season. The Terriers bounced back after last year’s disappointing finish to clinch the Brooklyn/Queens Diocese championship and while they’ll graduate eight seniors, the team is primed for another run next year.
“I’m very proud of them,” Ditizio-Rich said. “It was a great season. One obstacle at a time and you do want it all, but it was nice to get that one that we always battled for in the end.”
