Sarah D’Amico has come a long way since she was last in the circle at St. John’s.
“We knew we had to get back here,” she said.
Then a sophomore, she and Lab Museum lost by 10 runs to Alexandra Sappington and LaGuardia in the PSAL Class B softball final. Since then, all D’Amico wanted to do was get back and finally get her team the championship it felt it deserved. Her dominance made sure of it.
D’Amico stuck out an astounding 15 batters in a 14-2 win over Morris in the championship game Wednesday afternoon at St. John’s University. She fanned the side twice, including a four-strikeout inning in the first because of a throwing error. The Bulldogs scored just one earned run and picked up three hits.
“She controls the pitch,” Lab Museum coach Charles Jessup said. “She has also developed more strength.”
D’Amico said she’s worked with a pitching coach since her sophomore year and gained late movement on her screw ball and curve. It was the curve that served her well against Morris as an alternative to the fastball, which left batters swinging and missing. She knew she had to be at her best against a team that upset top-seed Frank Sinatra and beat a very good Brooklyn Tech team in the semifinals.
“We came in knowing we had to be ready for these girls,” D’Amico said of Morris. “They could surprise us.”
She said she shouldn’t have done this without her teammates. They provided her with a 9-1 lead after the first inning, easing some of the tension that comes with throwing in a championship game. In a semifinal win over Scholars Academy, D’Amico allowed seven hits and three first-inning runs before posting zeros the rest of the way.
“It was a big-time effort,” Morris coach Christopher O’Mara said of D’Amico.
It earned her and her team a big-time reward in the form of a ‘B’ title and a PSAL championship banner to call their own.
“We have been trying to get back here ever since,” D’Amico said. …“We really, really wanted it.”