Cheryl Lopez was as dominant as her team during its toughest stretch of the season.
The Tottenville junior ace was the winner in all four games, allowed just a combined four runs and tossed two shutouts against four of the PSAL’s top 10 teams. She beat Construction, James Madison, McKee/Staten Island Tech and rival Susan Wagner.
Big games are nothing new to Lopez, who led the Pirates to the PSAL Class A crown in a 10-inning classic against Madison. She is happy the tiring stretch is over as her team heads to a tournament in Mudville this weekend.
“I’m probably going to end up pitching, but hopefully they will throw someone else in,” Lopez said. “I’ve been pitching a lot.”
She surrendered just 12 hits and nine walks in 26 innings pitched. She also struck out an astounding 44 batters. After watching hitters struggle to even make contact at times in her first three games, including a five-inning no-hitter against MSIT, she had to work the most in her final start against Wagner. Her 12 strikeouts left nine Wagner base runners stranded.
Her blazing fast ball is tough to touch and she usually get stronger as the games go on, mixing in her change and screwball.
“I am confident when it comes to striking [people] out because I can move the ball around,” Lopez said.
The Pirates talked all throughout this stretch about how facing tougher and faster pitching brought out the best in their bats. That was also the case for Lopez. She went 8-for-14 with three triples and double. She drove in a run against Construction and got the inning started with a hit against Madison that led to Tottenville’s first run in a 3-0 win.
“She rises to the occasion as we’ve seen,” Pirates coach Cathy Morano said.