Kayla Maiolo knew early on it was going to be a good day.
The St. Edmund junior windmilller saw St. Saviour’s batters struggling to put her rise ball in play and she never let them get comfortable with it.
She allowed just three hits and struck out 11 in the Eagles 10–0, five-inning, run-rule victory in the Brooklyn-Queens Class A softball final at McGuire Park. It is St. Edmund’s third consecutive crown.
“If I see that they start not to hit it, then I’ll throw more,” said Maiolo of her rise ball.
Eagles coach Rowena Motylewski has seen Maiolo grow up this season. She’s able to put mistakes and adversity behind her quicker than in years past. That was evident in the second inning. St. Saviour got hits from Grace Sullivan and Meghan Riley, and Ashley Hellmers loaded the bases with a fielder’s choice.
Maiolo, protecting a 1–0 lead, didn’t blink. She struck out the next two hitters and induced a ground out to end the frame without giving up a run. Maiolo also had a hit, a run scored, and a run batted in at the plate.
“Instead of making mental mistakes or mental errors, she’s come a long way in the last year and a half,” Motylewski said.
Her team gave her plenty of gradual run support. St. Edmund led 3–0 after three innings with help from a run-batted-in ground out from Nicole Quintana, and Gab DeMeo being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home a run.
The Eagles broke the game open in the fourth inning starting with a leadoff home run to left by Stephanie Samir, who was two-for-three with two runs batted in and two runs scored. The round trip made it 5–0 and seemed to deflate St. Saviour, which made a few key errors. Maiolo and Lindsey Gosh, who had two runs batted in for the game, both drove in runs with ground outs to make it 7–0.
“I think it set the mood for the rest of the game,” said Samir of her home run.
St. Saviour ace Grace Sullivan, who also had two hits, wasn’t as sharp in the fourth, pitching with just one contact lens after losing the other. Second-year Pandas coach John Camera said it made things tough on Sullivan, but his team also hurt itself in the field. Still, he is proud of his players for making it to the title game for the second-straight year.
“This team shows what the word ‘team’ means,” Camera said.
While St. Saviour saw its season come to a close, St. Edmund will look to finish its own with one more crown when it tries to win a second-straight Catholic Class A city title against an opponent still to be determined. The Eagles want to send its 10 seniors out on a high note.
“I’m sure they are ecstatic to be able to continue what they have been building the last three years and finish out strong,” Motylewski said.
