Dans Papers - June 1, 2007 - Jessie Stavola Falters On The Mound. But Wins.

Jessie Stavola receives the yellow softball from catcher Caity O'Brien. She enters the white chalk circle and takes a few steps behind the rubber. Stavola then paces forward to the center of the mound and digs her two feet into the dirt in front of the rubber. She takes the ball out of her glove and places it in her right hand. She puts her glove over the ball, deciding which of the six grips -- curve, screw, change, rise, drop, fastball -- from her arsenal she will choose. Decides. Gets into her windmill formation, bends down, brings her right arm around from 12 to 6 and fires.

"You get into this comfortable routine before every pitch," Stavola said. "It's one of those things. You go back, try to learn from your mistakes and move on."

After striking out the first batter in the top of the fourth inning, Stavola got into trouble. She gave up a walk and a single to the next two batters she faced. The fifth-seeded Miller Place Panthers now had a rally going with runners on first and second and one out. With the score deadlocked 0-0, the next batter popped out. Stavola then threw a wild pitch and the runners advanced to second and third. She eventually walked the batter. The bases were now loaded with two outs and Panthers' pitcher, Jackie Doolin, stepping up to the plate trying to help her own cause.

Crack. Doolin connected on the offering from Stavola. The ball was flying high into the sky heading towards left field. East Hampton eighth-grader Megan Hess ran over towards the left field foul line, put her glove up and squeezed the ball for the out. Stavola jumped up in excitement and continued on into the dugout after the final out of the inning.

It was this now involuntary repetition, taught by her pitching coach, that helped Stavola get through the fourth inning jam with a crowd of almost 250 fans looking on.

The intensity might have rattled other pitchers, but not Stavola.

"I like being in pressure situations," Stavola said. "You get such an adrenaline rush. I never get scared or nervous. I want to strike batters out for my team."

All that was going through the junior's head during the nail biting fourth inning. "Just get the out. Take one pitch at a time."

The momentum continued to swing in East Hampton's favor.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, O'Brien hit a blooper over the second baseman's head and slid into second with a double. Danielle Waleko took over on the base paths for O'Brien. The next two Bonackers' hitters got hit by a pitch and struck out, respectively. Marta Johann came in to pinch hit with two outs and runners on first and second. Coach Lou Reale then called for a double steal. The Panthers' catcher wasn't able to get a throw off with the right hand hitting Johann in the batters box. The Bonackers' runners advanced to second and third. The stage was now set and Johann delivered with a RBI single through the right side, putting East Hampton on top 1-0.

"We put [Johann] up there to pinch hit because we had a hunch she'd get a hit," Reale said. "We just wanted to be aggressive and get the runners in scoring position and it worked."

One run was all Stavola and the East Hampton Bonackers would need.

Stavola retired Miller Place's seven, eight and nine hitters in order to end the game. Stavola's last out came via strikeout, her tenth on the day and 299th in 148 innings pitched. She ended the game with a one-hitter, having giving up five walks and hitting one batter.

Doolin was once again the bad-luck-losing-pitcher. In three games against East Hampton, Doolin lost all of them while only giving up four total runs.

The No.1 East Hampton Bonackers (21-1) will play its nemesis, according to Reale -- sixth seeded Islip in the best-of-three Suffolk Class A Finals.

But East Hampton may not have been advancing past the semifinals had it not been for the protective mandatory cages on the hitters helmets. In the bottom of the fourth inning Stavola fouled a ball off of her mask. She was able to shake it off, finishing the at bat and the inning with a ground out to short.

"Thank God for that cage," Stavola said.

Reale said that East Hampton wasn't as lucky in the pre-facemask softball days as players were occasionally injured.

"In the past we had a girl who broke her nose in the playoffs," Reale said. "[Stavola] would've been out with a broken nose."

Fortunately, the modest seventeen-year-old pitcher finished the game with a little ache and pain, immediately putting an ice wrap around her right arm after the outing.

Asked how she stays grounded with all of her success, Stavola replied, "I always believe there's going to be someone out there who's better than you. To me, the team is so much more important."