DeGaetano is too much for Brewster in 8-3 Win

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On Monday April 13 at AP Farms Field, Carys Cooper and Maria DeGaetano had a strategy coming in against Brewster. Mixing speeds and locations, said Cooper, “We were trying to get them to chase.” A donut registered in the first, a pair of walks and two hits left John Jay in a 3-0 second inning hole. So as John Jay came back, the battery mates opted instead for the shortest distance between two points.

“With her speed and movement, we thought it would be better to go right at them,” said Cooper, and by the end, the deafening sound in catcher’s cowhide told the story in an 8-3 John Jay victory.

Nonetheless, Giana Kusterer was no match when the starter went off speed with two strikes. Swing and a miss and Taylor Slavkin joined her teammate on the bench after a fly to left. A single and an error put the pressure on DeGaetano, but the threat was extinguished with an Ava Medina fly out to right.

In the bottom, Clare Doherty dropped a one out lefty bloop the other way. The first of her three hits, the first baseman has her inside out swing down pat. “I stay in on the ball and keep my head in,” she revealed.

Stranded at first, though, Doherty switched over and saw a procession of Bears pass by. After the opening walks, Kusterer and Carly Krebbs had two out hits to hang three on the scoreboard.

Of course, DeGaetano got the final out, and Kristin Zabrocki took the cue. First, the left fielder fell behind 0-2, though. So the Wolf disconnected from the disadvantage. “I just hit the ball,” said Zabrocki, and deep to center flew a triple.

Up came McKenna Foote, and a little hump back to the infield dropped. The run scoring, Jay did not take advantage of a Laney Daley walk and a Elise Templeton infield hit. So DeGaetano was left to keep her team in range.

Six up and six retired, she delivered, and the fourth had the Bears unraveling. Kusterer led off with walks to McKenna Foote and Bella Barry, and a Cooper ground ball to short did not have Brewster’s defense behind their starter.

The ball muffed, John Jay was within a run, and Daly was the next to put the hurt on. The shortstop lined one back to the circle, and all Kusterer could do was get in the way.

All tied on the infield hit, Templeton followed with a sacrifice fly to right, and now with the lead, Doherty got in the box and did her dance. Feet shuffling, the lefty slapped an RBI single to left for a 5-3 lead.

Back to the circle, DeGaetano fired away. A popup, a ground out and a strikeout quickly got Jay off the field for the bottom of the fifth.

There Zabrocki’s hot shot down third took advantage of a high hop and two bases worth of throwing errors. At third, the left fielder came home on Cooper’s self contained approach at the plate. “I was just trying to make contact,” said the catcher.

Back behind the plate, Cooper also took one for the team with DeGaetano throwing smoke. “My hand hurts a little,” she laughed.

So did Brewster’s pride. Two strikeouts and a pop up allowed John Jay to complete the scoring line in the sixth. Templeton and Doherty led off with bunt base hits, and Zabrocki’s pop to first didn’t work out so well for the Bears.

The ball dropped and two more were in. All that was left was for DeGaetano to continue applying the attitude adjustment. “At the end, we were just trying to focus on being clean and getting it done,” concluded the winning pitcher.

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