Fontbonne beats Xaverian in classic pitching duel

In a game between Bay Ridge rivals, Fontbonne rookie sophomore  Ella DeCrescenzo went head-to-head with Xaverian’s junior ace Kelly Baker in a classic pitching duel.

Baker was dominant, striking out nine Bonnies while giving up five hits and one run. Matching Baker’s performance, DeCrescenzo accounted for five “caught-looking” strikeouts along with two hits for the win.  

“Besides the called strikeouts, she really kept us off balance,” said Xaverian head coach Mark Biancoviso, referring to the 12 pop-ups that DeCrescenzo induced for Fontbonne outs. “It was a clean and very good game on both sides.”

In the top of the third inning, it appeared Xaverian would break the scoreless deadlock when Sara Coccidrilla smoked the ball to the left-center gap, but that left fielder Emma Capozucca snagged it on a dead run with an over-the-shoulder catch to save a possible home run.

Still locked in a scoreless game with one out in the sixth inning, Fontbonne’s Kayla Rolon was hit in the ribs by an errant pitch that sent her sprawling to the ground.  Getting back to her feet after several minutes, she took first base and promptly stole second. She advanced to third on a ground ball out to shortstop for the second out.

Baker then faced her counterpart DeCrescenzo, who sent a smash back to the pitcher’s circle that the Clipper pitcher just managed to knock down. By the time Baker recovered the ball, DeCrescenzo was safely down to first while Rolon crossed the plate with the winning run.

It was Frank Marinello’s 300th win as varsity head coach, a position he’s held since 2003. He downplayed the milestone, saying, “I’m sure that a lot of other coaches have these many wins as well. I’m just glad to be coaching at Fontbonne and to work with all these great kids.” 

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