Fontbonne rallies early to beat Moore 

After being beaten 10-2 by Moore Catholic on Staten Island last month, Fontbonne hosted the Mavericks at Dyker Park for their second meeting of the season. Urging his team to get past the last rout, coach Steve Caso told his girls to forget about the last game, saying, “Just go out there and beat this team like I know you can,”

Putting Caso’s words into action, senior Kendall Grey (2-for-4) led off the game with a single up the middle and scored on a double by Rebecca DiLeo to give the Bonnies a 1-0 first-inning lead. Early scoring came quickly for Fontbonne in the second inning when Moore’s Courtney Schron walked Anna DeSilvio and Neala Lyons to set the stage for sophomore Grace McGinn.

Energized by her first inning hit, Grey started a rap song chant from the dugout to encourage McGinn to dig in at the plate to score her teammates from first and second.  With Grey repeatedly shouting, “She don’t want a puppy, she wants a big dawg,” McGinn proved to be that “big dawg” with a double to center to score her teammates.  Kate Kmiotek then followed with a single to score McGinn to give Fontbonne an early 4-0 second inning lead.

With four early runs surrendered by the Mavericks, a pitching change to Gianna DiMaso proved to be effective as the freshman recorded seven strikeouts over the last five innings.

Fontbonne would score one more time in the fifth inning when Kmiotek walked and was singled to third by Sam Spyliopulos. From third base Kmiotek challenged the catcher to pick her off and was successful as an errant throw allowed her to score for a 5-0 lead.

Throughout the game, the battery of catcher Spyliopulos and pitcher DiLeo (four Ks, two runs on five hits) teamed up to keep Moore’s batters off balance. With the combination of changeups and screwballs to induce soft contact, DiLeo kept Moore scoreless for five innings. By the sixth inning the Mavericks were able to catch up to DiLeo’s tempo and managed to score two runs in Fontbonne’s 5-2 win.

Complimenting the team in their postgame huddle, Caso told the girls, “Today was a total team win. Everyone did their job to win this game.”

Joining in on the fun chant that Grey had started, Caso said, “You were all big dawgs today.”