Xaverian comes through for Fontbonne seniors

Routinely, the last home game of the regular season is the time that a team honors its outgoing seniors. This season, Fontbonne’s varsity softball seniors were in jeopardy of a cancelled game as a conflicting schedule change threatened the Bonnies’ game until Xaverian’s manager Mark Biancoviso stepped up to salvage Fontbonne’s Senior Game celebration. When Fontbonne Manager Pete McCarthy reached out to Biancoviso for a competitor to play the game, the Clippers’ skipper answered the call and quickly assembled his team within a few hours to accommodate the Bonnies at Dyker Park.

For this last-minute non-league game, the Clippers hurriedly got to the field to play their neighborhood rivals that they had already beaten twice during the regular season. Getting a chance to play Xaverian for a third time, the Bonnies took full advantage of the opportunity, as senior pitcher Rebecca DiLeo kept the Clippers scoreless, while the Bonnies put up four unanswered runs over five innings.

The Clippers then responded in the fifth inning with the defensive play of the game. In position to score more runs, the recently hot-hitting sophomore Grace McGinn hit a rocket to center field that Xaverian’s Madison Pender caught on the dead run just two steps away from the fence to shut down any further Fontbonne scoring. The Clippers would add just one run in the sixth inning for the eventual 4-1 Fontbonne Senior Game win.

At the end of the game, as good competitors, both teams met at the mound for a post-game prayer circle to offer thanks to one another and to pray for family members.  Family and friends joined the on-field celebration as the team’s six seniors posed for photos with their senior gifts. As prepared by manager McCarthy and junior captain Kate Kmiotek, each senior received a Fontbonne gift bag, an inscribed senior ball, a personalized memory framed photo and their own framed road jersey.