×

A feeling like no other

Big Red softball seniors expected a big 2020 season

STEUBENVILLE — Although the Steubenville Big Red softball team does not play under any lights at its home field, it still gathered one final time on the night of April 20.

The lights shined bright at Vaccaro Field just down the hill and at other locations, while the softball club saw its diamond fade to black.

The reason for the visit was for head coach Gus DiMarzio to announce to his squad that the season had been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was important for him to make sure Big Red was there in person.

“I have been with a lot of these girls since they were little,” he said. “My daughter (JoJo) played for me, so she played with a lot of them. These girls were freshmen when she was a junior, so they grew up together playing travel ball. They’re family. They come visit the house. They call JoJo sissy. So, why would I want them to read about it on the Internet? Why would I want their parents to tell them? If anybody’s going to tell them, I wanted it to be me. I wanted to tell them from the bottom of my heart that I was sorry and felt for them.”

Many of the athletes knew that would be his message. Some were holding out for hope, even if it was slim.

“What made it so special is that it kind of gave us seniors closure. We only got to practice on the field one or two times before all of this happened,” Madison Fields said. “It kind of gave us closure to be with the team, although we weren’t playing. It let us at least get one last goodbye.”

Six seniors were able to say goodbye in person, including Fields. The others were Anaiya Minniefield, Sadie Carducci, Raven Banks, Sami Cucarese and Carley Hay.

“This year was a lot different than any other year with seniors,” Carducci said. “Through this whole thing, we couldn’t practice, but we were so hopeful. Then, it kept getting pushed back, but we were still hopeful. We have a group chat and always talked about it. When we were told our season was canceled, we were all devastated. We grieved about it together. We have a big bond, and it became even bigger after this situation.”

Along with the strong bond, Big Red was poised to have a dream season that would not end in the district finals like last season. Only two seniors departed from last year’s team. Fields was returning as the ace on the mound, and the starting lineup was returning. Also, everybody in the lineup batted .300 or higher in 2019.

“I’ve had good teams, and I’ve had really good players before this year. But, I never had a team with as many good players and as many hard workers,” DiMarzio said. “These girls put in a tremendous amount of work and worked tremendously hard at what they were doing. After we had our last practice, I thought to myself, ‘Man, I hope we get back into this in a couple of weeks.’ I really thought we could’ve done something special.”

Fields, who played first and third base, as well, also shined at the plate, batting .634 with 52 hits. DiMarzio said she only needed 20 to 25 hits to break the school record for a career. She is continuing her softball career at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, while majoring in mathematics.

“We were all getting great at our offense. We were doing amazing things in the cages and with the teamwork,” Fields said. “We just put long, hard hours in, so our fielding became better. Mostly, us six seniors all had something to offer to the team like our big bats or us getting better with our hand-eye coordination for on the field. We even had some outfielder starting to shine in practice that made it a lot better.”

Fields was not the only Big Red to make a splash. Banks, the third baseman, had 44 hits and drove in 45 runs, one year after coming back from a torn ACL. She drove in 15 runs during a two-game stretch. She might have been able to receive a scholarship for softball at the collegiate level but decided before the pandemic to focus on her studies.

Five players in the lineup had at least 40 hits last season. The team overall had 250 hits and 245 runs.

“When they canceled school on March 17, I said, ‘We’re going to get through this and get right back after it.’ I knew that the chances of us playing were getting slimmer and slimmer as the time kept passing,” Cucarese said. “When they called us to the field to say our season was canceled, I was in shock. I knew going into my senior year that it was going to be such a good season. It was just taken away from us so fast. It was so hard.”

The new player on the roster was Hay, a left fielder. She transferred from the Cleveland area back to her original hometown and was looking forward to her one season as a Big Red player.

“I was really nervous to play sports for Big Red because I’ve always known it as very competitive,” she said. “It was a little overwhelming. But, once I met everybody, it was really fun. I’ve never been a part of a team that worked as hard as these girls did. I was really proud to become a part of that. When we weren’t practicing, we were together a lot. I became really close with all of them, and it became a nice bond.”

Steubenville saw that Hay was nervous at first but made her feel welcomed upon arrival.

“When we first met her, we all got along amazingly well together. She’s just like one of us,” Banks said. “She works hard no matter what. She was a little afraid in the beginning, but we all made her feel like she belonged.”

Hay will be attending Eastern Gateway Community College to become a teacher. She currently is in cosmetology school.

Banks and Minniefield, an outfielder, will major in early childhood education at the University of Akron.

“They are my best friends. It’s upsetting that we won’t get to share our last year together,” Minniefield said. “We played with one another for the longest time, and I’m just really going to miss the last year with them.”

Cucarese, the second baseman, will study nursing at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. Carducci, the starting catcher, will head to Ohio State University for air space engineering.

“I didn’t think I was going to play softball in college. But, since this season ended so early, I’m considering playing club because I don’t want it to be over yet,” Carducci said. “We worked four years for this, and we really had a great opportunity with all of these seniors. I think what we learned from this is that life isn’t fair all the time, and I think this is our first life lesson.”

“Right when we hit the gym in December, there was just a different feeling,” Cucarese said. “I loved going to practice and being there with my coaches. I loved spending as much time as I could with my teammates. It was just a different feeling this year that I never felt before.

“We’re all so different, but that’s what made us all so close. None of us is the same. It ranges from one of us wanting to be a chemical scientist to the other one wanting to be a cosmetologist. A lot of us were close with the younger girls, too, so that’s why it made our team closer as a whole.”

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today