John Curatolo isn’t one to shy away from trash talking. It’s something that only escalates when the St. John Villa softball coach plays his father Tony and Notre Dame Academy.
“He has been telling me, ‘Ah you can’t beat us,’” said Tony Curatolo, who is in his 33rd season at NDA. “He has been ragging [on us] all week.”
It even extended to the players on Notre Dame, for which John’s daughter Catie plays. His other daughter Mary is the pitcher on Villa’s JV team. The Gators players are always over the younge rCuratolo’s house, so it’s hard to help himself.
“[Breanne] Gasser is one of Catie’s real good friends, so is [Amanda] Lavoro,” John Curatolo said. “I know all these kids. It’s not like they are not at my house. I cooked for these kids’ pasta party. If they come to my house, you’ve got to trash talk.”
Especially when the Bears have won the last 17 meetings according to John Curatolo. It’s a stat his father wasn’t quick to confirm.
“It’s been a while,” said Tony Curatolo, whose wife Mary Ann is on the bench with him.
His Gators snapped the skid with a back-and-forth, 15-11, win in CHSAA Staten Island softball in South Beach Friday afternoon. A six-run sixth inning proved to be the difference. Catie Curatolo had a hit, scored a run and had on RBI groundout in the sixth. NDA led 8-1 after four innings.
“She got a big hit for us too,” Tony Curatolo said of his granddaughter. “[The players] will get on him. ‘You let your daughter get a hit.’”
His son was ejected in the fifth inning for continued sarcastic comments to the umpire. What he said was certainly not deserving of such a quick hook. After his wife checked on her him, she went back to sitting on the Notre Dame side. John kidded his dad from behind the back stop about his reflexes when he was OK after getting hit with a ball in the third-base coach’s box.
“I can’t move that fast anymore,” the NDA coach replied.
The game is played in good spirits. Notre Dame has had some big leads — 7-0 and 8-1, recently — and have seen Villa come away with the wins.
“John always tells us we are going to lose,” said Lavoro, who had three hits, three RBIs and two runs scored.
Visits to his house may be a bit different for awhile after this game.
