LaGuardia junior pitcher Alex Sappington struck out 17 batters Thursday. (Philip Hall)
Some LaGuardia players were praying for rain or, even better, a few RBIs to earn a run-rule victory. It wasn’t a lack of sportsmanship, just a time conflict.
Junior catcher Chelsea Correa had to leave the game in the fifth inning to tryout for the lead role in Hairspray at the school. A few other players planned on racing back to Manhattan for show choir.
It was just another day in the life of a LaGuardia student-athlete.
“Imagine that pressure coming into game and then keeping it together and performing?” Athletics coach coach Greg Brummell said.
Perform is exactly what the LaGuardia softball players have done all season – and not just on stage.
After a 12-2, six-inning run-rule win against No. 9 Economics & Finance in the PSAL Class B quarterfinals Thursday at Randall’s Island, top-seed LaGuardia has advanced to the final four for the first time in the softball program’s history. The Athletics will meet No. 5 Jamaica in the opener of the double-elimination semifinals Tuesday.
“Every year since I was a sophomore we’ve said this is our year,” junior ace Alex Sappington said. “This really is our year.”
On every sports team at LaGuardia, there is a tug of war between athletics and the arts. Each student at the school, located near Lincoln Center, majors in one studio, choosing from among Dance, Drama, Art, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music and Technical Theatre. Then there’s the academic side of things – LaGuardia is also one of the top schools in the city in that regard, too.
Athletics typically plays third fiddle. But you didn’t see Brummell, the ninth-year coach, lose his cool when Correa, his backstop and No. 5 hitter, leave early Thursday in a do-or-die game.
“As a coach, I try to be patient and understanding,” he said. “I have to know what their priorities are and help them understand what’s important.”
This group, though, has been a pleasure, he said. They have the softball bug and it shows. Brummell credits part of that to Sappington, a dedicated softball player who plays on a travel team over the summer. Her presence in the circle gives LaGuardia (19-0) a chance to win every time out. But her attitude in the dugout actually makes her teammates better.
“Her passion for the game has ignited us,” Brummell said. “I think she’s been the engine. The girls draw it from her.”
Sappington struck out 17 batters in a two-hit shutout against Economics & Finance (14-5), LaGuardia’s Manhattan B-I rival. The Panthers actually did get around on her overpowering fastball a few times, which says a lot.
“We knew they were going to come out hard,” Sappington said. “They have some big hitters. [Correa] knew them very well. She knew where they liked to hit.”
But in the end, Sappington didn’t give up an earned run, upholding her incredible year-long streak. LaGuardia scored twice in the second, four times in the third and two times in each of the next three innings. Correa went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Sierra Vazquez and Kelly Ortiz each went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Pilar Gonzalez was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Sarah Tembeckjian went 2-for-3.
“It’s not just [Sappington],” Brummell said.
Just like it’s not just academics or just arts or just athletics with this team.
“The dual mission has come together with the arts and the athletics,” Brummell said, praising the school and the players’ parents for unbridled support.
Sappington said she and her teammates always look up at the banners hanging in the school gym and they see some for handball and one last year for softball when they won the division title. But precious little of them were for citywide recognition.
LaGuardia is hoping that this year that changes. It is “their year” after all.
“It would be such a great thing to put that banner up,” Brummell said. “It would show the city that we’re not just an arts school.”
