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Patriots' DeLuca set to deal with new environment
By Marc Raimondi June 20, 2009
Tina DeLuca is a self-professed city girl. But in two months, her life is about to get a little bit country.
“I’m gonna start working on a ranch,” DeLuca joked.
The Francis Lewis ace will be playing college softball at upstate SUNY Canton. And upstate is an understatement. Canton is close to seven hours away from New York City and just miles from the Canadian border.
DeLuca said when she visited the sprawling campus, she was already taken horseback riding – certainly out of her element.
“Inside the campus doesn’t look so country,” the right-hander said. “I’m gonna stay in the campus.”
She’ll also be in the circle for Canton, which has a Division I NAIA softball program. The school just recently went from a two-year to a four-year institution and is investing plenty of money into athletics. Canton is in the process of building new facilities that will cost upwards of $40 million.
DeLuca will head up there in August and Thursday she pitched in her final PSAL game. She started for the Orange (Queens/Bronx) team in a 5-2 win against the Blue (Staten Island/Brooklyn/Manhattan) team in the PSAL Exceptional Seniors Game at Long Island University in Brooklyn. DeLuca gave up no runs on two hits and struck out five in the first three innings before being relieved by Townsend Harris right-hander Cecilia Ehresman.
Part of the reason she wanted to be at LIU for this game is that she didn’t compete in the Patriots’ final game of the season. DeLuca and fellow seniors Sasha Robles and Jasmine Perez, who also played in the Exceptional Seniors Game, skipped the PSAL Class A quarterfinals game against Cardozo to prepare for their prom.
Lewis went ahead, 2-1, in the second inning of that game and DeLuca got a text about it while she was getting her hair done. The Patriots, without their ace and two starting outfielders, eventually fell to the rival Judges, 12-2, though.
“I kind of wish I went to play that game,” DeLuca said. “[The prom] wasn’t as good as I thought.”
She still wrapped up an excellent career Thursday. This season, she was 12-4 with a 1.40 ERA and struck out 127 batters in 95 innings. She gave up just 72 hits and 13 walks for a sub-1.00 WHIP. And that was with an inexperienced team behind her.
“She pitches to contact and when she has solid fielders, she is tough,” Lewis coach Bryan Brown said. “She had to work harder (this year). I thought as the team grew during the season, she started to trust her teammates.”
DeLuca can also get it done with the bat. That’s one of the reasons she stayed in the game after pitching the first three innings Thursday and was penciled into the cleanup spot in the order for the Orange team. She hit .429 this year with a .625 slugging percentage.
Brown thinks she will only improve when she gets to Canton.
“They’re getting a fiery competitor,” he said. “She’s an intense player. She wants to win. She has an array of pitches and as she gets stronger, she will be a very good pitcher at the next level.”
On the field, shouldn’t be a problem. The city girl just has to get used to her new surroundings.
“What they think of good Italian food,” said DeLuca, who is half Italian and half Filipino, “is not what it really is.”
mraimondi@fiveborosports.com
“I’m gonna start working on a ranch,” DeLuca joked.
The Francis Lewis ace will be playing college softball at upstate SUNY Canton. And upstate is an understatement. Canton is close to seven hours away from New York City and just miles from the Canadian border.
DeLuca said when she visited the sprawling campus, she was already taken horseback riding – certainly out of her element.
“Inside the campus doesn’t look so country,” the right-hander said. “I’m gonna stay in the campus.”
She’ll also be in the circle for Canton, which has a Division I NAIA softball program. The school just recently went from a two-year to a four-year institution and is investing plenty of money into athletics. Canton is in the process of building new facilities that will cost upwards of $40 million.
DeLuca will head up there in August and Thursday she pitched in her final PSAL game. She started for the Orange (Queens/Bronx) team in a 5-2 win against the Blue (Staten Island/Brooklyn/Manhattan) team in the PSAL Exceptional Seniors Game at Long Island University in Brooklyn. DeLuca gave up no runs on two hits and struck out five in the first three innings before being relieved by Townsend Harris right-hander Cecilia Ehresman.
Part of the reason she wanted to be at LIU for this game is that she didn’t compete in the Patriots’ final game of the season. DeLuca and fellow seniors Sasha Robles and Jasmine Perez, who also played in the Exceptional Seniors Game, skipped the PSAL Class A quarterfinals game against Cardozo to prepare for their prom.
Lewis went ahead, 2-1, in the second inning of that game and DeLuca got a text about it while she was getting her hair done. The Patriots, without their ace and two starting outfielders, eventually fell to the rival Judges, 12-2, though.
“I kind of wish I went to play that game,” DeLuca said. “[The prom] wasn’t as good as I thought.”
She still wrapped up an excellent career Thursday. This season, she was 12-4 with a 1.40 ERA and struck out 127 batters in 95 innings. She gave up just 72 hits and 13 walks for a sub-1.00 WHIP. And that was with an inexperienced team behind her.
“She pitches to contact and when she has solid fielders, she is tough,” Lewis coach Bryan Brown said. “She had to work harder (this year). I thought as the team grew during the season, she started to trust her teammates.”
DeLuca can also get it done with the bat. That’s one of the reasons she stayed in the game after pitching the first three innings Thursday and was penciled into the cleanup spot in the order for the Orange team. She hit .429 this year with a .625 slugging percentage.
Brown thinks she will only improve when she gets to Canton.
“They’re getting a fiery competitor,” he said. “She’s an intense player. She wants to win. She has an array of pitches and as she gets stronger, she will be a very good pitcher at the next level.”
On the field, shouldn’t be a problem. The city girl just has to get used to her new surroundings.
“What they think of good Italian food,” said DeLuca, who is half Italian and half Filipino, “is not what it really is.”
mraimondi@fiveborosports.com