Name: Kristen McEvitt
School: St. Francis Prep
Sport: Softball
Position: Pitcher
Year: Senior
Hometown: Flushing
Kristen McEvitt shut down archrival The Mary Louis Academy Hilltoppers, giving up just two hits and no earned runs to propel the St. Francis Prep varsity girls’ softball team to a 2-1 win in the Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan championship game.
And she did it on her birthday.
McEvitt, who turned 18 Sunday, finished off what she began Friday before rain called a halt to the contest after two innings with the Terriers clinging to a 2-0 lead. She fanned 11 batters and struck out the side in the seventh to close the door on a stellar senior season.
Heading into Tuesday’s city championship matchup against St. John Villa, McEvitt had a 10-3 record on the season, 9-1 in league play, and 150 strikeouts. All that and McEvitt wasn’t even sure she would be effective going into her last season after surgery to repair a nerve in her pitching arm during her junior year.
The surgery forced McEvitt, who has to ice her arm after every game and still suffers from residual numbness and tendonitis, to alter her style of pitching. And while her fastball may not be as fast as it once was, McEvitt has still been able to find a way to win.
“She doesn’t give up,” said Prep coach Ann Marie Rich.
Stephanie Gozdziewski was on the wrong end of the St. Francis Prep-Mary Louis softball battle, but she still pitched strong, allowing just one hit, striking out eight and giving up two unearned runs … Monsignor McClancy’s David Copello had three hits and three RBIs in a 7-2 playoff win over Regis last week … Anika Charles and Catia Santos scored four minutes apart in the second half for the Edison girls’ soccer team, which beat Banneker 2-0 in the first round of the PSAL ‘B’ playoffs in its first year of varsity play … Daniella Adams made 10 saves during regulation and two overtimes and then stopped four of five penalty shots to lift Jamaica to a 3-2 win over Goldstein in a first-round PSAL ‘B’ playoff game … Carolina Serna scored both goals for Forest Hills in a 2-0 win over Columbus in a first-round PSAL ‘B’ playoff game … Carolyn Durniak had two goals and an assist for Cardozo in a 3-1 win over Sheepshead Bay in a first-round PSAL ‘A’ playoff game.
