Big Softball Commit for '09!!!

Another perfect game yesterday breaks the national record for perfect games pitched in high school. Plus, she made ESPN's top 10 plays and they mentioned she was going to LSU.

 

Masuk's Fico sets perfect games record

By Mike Cardillo
Staff writer
Updated: 04/24/2009 12:13:10 AM EDT

Click photo to enlarge


Masuk pitcher Rachele Fico slaps hands with Coach Jacqui... (Autumn Driscoll/Staff photographer)

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MONROE -- The decision to wear No. 21 didn't hold too much significance for Rachele Fico when she arrived at Masuk four years ago.
Thursday afternoon the No. 21 was plenty special to the senior pitching phenom.
Hurling against Bethel, Fico struck out all 21 batters she faced in what was her national record-setting 21st career perfect game as Masuk won 9-0.
"It might have picked up some connections over time," Fico said about her number. "Today I did the No. 21 Sudoku book."
And for good measure, Fico smacked a two-run homer to center field in the sixth inning on a 2-and-1 count.
It was Fico's fifth perfect game this season and it pushed her past Marissa Marzan, who pitched at Fresno, Calif., Bullard High from 1998-2001, for first place atop the National Federation of State High School Association's record book.
Fico, an Oxford resident, tied Marzan's mark of 20 on Tuesday against Stratford. Her first chance to go for the record was Wednesday at Notre Dame-Fairfield, but that game was rained out.
In her typical team-first fashion, the LSU-bound Fico downplayed her achievement and shared the spotlight with her teammates.
"It's a huge accomplishment. I couldn't do it without my teammates," said Fico, noting that the win qualified Masuk for the Class LL tournament. "The team was awesome with the bats today."
The closest Bethel came to breaking up the perfect game was in the third inning when Fico hit Courtney Chandler on the left forearm, but Chandler was swinging. All it turned out to be was a strike, albeit a painful one for Chandler who left the game.
Fico struck out 14 of the 21 Wildcats by the swinging variety, including Taylor Edelmann to end the game. She only went to a two-ball count once all game and it was the first time she struck out every batter in a perfect game.
Perhaps the best indication of Fico's dominance in the pitching circle came when the small contingent of Bethel supporters cheered whenever a Wildcat player was simply able to foul off a ball.
"She's a great pitcher," Edelmann said. "When we heard about the rainout we knew it was a possibility."
Though they weren't pressed into action in the field, the rest of the Masuk starting nine backed up Fico with the bats, jumping on Bethel with five quick runs in the first inning, all but assuring this game would go the standard seven innings, unlike Fico's first perfect game of 2009 which came in 11 innings against Westhill.
The Panthers stroked four straight singles off Wildcats starter Lydia Socci, including a two-run single by Shayna Ramalho. Chaise Courbron, Nikki Brice and Kailey Auger also drove in runs in the first for Masuk.
Masuk tacked on two more runs in the fifth on a two-run homer by Christene Leo.
"I think that her teammates wanted it for her," Masuk coach Jacqui Sheftz said. "They came in with a great focus today."
There was a a sense of relief for the Masuk dugout, too, since the pressure of Fico aiming for the national record was completed on the first try.
"She's just amazing," said Ramalho, Fico's catcher. "I had to stay focused and concentrate on what I had to do.
"It's just a great experience for me later on in life."
Fico still could set a few more national records before her career is over, including the lowest career ERA (0.06) and season perfect games (11). For now, though, Fico remains focused on trying to pitch Masuk to its fifth straight SWC title and third straight Class LL crown.
"It'll probably be pretty cool to look back at when I'm older, but right now I'm not trying to pay attention to it," Fico said.
"I try not to pay attention to the hype and just play my 'A' game every day."
Fico said about the only difference from today's game and any other was an unusually high number of well-wishers in the Masuk hallways.
"Today people were coming up to me about it and I was like, 'Don't jinx it.'"


:lsup:

 

ELSBERRY: Pressure nothing new for Fico

Masuk senior breezes to record
By Chris Elsberry
Updated: 04/24/2009 02:03:41 PM EDT

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Masuk's Rachele Fico pitches during Thursday's game... (Autumn Driscoll/Staff photographer )

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MONROE -- It started with a sponge. Ralph Fico stood at one end of the kitchen and his daughter, Rachele, stood at the other. Ralph would toss the sponge and Rachele would catch it and toss it back. That counted as one. They would do this over and over again, in groups of 10, all the way to 100. If Rachele dropped one, they would start all over again. From zero.
From the sponge, the tossing turned to a tennis ball. And then a baseball. Always barehanded. Always 100 throws.
"She learned to count throwing the ball," Ralph Fico said. "Catching the ball without dropping it helped her to deal with pressure as a young kid."
You would think there might have been a little bit of pressure Thursday afternoon, but there wasn't. Even with a national high school record hanging on every pitch, Rachele Fico just did what she always did when she steps over the white chalk line and onto the playing field. She just pitches.
"Believe me," Ralph Fico said. "She's more focused on the win. She plays for the win, she really does."
Against Bethel on a cool, breezy April afternoon, Fico got her win. But this one meant a little more than all the others. While Fico admitted she was more excited about getting Masuk qualified for the CIAC tournament, the 9-0 victory over Bethel was the 21st perfect game of her illustrious career, breaking the national high school record set between 1998-2001 by Melissa Marzan, of Fresno, Calif.
"I try not to think about my stats
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too much, but a perfect game is a team accomplishment. I'm nowhere without my teammates," said Fico, who was mobbed by those same teammates after she struck out the final batter. She struck out all 21 batters she faced. In softball, as in baseball, pitching a perfect game is a rare feat in which a pitcher doesn't allow a batter to reach base.
"They come out every day and work hard. It's an accomplishment for the team, and I wouldn't have it any other way," she said.
Fico started playing co-ed T-ball in Oxford when she was 5 years old. When she was 9, she started playing softball. But she really wasn't focusing on a future as a pitcher. It wasn't until Ralph took Rachele to a pitching clinic that the bug bit.
"She got more interested after that, so we started pitching, 100 pitches a day for five or six days a week, 30,000 pitches a year," Ralph Fico said. "And as she started to throw harder, we'd cut back on the amount a bit."
By the time Fico was in eighth grade, she already was throwing the ball around 60 mph, so Ralph took her to see Jen Hapanowicz at USA Elite Training in Durham. Hapanowicz, who pitched at the University of Rhode Island, worked with Fico on improving her pitch speed and location.
"When I first saw her, I knew she could be really good. She had the drive and the work ethic and a mental focus that you don't see in most kids. She was already very competitive, already throwing very hard," Hapanowicz said. "She's a rare find. Mentally, she's very tough. She's a competitor. You put her on that mound and she doesn't like to lose."
Not that she ever has. In her career at Masuk, Fico has lost only twice. Her career win-loss record stands at 87-2 with 1,547 career strikeouts, 78 shutouts, 41 no-hitters and those 21 perfect games.
"She throws between 68 and 70 mph. Curve, slider, change, rise, drop.
"She can throw it wherever she wants," Ralph said. "And her mental game "¦ it's unbelievable."
Whenever they could, Rachele and Ralph would watch fast-pitch softball on TV. A lot of times, they'd drive to Stratford and watch the Brakettes play. More often than not, Fico would hang around afterward and ask manager John Stratton questions about pitching.
"She'd pick his brain," Ralph said. "She soaked up everything."
And that mental toughness came pouring out right at the start as the Bethel batters simply did not have a chance. And when Taylor Edelmann swung and missed at a close-to-70-mph rise ball for the final out in the top of the seventh, Fico had her record-breaking perfect game.
"I'm speechless," Masuk head coach Jacqui Sheftz said. "Rachele just goes out there and throws. It's just another game for her. In the end, it's going to mean something to her maybe when she's 30 or 40, but today, her mentality was to get us into the state tournament."
Which is exactly what she did.
"I just treated this like any other game. I'm not going out there to try and raise my personal stats, I just want to go out there and have fun with my teammates," Fico said. "I just try to ignore all the hype. I just love going out there every day and playing with my teammates and having fun."
And as her teammates mobbed her in front of the mound Thursday afternoon, it was obvious Rachele Fico was having a blast.
Contact Chris Elsberry at [email protected]


:LSU231:

 

Simply the best

Connecticut Post Staff
Updated: 04/24/2009 04:07:54 PM EDT


This kind of greatness doesn't come around often. Appreciate her while she's here. Masuk High School senior pitcher Rachele Fico last Thursday set a new national high school record for career perfect games in softball with her 21st. It was her fifth perfect game this season and fourth in her last five starts. She struck out 21 batters.
Considering the thousands of high school athletes to have suited up over the years, a record like this is nothing short of astonishing. Fans, teammates and opponents are lucky to have been a part of this run, which is by no means finished.
A perfect game means the opposing team doesn't so much as reach base. No hits, no walks, no errors. In this case, there was hardly any contact -- Fico struck out each batter she faced.
For Fico, who lives in Oxford, this rarest of feats is just another day at the office. Opponents know that when she is scheduled to pitch, about the best they can hope for is a rainout. They certainly won't be scoring any runs against her.
There are all sorts of superlatives tossed around these days, especially regarding sports -- the best this or the greatest that or the youngest whatever. But the stats don't lie. This is true greatness, and we've all been lucky to witness a historic run.
May it continue beyond her years at Masuk and for many seasons to come.


LSU!LSU!LSU!

 

She has a small feature in Sports Illustrated this week.
Said "Future LSU player" in the article.

I was stunned we got a player all the way from CT......
Does she have some ties to Louisiana or something. Its not like LSU is a Softball hotbed (Like some of the pac-10 schools)