A truly amazing USF recruit... Wonder if the Times or Trib knew this...

[The Sheriff]

I am glad this girl will be playing for USF... What a great article... If Capri pitches anything like she did in NJ, USF will be a force to reckon with for years to come.

http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070525/SPORTS03/705250335/1047

Catalano's feats loud and clear

Home News Tribune Online 05/25/07

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"Behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed."

 Exodus 3:2

When she was 4 years old, Capri Catalano contracted bacterial meningitis, and it nearly killed her. She spent three weeks in a coma. She could not walk for nearly a year. She lost her balance, much of her vision and all of her hearing.

She went the next four years without saying a word.

How, then, do you explain the scene that unfolded Thursday afternoon at Governor Livingston High School, where Catalano, a North Brunswick resident, tied the state career strikeout record at 1,281 for a high school softball pitcher?

You can't. And you don't even try. Some things, such as the burning bush Moses witnessed as he led the Israelites through the desert in search of the Promised Land, simply defy rational explanation.

"It's nothing short of a miracle," said Capri's father, Tony Catalano. "I remember buying sports equipment when she was little and putting it all in a box, thinking we were never going to use it. I was just hoping she was going to walk again."

Over time, Capri regained her balance and her sight. The hearing, however, never came back.

Capri is deaf.

She can hear some with the help of surgically implanted hearing aids, but they have to be turned off when it rains or when she sweats.

Hearing-impaired athletes have competed in various sports for Governor Livingston, which has been educating deaf and hard-of-hearing teens from all parts of northern and central New Jersey since 1977.

But this one is a little bit different than the others.

"I don't think anyone has ever reached this kind of milestone," said Cynthia Manto, a longtime speech specialist at Governor Livingston. "It's an amazing, amazing feat. She is quite a tribute to our school."

The meningitis was bad enough, but the damage it wrought took years

to repair. There were countless hours of speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy.

"She went to therapy three times a week from ages 4 to 10," Tony Catalano said. "There were hundreds of people who helped her out."

Finally, at age 8, Tony placed his daughter in the local soccer league.

"She would fall down and the girls would just run over her," he said. "She ended up spending most of the day on the ground, but I just wanted her to get exercise."

A year later she tried softball.

"The first year she got into one game for an inning or two," Tony recalled. "She seemed to learn a lot by watching. When the girls were in the field she would imitate the pitcher and take a ball and throw it all over the place, and I would retrieve it. Instead of sitting on the bench we would practice on the sidelines. It was better than wasting the night away."

Progress was slow, but the physical therapy had made Capri strong, and by age 13 she was pitching at a high level, firing fastballs past stunned batters.

"As a pitcher, even without hearing, she could control the game because it's at a slower pace," Tony said. "When you're on the mound it's just you, one-on-one." pu,sub Higher ground

After spending a year at North Brunswick High School, Catalano transferred to Governor Livingston and its deaf program. It didn't take her long to fit in.

"Her communication skills are wonderful," Manto said. "She has a charismatic personality, which will serve her well her whole life."

Capri uses that personality to reach out to others, leading tours for prospective deaf students.

"In the time she's been here, I always could count on her to be the first person to make new students welcome," Manto said.

Softball, Manto surmised, is a big reason why Catalano is so well adjusted.

"Deaf people are very social people, but she really is exceptional in that she has very successfully learned to go in and out between the deaf world and the hearing world fluidly, without missing a beat," she explained. "She can fit in and be accepted on both sides." pu,sub Making it work

As good as Catalano is, she does play a team sport and there are times when communication is an issue.

"Sometimes it might get frustrating because she'll go back for a ball and someone will call her off, but she can't hear you so she won't back off," said senior Heather Bergman, who has been catching Catalano's pitches for the past two years. "This year if there's a bunt of fly ball we're going to field it. Anything outside of the pitcher's mound we'll take."

Aside from that, you'd never know by watching a Governor Livingston game that the pitcher has a hearing impairment. Her teammates cheer her on with the usual softball chatter. During conferences in the circle she can read lips.

"I hear my dad at all times, and yes, I can hear my teammates most of the time," Capri said in an e-mail exchange. "A couple of my teammates will sign a little to me. I can understand them pretty well without sign language."

Governor Livingston offers sign language as part of its core foreign language requirement, and senior shortstop Julie Buonagura took the course. If there's ever a communication problem that needs to be solved in a pinch, Buonagura will sign the message to Catalano.

But those moments are rare. Baseball has its own intuitive language, and Capri has it down pat.

"She's developed this sixth sense," said Manto, who attends the games. "She's able to have such a feel for the game because she can't really hear what her coach is yelling at her. She's got to be so visual."

Catalano's senior season almost was derailed by a fractured vertebrae in her back. It would have been easy for her to sit out and rest up for next year, when she will pitch for powerhouse South Florida on a full scholarship.

But she got a doctor's clearance and wanted to pitch  not for the strikeout record, but for the chance to lead the Highlanders to the Group II title.

She wears a back brace during games and she doesn't hit. Yet this has been her finest season. Another obstacle overcome, another feat that makes you shake your head in amazement.

"It's been kind of surreal, kind of like it's not really happening," Tony Catalano said. "I never thought it would get to this point."

It's hard to explain, but not hard to appreciate. Records are broken all the time. Stereotypes are not. Capri's fastball has shattered both.

[The Sheriff]

And in today's Oracle...

You guys gotta bullieve!!!

http://media.www.usforacle.com/media/storage/paper880/news/2007/06/18/Sports/OffSeason.Success-2915767.shtml?reffeature=textemailedition

The 2007 off-season has been a busy one for USF softball coach Ken Eriksen.

Despite recording his 500th collegiate win, leading the Bulls to a 44-22 record and clinching second place in the Big East this year, the Bulls' postseason run was cut short when they were eliminated from the conference tournament by Louisville. The loss knocked the Bulls out of contention for the NCAA Tournament, the first time they failed to qualify since 2002.

Since the end of the season, Eriksen has spent most of his time attempting to improve the USF softball program. Whether it's been fundraising or cementing next year's recruiting class, the coach has been hard at work this summer.

One of the things Eriksen is most excited about for next season is the talented batch of recruits he has been able to bring to USF. Included in that class are speedy position players Kati O'Brian and Kelly McCarver and highly touted pitching recruit Capri Catalano. As a senior at Walton Beach High School, O'Brian had an impressive .349 batting average while McCarver's .423 average and 30 stolen bases helped lead Spruce Creek High School out of Port Orange to the state finals in 2006. Catalano set the New Jersey state record for strikeouts, finishing her career with more than 1,300. In her last high school game, a state semifinal, Catalano struck out the first 20 batters she faced before forcing a groundout for the final out of a perfect game. Catalano has proved she can contribute on offense as well. The North Brunswick, N.J., native had a .330 batting average with five home runs and 25 RBI in 2006.

Eriksen, who is entering his 12th season with USF, recently spoke with the Oracle concerning everything from his attempts to raise funds for the program to the new recruits he's bringing in for next

season.

The Oracle: How's the summer going for you, Coach?

Coach Ken Eriksen: The summer has been too long already. Actually, I've been spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to raise money to get this new facility going for us.

O: What kind of progress have you made on that front?

K.E.: Well, it's actually going slow, but it seems to be moving ahead. It's just that we really just don't have a lot of concrete situations going on right now. But I know that the athletic director has really been busting his cans to try and open up some new revenue sources for us. With the advent of the ISP deal and everything else involving the progression of money coming in to the University; hopefully that will help.

O: As far as the team itself goes, how has the recruiting been? You signed Capri Catalano, a very good pitching recruit; how do you feel about that?

K.E.: Well, anytime that you can get a state champion and a kid that broke all the high school records in the state for strikeouts to come in, we're pretty excited about it. (Catalano) is going to join a pretty formidable pitching staff already with Bree Spence, Cristi Ecks, Kristen Gordon and Courtney Mosch. I think that just adds to keeping it going. When you finish third in the country in ERA as a team, you're pretty happy about how things that are going on with your pitching staff, and now to add someone like that, it can only make us better.

O: With Catalano coming in to join your current staff, USF could be poised to have one of the best pitching staffs in the nation next season.

K.E.: Yeah, I think so, just as long as I don't screw it up.

O: As far as the offense goes, you're only losing a couple of seniors from last year. Are you excited about bringing all those players back?

K.E.: I am, and I'm actually pretty happy about adding some speed to the lineup next year as well. We have a young lady coming in from Spruce Creek High School, Kelly McCarver, who can flat out fly and another young lady from the Pensacola area by the name of Kati O'Brian who's also a flyer, and adding speed to the lineup is always going to help, no question.

O: With all these additions and the return of the majority of last year's team, are you hoping to make a return to the Super Regional Tournament that the Bulls got to two years ago?

K.E.: Actually, now we're not looking forward to the Super Regionals. This time, we're looking forward to getting into the College World Series.

[Mama_Bull]

That is wonderful, not just for USF but for the young girl. 

Nice to see a "feel good" story on the board.

GO BULLS!!!!!!!

[The Sheriff]

It'll feel even better if she can deliver us to the WCWS next year or in the upcoming years! Tell Howie I said what's up Mama! Back to work for me now!

[Greg Auman]

Sheriff, thanks for the tip. Had an update on Catalano last month here:

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/2007/06/softball_more_0.html

I think she'll be one we'll be writing a lot about. Eriksen's not going to hurt for pitching for a long time. His top four pitchers are back from this season, and he gets to work Catalano in ...

[SRQ]

Great find!  Thanks.

Nice line in article: "she will pitch for powerhouse South Florida".

Got to get this team the $$$ for a stadium.

[AndytheBull]

Thanks for posting Sheriff. Thats an amazing story.

[The Sheriff]

I had read the blog entry from earlier... didn't know about the rest of her situation though. She was a good batter in 2006, yet didn't bat at all due to a damaged back in 2007... pretty crazy IMO to even play even with a Doc's clearance. To me, she seems like a 50-50 proposition for coach E. We're stacked in pitching... if Capri can heal... the sky's the limit. If the back injury is too damaging, then she can redshirt and gain another year. Over 1,300 strikeouts though is ridiculous in four years... although the high school girl going to Michigan from the SoCal area wiffed over 400+ batters alone this year.

I wonder how many coaches will initially try to exploit her hearing by consistently bunting... you figure you have two players making a play on the ball... it could get interesting if she doesn't hear the first or third baseman's call. But hell... if she is striking everyone out... will it really matter?

Welcome to Tampa Capri!

[Ricky the Bull]