By Amanda Guerriero
In her first collegiate appearance pitching in the Pride softball team’s first game since the NCAA Tournament, Kayleigh Lotti may have been expected to buckle under the weight of expectation. After all, Lotti was joining a team which had two 20-win pitchers last season. That’s quite a shadow to be in.
Yet Lotti emerged unscathed, literally. She was untouchable. The freshman hurler took the mound against Temple on Feb. 18 and didn’t allow a hit. The only blemish in her five innings of work during the Pride’s 10-0 win was one walk. That was enough to garner 2006’s first CAA Rookie of the Week Award.
“I feel that last week was the best experience of my life,” Lotti said. “We had a chance to play amazing athletes.” Lotti was the first pitcher since Sara DeAngelis in 2002 to throw a no-hitter for the Pride.
Yet as jaw-dropping as her performance may seem on the surface, upon further review of Lotti’s resume, it really isn’t unexpected. While at St. Raphael Academy in Pawtucket, R.I., Lotti threw 29 no-hitters, all but five of which came in her junior and senior seasons. She was named Gatorade Rhode Island High School Player of the Year twice and led St. Raphael’s to the state championship both seasons.
Over that span, the 5-foot-9 hurler allowed just one earned run.
“I also feel that as freshmen I am open to almost anything and willing to try anything, so it’s just a matter of getting some games under my belt and start mastering new techniques that I have been taught by coach and the older pitchers,” Lotti said.
Lotti’s second start, which came on Feb. 19 against Charleston, wasn’t as smooth as her first. She actually gave up a run – albeit unearned — in the Pride’s 5-1 victory. Lotti led the Pride to its first 2-0 start since 1994 when it leaped out of the gate to a 9-0 record. “Some things that I have learned is to ‘trust my stuff,'” Lotti said. “Basically trust in what you have and who you are, don’t change how you play just because of the other teams jersey or name. I play each game like all of the teams are the same.”
It took the effort of defending national-champion Michigan on Feb. 24 to taint Lotti’s perfect record. The Wolverines handed Lotti a very uncharacteristic 5-3 loss. “I feel that to be a freshman and go up against the NCAA defending champs and other top 10 schools has made me so much stronger, mentally and physically.”
Still, Lotti’s promising start looks to continue in a long line of successful pitchers.
-Staff writer James J. Parziale contributed to this story