ria DeLorenzo, Notre Dame de Namur softball player and former
Gilroy High standout, earned All-Conference recognition being named
to the All-Pacific West Honorable Mention team after a successful
season at the plate.
By Greg Chapman Staff Writer
Gilroy – Bria DeLorenzo, Notre Dame de Namur softball player and former Gilroy High standout, earned All-Conference recognition being named to the All-Pacific West Honorable Mention team after a successful season at the plate.
DeLorenzo, a junior, hit .273 on the season with eight home runs and 26 runs batted in, playing in 52 of the team’s 54 games. She was third on the team in home runs and tied for second in RBIs.
“It was an honor just because our season wasn’t successful as a team,” DeLorenzo said. “Without a doubt, it was my best hitting season.”
DeLorenzo was limited to 14 games in her sophomore season because of a shoulder injury, and it didn’t allow her to play her normal catcher position this season, so she became a designated hitter.
DeLorenzo was happy to be recognized as a hitter because she said hitting and power has not been something that she is known for.
“I worked a lot harder at it [hitting],” DeLorenzo said. “It was my only means of getting in the game.”
DeLorenzo now holds a record at NDNU because of her hard work, becoming the first Argonaut to hit three home runs in a single game.
“It’s cool to hold a record. Records are meant to be broken and it probably will be broken some day, but it’s cool to hold that record right now,” DeLorenzo said.
The award made the 5am and 6am workouts all worth while regardless of the team’s record, DeLorenzo said.
“It has been a great experience,” DeLorenzo said. “I get to live the dream of every 10-year-old softball player.”
Little League softball players often start watching college softball between the ages 10-12, which is when she first started dreaming of playing at the collegiate level.
She realized in high school that her dream could come true.
“College sports is everything it’s cut out to be,” DeLorenzo said. “I believe that every time I step out onto the field.”
One thing she tells herself when she’s between the lines of the softball diamond is, “I get to.”
The phrase helps her realize that she only has four years of eligibility, so she has to make them the best four years, and it makes her work harder.
Next season, DeLorenzo will work at breaking another home run record, the single-season record set this season by senior teammate Amy Paulson, All-Pacific West Honorable Mention, at 11.
She will be in friendly competition with teammate Tara Van Meter, All-Pacific West 2nd team, who had 10 home runs last season.
On a train ride together to a San Francisco Giants game, Van Meter said she was going to break the record and DeLorenzo said she was going to do the same.
The two teammates bat back-to-back, and that’s the way DeLorenzo prefers it because she said Van Meter, who has a .338 batting average, usually crushes the ball and that motivates her.
“Anything that she can do, I can do,” DeLorenzo said.
Van Meter usually wins the hitting competition between the two because DeLorenzo said she’s a better hitter, but the two continue to push each another.
DeLorenzo, Van Meter and their fellow senior Argonauts will have to take on the leadership challenge next season because there will be a coaching change, but it’s not something new to them because they’ve experienced it as freshmen.
“Change isn’t necessarily bad,” DeLorenzo said.
Come September, Delorenzo will be ready to step back on the field, no matter who the coach is at NDNU.
She wants to get back to her duties behind the plate, but it all depends on the shape her shoulder is in and if she can’t put on the face mask with the chest and leg protectors. If not she’ll happily accept her designated hitter role again.
“Anything that I can do to help my team, I’ll do,” DeLorenzo said.
