Softball

Diescher fires a no-hit gem to blank Lady Family Falcons

Manor eighth-grade hurler spectacular as she fans 12

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY — When it comes to softball, pitching and defense are the difference makers that separate teams that can win a few games from those that could become championship contenders.

For Livingston Manor, a team that came into its league game against The Family School on May 4 with a record of 1-5 and winless in its division, one of those pieces has been in place from the season’s outset.

Eighth grader Marissa Diescher has been firing strikes and blanking batters with a dazzling array of pitches that include a blazing fastball that she can locate with surgical precision, a drop ball, a change up released with the same whiplash motion as her heater and her most devastating pitch of all, a riser that bears in on a batter’s chest and fists with a vicious backspin.

Diescher’s numbers are staggering as she emerges as one of Section 9’s top pitchers; Manor’s lack of success to date has kept her relatively under the radar. That is soon to change as more batters return to the bench with nothing to show for their swinging efforts and as her teammates raise their game to match her passion and intensity.

That is exactly what happened against The Family School. Not only did Diescher turn in a sterling performance, her teammates put their bats on the ball against a tough pitcher in The Family School’s Bianca Eldorrado, who had tossed a two-hitter and struck out three in the series opener on May 2. Family won that game 5-3. This time out, Diescher’s team backed up their star hurler with effective defense.

The formula led to a 5-0 no-hit shutout and Manor’s first league win. By day’s end, Diescher had fanned 12 batters and Manor got to celebrate a win. The loss was the Lady Falcon’s first in the division.

As Manor’s long-time coach Gail Denman noted after the game, “My team got fired up finally. We got our gloves down and started working together. In the games that we’ve lost, it’s been due to errors. Marissa has been doing an awesome job,” she said.

Diescher fanned six-of-the-first-seven batters she faced against The Family School. A dropped third strike allowed one runner to reach in the first inning, but Diescher quickly put out the fire by blowing strikes by standout athlete Jessica Fairweather to end the frame.

Diescher used her bat as well as her arm to help the team. With two out in the bottom of the first, she reached on an E-9 and score on a single by Kym Potter.

Given the way she was pitching, using her off-season expertise gained, in part, from her work at Pro Prospects, Diescher literally got the only run she needed as Manor took a 1-0 lead after one.

The Family School bench was vocal and encouraging. But as the innings came and went, the results were the same: strike outs and ground outs, many of them right back to the box, retired hitters, making for a quick game that would be over in little more than an hour.

Following the win, Manor players showed their exuberance with a plethora of smiles and pats on the back as Denman and her able assistant, former Livingston Manor super slugger Amanda Irwin, looked on with pride.

Diescher was on the wrong end of a 3-0 shut out, against S.S. Seward on May 2. While the Spartans’ Michelle Dugan baffled Manor hitters and fanned six Lady Wildcats, Diescher mowed down 15 Seward batters. It was the lack of timely hitting by Manor’s yet-to-emerge offense and its defense that often yields unearned runs that cost the Lady Wildcats the win.

Manor stranded seven runners on base in the game against the Lady Spartans.

That will have to change if the Lady Wildcats want to make it to the post season. With a pitcher like Diescher, by all rights that’s where they belong.

The same problem existed when Manor took on perennial state champion contender Chapel Field. Diescher was able to go toe-to-toe with the Lady Lions’ latest over-the-top hurler Alyssa Brognano, but the difference in the 4-0 win was Manor’s inability to muster its offense and play sharp defense.

Denman and Irwin hope that their team has turned the corner. A busy week will give some clue as to whether that will come to be. Manor 3-5 (2-3 OCIAA) beat Eldred on May 7 and will host the Lady Yellowjackets on May 10. The Lady Wildcats’ only prior win came in a 6-5 victory against Tri-Valley. Two games against Class C Tuxedo will be sandwiched in between. Eldred defeated Tuxedo on May 3 for its second win of the season.

The Family School 2-7 (2-1 OCIAA) were no hit by the Lions on May 7. They will host defending champ Chapel Field on May 10. On May 9, the Lady Falcons will travel to Class C Tri-Valley. Family defeated Eldred in the first week of the season to garner its other league win.

Visit riverreportersports.com for more pictures from the Manor-Family School fray.