BLACKSVILLE — The motion is simple, yet powerful.
There is nothing fancy or spectacular about Caitlyn Kassay’s windup.
No quirky delivery. No slapping the glove against the thigh. No grunts.
“Yeah, there’s not a lot of surprises with me,” the Clay-Battelle junior pitcher said April 30 after hurling her fifth no-hitter of the season to lead the Cee-Bees past Doddridge County, 9-0, to reach the semifinals of the Class A Region II, Section 1 tournament. “To me, that’s the way to be the most intimidating. Just go up there and throw hard. That’s what intimidates me most as a hitter.”
It is a simple lean, a powerful push off the right foot and a swift delivery — all in unison — that has Kassay and the Cee-Bees looking at a possible run at history.
There is still much to be accomplished before C-B entertains any thoughts of advancing to the state tournament for the first time in school history.
C-B head coach Butch Varner made that the focus of his postgame discussion.
“All we’ve done is get to the same point we did last year,” Varner said. “We got here last year, won a game and celebrated and then got knocked out. We still have a long way to go.”
Clay-Battelle will host Gilmer County, at 5 p.m. today for the right to advance to the sectional tournament championship game. Gilmer beat Notre Dame, 5-4, on Monday.
Kassay will likely be on the mound again, throwing heat.
“I don’t change speeds very much with my pitches she said. “I go out there saying to myself that I’m going to throw hard and if you hit it, that’s good.”
It rarely has been good for Cee-Bees opponents this season.
Doddridge County batters struck out 13 times (out of 15 outs), the game was stopped after five innings due to the state’s mercy rule.
Kassay walked one and only one runner reached third base. Two runners reach by error.
She is aware of none of it or any of her impressive stats throughout the season, for that matter. The five no-hitters are meaningless to her at the moment.
“Coach Varner sits me down at the end of the year and tells me,” Kassay said. “I just care about winning now.”
Winning was how Kassay got her start in softball. She beat the boys in Tee-ball and then transitioned to softball when she was older.
“I was actually mad when my dad told me I couldn’t play baseball anymore,” Kassay said. “I was one of the girls who loved to beat the boys.”
Softball is her passion now, one that has her traveling to Morgantown over the winter to work with a trainer and a pitching coach and then she travels with a summer team based in Waynesburg (Pa.) that plays teams from all over the country.
Kassay has certainly pitched in bigger stadiums and against better competition. The bright lights do not scare her.
Yet, she said this is her favorite time. She wants this team to make history and play in its first state tournament.
Kassay wants nothing more than to be a part of that.
“I don’t look at it like its all on me,” she said. “You’re only as good as the players around you.”
Varner knows the Cee-Bees have a talented roster, one that begins with talented senior shortstop Abbey Ammons, who will play at Fairmont State next season.
Freshman catcher Ronda Petrucci may just be a star in the making. Sophomore outfielder Rylee Burnette is a serious hitter.
And then there is Kassay. A straight-forward, hard-throwing girl who began by beating the boys and then carried that competitive drive with her to softball.
Put them all together, maybe there is school history to be made.
“That would mean so much to everyone around here,” Kassay said. “People would always be like, ‘Hey, you made it to states.’ I know this team is capable. We’ve have the ability, but we have to stay focused.”
