On Friday, Nov. 12, 2010, Central Bucks South senior Francesca Carrullo signed a letter of intent to accept a softball scholarship to St. John’s University.
Francesca Carrullo – St. John’s University (Softball)
Major: Communications
Final list of colleges: St. John’s, Syracuse, DePaul, Rutgers, Marist
Reasons for choosing St. John’s: “I just love the Big East Conference – I think it was perfect, and I’m thinking about going into communications, so New York is the place to be. They have a great softball program, and the coach was amazing. Right when I stepped on the campus, it felt like I was at home. I loved the feeling.”
When did St. John’s become a frontrunner? “Just last year around January. My travel coach called the head coach, and she came and watched me pitch at a practice. She invited me up the next weekend and offered me the scholarship and said, ‘You can take as much time as you want.’ I said, ‘No, I know I’m ready.’“I did so many visits and camps, and I never felt so comfortable outside of home until I stepped on the campus. “
When did the idea of playing collegiate softball become a reality? “I’ve been playing since I was five or six. My dad always coached my sister, and he introduced the whole scholarship thing to me. When I was very young, I always watched the Olympic players on TV and would say, ‘I want to be in the Olympics.’ I always dreamed of playing after high school. It was always my dream and also my love of softball.”
Central Bucks South coach Jennifer Robinson says: “Obviously, she was well trained coming in, and the thing about her is she has a lot of talent, but a word I would never use to describe Francesca is complacent. You look at how much talent she has, and she is constantly refining her skills. She makes adaptations. Sometimes it’s the little things – changing her release a little bit or moving her ball to a certain location on the plate, even if it’s only a half inch.
“Some people are happy to throw hard or have good movement, but she has both. She has such control and focus. When she gets in a game, her goal is to win that game, and she’s going to do whatever it takes. There’s a level of composure you can’t teach. She doesn’t get rattled. If she does make a mistake or if something doesn’t go her way, she’s out there doing what she can to pick up the slack.
“It’s an honor to coach her and her teammates, and she really sets the standard for her teammates. She brings the level of her entire team up. I know what our team has been able to do and what I as a coach have been able to do is something few teams ever experience. I feel so blessed to be part of what we did last year – to be the first team in our school history to make an appearance in the state championship game, and she’s a big reason that was possible.”
Pitching coach Tom Besser from Elite Fast Pitch says: “We work with about 500 pitchers a week, and from eighth grade on what made her stand out was her velocity more than anything else. Early in her high school career, before she had a lot of stuff, she was throwing the ball as high as 68 MPH. She’s one of the hardest throwing kids we’ve ever had.
“These days it’s her movement and control that have really become her hallmarks. For the longest time, it was just her velocity. Younger kids tend to think velocity is everything, and it’s velocity that gets coaches to notice them, but after you get their attention, you have to actually show them something. Fran’s the kind of kid if you can channel her – there aren’t a lot of kids like her. She’s an extremely hard-working kid, but you have to make sure she knows what the task is and keep her focused on it.
“Fran has put herself in the right positions. She’s played some incredible competition for the last two years since she was with the Jersey Breakers. When you play those big California teams and West Coast teams, you develop a certain amount of confidence. Confidence is an ingredient that gets overlooked by a lot of coaches. Fran now has the confidence where she’s not really thinking any more. You can’t think your way through a screwball, you can’t think your way through a curveball. If you have the desire and have enough repetitions and if you have a positive attitude and know you can beat that kid and you know you can throw that pitch – it’s only the kids that have a little doubt that get into trouble. Right now, she has no doubt.”
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