Speed to burn pretty much sums up the game of senior pitcher/shortstop Brooklyn Marks.
It’s on display when she’s running the bases and taking advantage of Sandwich’s spacious home field, covering ground defensively at either position or simply firing her fastball from the circle.
Newark coach Jon Wood, whose team was on the opposite end, got a glimpse of that and more.
“We don’t see a whole lot of pitchers who throw that hard and with that kind of movement, even though we try to play a pretty aggressive schedule for a small town,” he said. “She pitched well.
“Tip your cap and get ready for the postseason.”
Marks was on target Saturday morning, firing a five-hitter with eight strikeouts and two walks as the Indians finished the regular season with a 3-1 nonconference decision over visiting Newark.
According to Sandwich coach Mattie McGuire, with 118 strikeouts, Marks is one away from tying the program record she set last season.
“She’s on fire,” McGuire said. “As we go into the postseason, we hope she’ll break that and more.”
Marks, who is 6-5 with a 2.50 ERA, reached base three times for Sandwich (13-11). That total featured two hits, including a triple in the first inning. She then scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by senior second baseman Aubrey Cyr.
Cyr drove in a pair of insurance runs during the third inning for the Indians with another triple that took a wild, sideways bounce to elude the hard-charging right fielder.
“It’s very big,” Marks said of a field with dimensions of 225 down the lines and 280 in center field. “If it’s over the outfielder head, it’s an automatic double, maybe a triple.
“And our field is bouncy out there, too. It takes a hop and goes. Some of them are a little bit challenging to reach. You have to try to get your body in front of it.”
Newark (16-15-2) pushed across a run in the sixth on three singles but Marks escaped further trouble with her final strikeout.
“I’ll say this, there is a field with a fence,” Wood said. “But the fence is so far back, they may as well not have a fence. It’s like rec ball. If you hit it past the outfielder, it’s an automatic triple, I don’t care who you are. But we both played on the same field.”
McGuire said it definitely takes a drive to clear the fence.
Marks, who is hitting .338 this season with three doubles, four triples and three home runs, actually cleared it once this season.
“She hit one right over the 245-foot sign in right-center off Plano,” McGuire said. “It’s only the second one anyone on our team has cleared it in my 10 years coaching here.”
It’s partly why McGuire thinks Waubonsee Community College coach Hannah Tomasko is getting a very good player in Marks.
“I firmly believe she could walk on to a D-I team if she wanted,” McGuire said. “But I also understand she’s worked as hard as she has for a very long time and feels she needs to be home and grounded with her family.”
Marks hopes to become an ultrasound technician.
“The new coach, who’s real sweet, made it feel at home for me,” Marks said of Waubonsee, which has two of her former Sandwich teammates and several travel teammates on the roster. “I haven’t thought much about playing two more years after that.
“If the opportunity is there, I’ll take it.”
McGuire thinks it’s a strong possibility.
“She’s a very determined pitcher,” McGuire said. “She knows her flaws and her strengths and she tries to balance the two out. She works very hard with extra lessons (from Jill Waldron).
“And you can see on the mound that she’s not just a pitcher, she’s a fielder all over the field. She’s one of our fastest runners, covers a lot of ground and can play anywhere on our field.”
