Shepard sophomore Meghan Potenza is used to feeling the heat playing at third base.
The biggest pop in her glove on this day, however, occurred before the game.
Potenza’s 10-year-old sister, Grace, won a raffle and threw out an honorary first-pitch fastball that could be heard all around the grandstands. Grace’s twin sister, Emily, served as a bat girl.
“Grace does pitch really hard,” Potenza said. “She pitches a lot, and Emily catches for her. Grace also takes a lot of pitching lessons with (former Shepard ace) Kelly Greene.”
Big sister was mighty impressive in her own right Wednesday during a 6-0 nonconference victory over visiting Stagg in Palos Heights.
Potenza had two hits and made a highlight-reel catch for Shepard (20-6). Madison Scapardine and Sarah Kreamalmeyer added two hits apiece. Kailey Selvage struck out 14 in a two-hit shutout.
Lily Henning and Sophia Oceguera had hits for Stagg (4-23).
The Astros led 1-0 when Potenza lined a single to right field to score Brooklynn Sedlak with a run. Potenza raced around the bases before executing a face-first slide into third that left her clutching her chest.
“Yeah, it kinda hurt,” Potenza said, laughing. “I belly flopped.”
Potenza then made the defensive play of the day in the top of the fourth, when she put one hand on the third base dugout wall and gloved a foul ball by Stagg’s Makayla Mackessy.
“I didn’t really hear anything, to be honest,” Potenza said. “I had everything blocked out. I just saw it, felt the wall first, and then just caught it.”
Potenza has caught virtually everything that’s come at her this season. She has just three errors in 31 chances at third base, with 10 assists and 18 putouts.
On offense, she’s leading the Astros with a .494 batting average. She also has 23 runs, 10 doubles, four triples and 22 RBIs.
It has been quite a dramatic jump offensively from her .302 average as a freshman.
“Last season, I kind of overthought things and it brought me down a bit,” Potenza said. “This season, I really don’t think about anything when I’m batting. It has really helped me out a lot.”
Potenza is three-sport athlete at Shepard. But volleyball and basketball don’t quite measure up in the fun department compared to softball.
“It’s that feeling when you make solid contact or when you make a diving play and everybody is around you,” Potenza said. “Softball just gives me a really good feeling.”
It was Potenza’s defense that sold Shepard coach Kelsey Clifford on the idea of bringing her up to the varsity as a freshman.
“Meghan out of the gate filled a defensive hole for us,” Clifford said. “We had eyes on her at open gym, and at tryouts, we saw her defensive ability to move throughout the field.”
As a freshman, Potenza started in the outfield. When Kreamalmeyer was needed at first base instead of third this spring, Potenza stepped up with some pretty impressive leather.
But there’s even more to the “Meg effect.”
According to Selvage, she’s the best sport on the team.
“Meghan is the easiest to pick on,” Selvage said. “She always does the funniest stuff, the most outrageous stuff, the stuff we can all laugh at.
“That’s a great thing because it gets us all happy. It brings us together and closer and it helps us bond. Meg is just Meg.”
Which can be slightly problematic.
“Every day, this kid forgets something,” Clifford said, smiling. “It could be a shoe, it could be a mitt, it could be a belt or a water bottle. And every day, we see her mom coming from right field.
“We get on the microphone and go, ‘Meg, your mom’s here.’”
No worries about one thing, though. She never forgets to bring her heart.
Tony Baranek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
