PHOTO BY BOB ROCHE
Mia Nowicki pitched through illness Sunday.
By STEVE KRAUSE
LOWELL — Sometimes, life gets in the way. For all the talking and writing we do about kids who play sports, it’s important to remember that, well, they’re kids who play sports.
And it’s also important to remember that we who sit in bleachers and press boxes all over the commonwealth and beyond, all of us certain that we can coach better than the person who has the job, often do not have all the pertinent facts in hand that might illuminate us on how and why decisions are made.
Sunday’s 4-0 St. Mary’s loss to Austin Prep in the MIAA Division 3 North final is a good case in point. Spartans junior pitcher Mia Nowicki has been, throughout the postseason, unhittable. She struck out 15 Swampscott batters in the first round of the John Holland tournament Memorial Day weekend. That’s Division 2 North finalist Swampscott. The next day, against Division 1 Classical, she came on in relief and struck out nine more.
The strikeout binge continued in the state tournament. She had three in two innings against Amesbury Thursday, this after her mound counterpart, Michaela Hamill, went the distance in the Spartans’ win over Latin Academy in the opener. She then relieved Hamill Saturday in the victory over Whittier that got the Spartans into Sunday’s D3 North final and eight of the nine outs she recorded came via the strikeout.
But there was one nagging question: Why, if Nowicki was so dominant, was Hamill starting the games? Nothing at all against Hamill. On any team you name, she’d either be the clear No. 1 starter or in contention for the role. She’s going to Endicott this fall to pitch.
But when you have a pitcher who can throw BBs the way Nowicki does, and the results are so clearly tangible, you don’t mess around in the tournament.
Except for this: Nowicki has mononucleosis. She’s had two blood tests, and they were pretty conclusive. She got the go-ahead to pitch, but coach Paige Licata said that she hasn’t felt very well through it all.
Sunday, she got the ball. And maybe it was the cumulative effect of having pitched a lot and the effects of the virus, but something seemed slightly off. In three innings, she walked three batters. And the strikeout pitch wasn’t there (though she did fan five).
Licata chose to take her out and bring in Hamill — herself going through an emotional weekend due to a death in her family — to begin the fourth inning. She sailed through that inning, but in the fifth she ran into a uniquely-softball situation where Austin Prep dink and dunked her for four runs. Ballgame. Especially with the way Austin Prep sophomore Logan MacDonald was pitching (she gave up only two hits).
Nowicki came back in, though you got the impression that Licata would have preferred not to use her.
This put Licata, whose maiden season with the Spartans was a resounding success with a 16-4 regular-season record and three tournament wins before Sunday’s loss, on perhaps her first real hotseat as coach. Why did she take Nowicki out?
“I was hoping I could keep (Austin Prep) off-guard,” she said. “This is the third time we’ve played them, and I thought if we could give them a different look it would keep them off balance.”
Fair enough. All these things come down to the coach having a read on her players, which is more than can be said for any of us. The woman who got 19 wins out of this team didn’t suddenly forget how to coach.
She was a little hesitant to discuss Nowicki’s apparent difficulty with her command, except to say “for two really good pitchers, this was a small strike zone. He (the plate umpire) didn’t give anything and we didn’t get anything.” She was correct because both pitchers went to a lot of three-ball counts.
The questions continued. Then, Licata revealed the true issue, which was Nowicki’s illness.
“I’ve tried to downplay it,” she said, “because I know she wouldn’t want to be using it as an excuse. She found out she had it last week, and even though she got clearance to play, her doctor said she’d probably feel lousy.”
And while she never complained about it, Licata said there were times when she could sense that Nowicki wasn’t feeling up to par.
“It’s true,” Licata said. “It’s good to have two good pitchers, because, in truth, we were trying to give her as much rest as we could.”
Licata deserves props for handling what had to be a delicate situation with grace and humanity. She just didn’t have a sick pitcher in Nowicki, but Hamill was in mourning over the death of her great-grandmother, Barbara Leonard.
“She pitched with a heavy heart,” said her father, Don, after the game. “She was in tears (Saturday morning) over what to do, as the funeral was Saturday.”
So while the rest of the Hamills attended the funeral, Don accompanied his daughter to the game.
“I was texting updates, though,” he said.
Sometimes we forget, and we treat these kids as if they’re budding professional athletes. But they’re just teenagers with their whole lives ahead of them, and despite their often-otherworldly athletic talents, the onus is on us to protect them as much as possible.
