In looking at Angelina Marino’s hitting statistics in her two-plus years of varsity softball, it would be hard to imagine the Bordentown High senior ever struggling.
Through the Scotties 12-0 start this season, Marino was batting .442, which is actually six points below her career average of .448. As a freshman she went 36-for-79 (.456) and after a Covid shutdown 2020 season, she had one less hit in as many at-bats for a .443 average.
As of Apr. 24, the first baseman had 90 career hits, including 20 doubles, 34 RBI and 55 runs scored.
Once upon a time, those stats were unimaginable.
“When I was younger, I was not a good hitter at all,” Marino said. “I struggled with ground balls, just making outs. It got to me but I realized that life’s too short to think about all those at-bats and I kind of just got over it. I learned that it’s not worth it in the end.”
Marino’s woes came when she was in grade school, playing travel for the Bordentown Bandits. But private coaching from former Steinert great Jackie Sasko and her older teammates got Angelina straightened out.
“We call Jackie Sasko my therapist when we go to hitting lessons,” Marino said. “She’s really good about getting myself out of my own head and just telling me to have fun. My teammates also. When I was young, I was always the youngest one on the team because I played with older girls. It was nice to look up to them and say ‘Oh, they could actually have fun and still enjoy the game.’”
There was yet another role model in big sister Annabella, who was a senior when Angelina was a freshman.
“It helped that my sister was also on the team,” Marino said. “I actually looked up to her. She pitched, she was always so confident that even when someone hit a home run off her she came back and struck the next girl out. So if she could do that, then I can just get up next at-bat and get a hit.
“Softball is a really mental game. As much as it seems it’s physical, it’s mental. You’re in your head all the time so just to get away and just have fun with it is the key to success for softball.”
Nowadays, Marino is having loads of fun that has led to lots of success. It’s an attitude the entire team possesses.
“We live off of fun,” Marino said. “Our practices are fun, games are fun. If we’re having fun, we’re playing our game. We don’t really get in our heads. If we strike out or make an error, we come back in and it’s a restart.”
Marino is one of three captains on the team; and leads more by example than talking. She wants to lead the way she liked to be led, with younger players feeling comfortable to approach her.
“She’ll take a teammate and help them, lead them in the right direction; be someone they can confide in and talk with,” coach Nicole O’Leary said. “She’s more of the silent leader but just the presence of her; and the support she shows to her teammates is what makes her leadership role so powerful.”
She also reacts well to all kinds of pitching through hard work and dedication. Batting in the leadoff spot, Marino makes a pitcher work from the very first pitch.
“She’s one of those batters that just sees the ball and puts it in play.” O’Leary said. “It’s never gonna be in the same place twice. She’s always making good, solid contact.”
How does she do it?
“She has the ability to see the ball,” O’Leary continued. “She’s not afraid to fight off close corner pitches and hit those foul balls and wait for that pitch that is more on the plate where she can make that solid contact.”
After struggling through her early years, Marino takes nothing for granted and remains modest about her success.
“Just making contact is my main goal. I don’t need to hit a home run,” she said. “I don’t need to hit it anywhere specific, as long as I can get on base for the team, that’s the best thing I can do.”
Just luck? Come now. What’s the secret?
“I don’t really have a secret,” Marino said with a laugh. “It kind of comes with practice. Determination and perseverance kind of helped me through it all. I go up there thinking it’s just a game at the end of the day, so no pressure.”
When Marino arrived as a freshman, O’Leary wasn’t sure what to expect. She proved to be a pleasant surprise with her consistency, and has been in the leadoff spot ever since.
“She definitely sets the tone for her teammates to know ‘Hey I’m gonna get my job done and get on base and everyone’s gonna follow my lead and make something happen because we’re getting this first batter on base,’” O’Leary said. “Especially when it’s happening in the first inning when it’s so crucial to set the tone of the game.”
Defensively, Marino has moved from outfield to first base and has adapted nicely. It’s where she will play for Moravian University next year.
“I loved the campus, I loved the mentality of the school,” she said. “Kean was close by, my sister goes there. I felt it would be more of a comfort thing if I went there, though. I just wanted to go off. It would be nice to play with her again, but I needed my own path.”
That path will have her majoring in occupational therapy, which she gained an interest in when her grandmother had therapists working on her. Marino’s high school path includes a 4.0 grade point average and taking part in student council, HOSA and the Sustainability Club at Bordentown. She also embroiders, admitting that “I kind of pick up the weird things that teenagers don’t do these days.”
“I’m actually making a pillow for school with my logo for softball,” she said. “I like that different side of things where it’s not sports or athletics or going to the gym. You just sit down, watch Netflix and enjoy the moment.”
She seems to have adopted the same attitude for playing softball, and what a difference it has made.
Senior Angelina Marino hit .442 during through Bordentown’s 12-0 start to the 2022 softball season. (Photo by Rich Fisher.),
