Newsday: 'Goose' helps Post softball team advance
By Steve Marcus
Newsday
Full Story
With the potential go-ahead run at the plate in the seventh, C.W. Post's Christina "Goose'' Berardi pitched to Merrimack's Monique Gosselin -- and the Goose-Gosselin matchup became the defining moment of the East Super Regional Saturdayin Brookville.
Post led 1-0 on Kendall Bright's second-inning home run as Merrimack came up for its final at-bat in the seventh. Tawny Palmieri drew a leadoff walk, bringing up Gosselin, who had hit her 17th homer of the season a day earlier -- off Berardi.
On a 1-and-0 count, the righthanded-hitting Gosselin took an outside pitch to deep rightfield, but Krysta Palazzo made a nice running catch a few steps away from the warning track. It was a huge sigh of relief in what would become a 1-0 victory for Post (41-14), which will travel to Salem, Va., in its attempt to win the Division II national softball championship.
Post will play the winner of the West Super Regional in the eight-team double-elimination tournament. Merrimack finished at 31-23.
"This is euphoric,'' Palazzo said, and it might have been different without her catch.
"Out there you don't think, you just do,'' she said. "It's just based on instinct. Coach always says to get a good first step off the ball, a good read. That's what I did. The next thing I knew, I had the ball.
"Goose shuts everyone down. She's phenomenal. And Kendall has a great bat . . . One run was enough.''
Apicella said of Gosselin's drive, "I didn't think it was going to go out, but I thought it might drop. It was tailing away, but [Palazzo] did a great job of pursuing it.'''
Berardi wasn't quite as sure Gosselin's drive was going to stay in the park. "It was really nerve-wracking when I saw her hit that ball,'' she said. "It was an awesome catch. Kiki [Palazzo] did a great job.
"Coming in, I knew she was a great hitter. Getting deep in the count [Friday] didn't help. I had to move it toward the plate, and when I let go of it, I knew it was over. I was more aware to go outside or inside with her. But she's such a good hitter that she can really hit anything.''
There still was a bit of drama remaining after Gosselin was retired. Kara Melillo hit into a forceout for the second out, but when Amanda Zanni grounded to Bright, the second baseman fell on a wet patch of dirt and had the ball kick off her glove.
"We have a slippery patch over there,'' Bright said. "We always say 'heads up' for that patch. My feet just slid out from under me. But I have enough confidence in our defense and Goose that I wasn't worried.
"This is everything that I have been working for almost 21 years of my life. It's an amazing feeling.''
Berardi struck out Keaira Monet Perry to end the game, and Goose had her 24th victory of the season -- along with a one-hitter. She walked two and struck out five.
Nicknames are standard fare around Post. The public address anouncer is called "Cheese.'' Palazzo is "Kiki'' because her little sister couldn't pronounce Krysta. And Berardi employs two different stories about "Goose.''
Apicella said the pitcher was nipped by a goose when she was younger, and it just stuck. "I tell that to people, so it's a better story,'' Berardi said.
The real story?
"When I was younger,'' Berardi said, "my dad called me 'silly goose.' ''