April 7, 2008

Belletini: We’re on the Comeback Trail
BC Junior Jaime Belletini has been playing softball for some 18 years – almost since she could walk. That’s a lot of practice. So it should be no surprise that today she is one of the star players of Brooklyn Bridges softball team.
    “Softball has been everything to me. It pushes me to be the best I can be,” says the Glendale, N.Y. native who is double majoring in physical education and adaptive physical education. “I love the friendships I’ve made through it. I love the competition--I’m a very competitive person.”
    Now in her third season with the team, Belletini pitches and plays first base and has come through for the team at some clutch moments. Against the College of New Rochelle recently, she pitched a complete, no hit game, striking out ten batters in five innings. After a hit batsman, walk and catcher’s interference loaded the bases in the first inning, she escaped the jam by with a pick-off and a strike out.
    “I honestly think this is the best team that I have played for at Brooklyn College,” she says. “We are pretty well-rounded at all positions. And the girls just want it. They play their hearts out.”
    The team got off to a slow start for their six-week season, losing five of their first seven games but have recently begun to turn things around, with an important win last week against conference foe York College.
   The team is hoping to bring the momentum with them to the post-season. Belletini says she expects the Bridges to be seeded fourth in the playoffs.
    “We take our licks because we are a young team,” says Belletini who would eventually like to teach and coach at the high school or junior high school level. “But we’ve showed a lot of teams that were are not going to be taken easy.”