With Mount Assisi closing its doors for good in June, Amber Anderson is still deciding whether she is going to transfer to Queen of Peace or Mother McAuley for her sophomore year.
There is little doubt she’d be welcomed in the dugout at Queen of Peace.
Anderson showed more than a little of her talents to the Pride on Thursday, socking two home runs and piling up eight RBI in a 21-1 GCAC Red victory in Lemont.
Her two fence-clearing blasts were of grand slam and three-run variety, an RBI single completing a troika of hits. Terri Dearth added a three-run home run, two-run single and a double, while Jen Desparros (3-for-3) and Sabrina Miller (4-for-5, 5 RBI) also starred for the Eagles (4-8, 3-3).
Morgan Sanchez had a double and Genae Grabowski an RBI single for Queen of Peace (3-9, 0-5).
While Anderson is still on the fence, as many as a half-dozen Eagles have firmly decided on attending the Burbank school, according Mount Assisi coach Jill Harvey.
“We have a lot of young talent that’s going their way,” she said. “Potentially, you’re looking at 10 between varsity and JV. That’s huge.”
Two of them are pitchers Kellie Tomaskovic and Dana Bunting, who combined for a five-hitter. Bunting had two strikeouts and Thomaskovic one.
Thomaskovic, a freshman, had to admit afterward that it was pretty strange looking at and pitching against opponents in a uniform that she’ll be wearing in 2015.
“It was hard,” she said. “I don’t really want to leave this school. I love it. But I feel that Queen of Peace is a lot like Mount Assisi, because it’s the second smallest (in the area). When I shadowed there the girls were really welcoming.
“Actually, their starting pitcher (Lindsay Cudecki), I met her when I was shadowing there. She was really nice.”
Anderson hit a grand slam in the first, an RBI single in the second and a three-run blast in the third. She received the game ball on Senior Day – with the seniors’ blessing.
“I listened to my coach about my follow-through and let the bat do its thing,” Anderson said.
The three Eagles seniors – Miller, Dearth and Desparros – made the most of the program’s final Senior Day by providing 10 of the team’s 21 hits. Dearth’s three-run home run in the first inning sparked what would be an offensive inferno by Mount Assisi.
“I just want the underclassmen to have a good closing year,” said Dearth, who was a frontliner on the school’s most successful bsaketball squad. “I want to give them as much knowledge feeding off of what my coaches are telling me and relaying it to allow them to better themselves for where they’re going next year.”
