My oh Mai’lee!

Paselio’s homer gives Falcons thrilling extra-inning victory

By: Rich Fisher
   Mai’Lee Paselio is making up for lost time. Quickly.
   After sitting out her entire freshman year due to knee surgery, the sophomore catcher has already made her presence felt for the Monroe High softball team this year.
   Last Friday, Paselio had the team’s lone hit in a season-opening, 1-0 loss at South Plainfield. On Tuesday, she had a bigger hit with bigger impact, crushing a leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Falcons a 4-3 victory over visiting Woodbridge.
   It was a huge hit, as Monroe let a 3-0 lead evaporate in the sixth inning when the Barrons scored three times.
   It remained 3-3 until Paselio drilled a 2-1 pitch deep over the leftfield fence.
   "She’s got some power to her, no doubt about it," Monroe coach Keith Hudak said. "I yelled something as soon she hit it. Banzai, look out, hallelujah, I can’t remember what it was. But I knew it was gone."
   Did Paselio know?
   "Not really," she said. "She was a really good pitcher, she had a lot of movement on the ball. She was tricking me the whole time.
   "I was looking for the change-up because she caught our whole team with it. I was just looking to get a hit and get things started. She gave me a fastball right down the middle. I didn’t see any movement on it, I just hit it."
   Paselio was mobbed by teammates after crossing the plate, and was still feeling the adrenaline 10 minutes later.
   "It feels great, I’m like, really shocked," she said. "I can’t even breathe right now. I’m just so happy for my team."
   As well she should be. While it’s too early to label a game as a "must-win", this could have been a tough loss to absorb. After losing their third 1-0 game in the past two years to South Plainfield, the Falcons seemed to be cruising against the Barrons.
   Monroe scored two in the fourth when Jill Chen walked and eventually scored on Carly Keane’s fielder’s choice. Keane came around on an error. In the fifth, winning pitcher Brittany Salvatore walked, stole second, went to third on Lisa Cosentino’s sacrifice and scored on Jill Chen’s single.
   Salvatore seemed in control, but lost it in the sixth and allowed three runs.
   "We figured we were safe with that lead," Paselio said. "She lost it a little bit. I was trying to mix it up a little, but then I just went with inside fastballs and outside change-ups, and she got back in the groove."
   Did she ever. Salvatore allowed a walk in the seventh, and struck out the side in the eighth. She allowed six hits and four walks while striking out 11.
   "We could have easily folded and given up," Hudak said. "I give Brittany credit for that. The next inning she went right back at them, no nonsense. Then Mai’lee gives us the big hit."
   A hit that saved Monroe from an 0-2 start and erased a season’s worth of frustration for Paselio, who suffered a torn right ACL meniscus during her freshman basketball season. She spent the spring summer rehabbing and finally returned to the diamond by playing fall ball in Howell.
   "It was terrible missing last year," Paselio said. "This is my game. This is my sport, right here."
   Had she been healthy as a freshman, would she had been a varsity player?
   "I’d like to think," Hudak said with a sly grin, "we’d have to find some place for her to play."
   EXTRA INNINGS: Second baseman Chen had seven assists and two putouts against Woodbridge . . . The Falcons played at New Brunswick Thursday and host Highland Park, Carteret and Colts Neck today (Friday), Monday and Tuesday.