Fran Carrullo was all smiles on the mound at Central Bucks South's softball practice one day last week.
The junior pitcher imitated Angelina Pivarnick from MTV's Jersey Shore, quoted the Will Ferrell movie Anchorman, and amused her teammates by counting down from three in Spanish.
This goofy and fun-loving side of Carrullo is a stark contrast to how many see Carrullo when she's on the mound mowing down batters.
"When it comes to games, we are so focused," the righthander said. "A lot of reporters say, 'You guys barely cheer. You are very calm,' but we are so focused and confident that we just go out and play. But here [at practice], we are loose and it's more of a laidback scene for us."
Carrullo, who has committed to St. John's, finished 17-2 this season and is The Inquirer's softball player of the year for Southeastern Pennsylvania.
When she starts talking softball, she gets more serious.
Carrullo began pitching when she was 8 years old, and started school softball when she attended Unami Middle School. A lot of ice bags and ibuprofen and a broken fingernail of her father's later, Carrullo became the ace for a Central Bucks South team that advanced to the state Class AAAA final before losing Friday to Mount Lebanon, 1-0.
"She's always been a good pitcher. She's always had a great velocity," six-year coach Jen Robinson said. "She hits her pitches well, but I see a difference, even from this year and last year, with her commitment to not walking batters. She prides herself in not letting batters get on base."
During the regular season, Carrullo allowed five earned runs in 65 innings, striking out 64 and walking five, for a 0.538 ERA. In the PIAA tournament, she gave up only two runs in four games.
"She knows how to control a game and keep her composure on the mound," said sophomore third baseman Morgan Decker, who had to field more bunts this year as teams tried to beat Carrullo by resorting to small ball.
"It's cool to watch and be a part of where she is now."
Carrullo throws five pitches consistently, with her fastball clocking in at 64 m.p.h. Her change-up, at 48 m.p.h, often makes opposing batters look silly, something that she prides herself in.
"It's so funny because when they don't see it coming they laugh about it also," Carrullo said.
Added Robinson: "It's such a drastic difference from her faster pitches to her change-up, and she hits the change-up so consistently for a strike that batters can't seem to get their timing down."
Carrullo also throws a curveball that makes righthanded batters chase far outside the strikezone, a nasty screwball that attacks righthanded batters' hands and backs them off the plate, and a rise that is the toughest pitch to throw because of how important the spin is, she said, indicating that it is too hard to pick a favorite.
"I love all my pitches," Carrullo conceded, with a shrug.
Sophomore Lauren Klepchick, who has caught Carrullo the past two seasons, knows which she prefers.
"The curve," Klepchick said. "Whenever there is a righthanded batter up, we always throw it at least one time, and that's usually her 0-2 or 1-2 pitch, too."
Afterward, the opposing hitter usually strikes out, Klepchick says.
Then Klepchick takes the ball out of her glove and smiles behind her face mask.
And the batter?
"She wasn't even close," Klepchick said.
