Top Senior Female Athlete of the Spring: Kaitlin Zampino

There are no more valuable roles on a softball team than being the starting pitcher or the three hole hitter. But when one player assumes both and performs to the highest level in each, their importance cannot be overstated.

Kaitlin Zampino led the Millers in every pitching category and nearly every hitting category this spring. The four-year starter bound for Franklin and Marshall College in the fall won 10 games and struck out 117 batters in 115 innings with a 2.80 ERA.

At the plate, she led the team in batting average (.391), homeruns (five), doubles (four), triples (three) and slugging percentage (.695).

"I'm more proud of how my hitting has become more so than my pitching because to me pitching is easy. It's just because I've been doing it for so long I have a good idea of what I'm doing and how to fix what I'm doing wrong," Zampino said. "With hitting, I'm completely like a novice. I don't know how to fix anything,"

A player doesn't get more valuable than Zampino was last season, especially on a team that made a run to the state sectional semifinals, winning two road playoff games, and a team Miller head coach John Childs called the best in school history.

"I went into the season with pretty much no expectations, just because of the surgery and everything and I didn't know how things would go," Zampino said. "It really was awesome. It was an amazing way to go out."

Along with teammates Ali Graebner, Brigid Cunningham and Rachel Bain, Zampino's senior class set the school record for total wins, accumulating a 61-41 record through four years. That's nearly a 60 percent winning rate and 15 wins per season. They qualified for the playoffs all four years, also a school record, and won more county tournament and playoff games than any other Millburn team in history.

"That has to be one of the biggest accomplishments, especially for us because we've been playing together since we were in the sixth grade," Zampino said. "So we played a lot of games together, we know each other really well and they're three of my closest friends."

But Zampino's contribution to the team was not always in the pitching circle.

During her freshman year, Zampino was the team's starting designated player when an injury to then starting third baseman, Graebner, forced Childs to move Zampino to third. Upon Graebner returning from injury, Zampino had been playing third well so Childs elected to let Graebner play in the outfield, her natural position.

Zampino finished the year at third base and entered her sophomore year as the backup pitcher. Starter Kelly Sullivan, however, broke her finger during a preseason scrimmage, opening the door for the young Zampino to take over. Millburn's hurler slammed the door shut and never let it open again.

"When you watched her pitch, she was just a determined girl," Childs said. "She never let things get her down. She would come back even more determined."

Perhaps the most difficult thing she faced during her four years at MHS was her off-season shoulder surgery following the end of the 2009 season. She couldn't pick up a ball until January and couldn't begin throwing overhand till February.

"That killed me. My whole life was softball," Zampino said. "I still did a lot of the things. I went to practices and did things. I actually could swing a bat before I could a pitch."

She normally begins throwing in September, so Zampino was a little behind schedule to start the season and got off to a slow start.

"No matter what, if you come back from an injury there's always a point where you're nervous. You don't want to push yourself," Zampino said. "I think at some point, I don't exactly know what point it was, but I think it was towards the middle-end of April where I felt good again and I finally let myself go."

When Miller fans and teammates think back on Zampino's career, one thing that should come to the forefront was her tendency to rise to the moment.

Whether it be striking out 15 batters in 10 innings against Montclair in the county tournament in 2009, fanning 13 on the road in the first round of states in 2009, her two-run homer in the opening round of states this season, her two-out, two-run hit in the bottom of the seventh in the next round against Voorhees to win 4-2, or her walk-off homer in the 2009 Millburn Tournament, Zampino always seemed to come through in the biggest spots.

She has countless pitches and was a thrower who wasn't afraid to go deep in the count. Zampino throws a fastball around 55 miles per hour, which translates to a low-to-mid 80s fastball in baseball terms, she also features a drop, a rise, a curve, a screwball, a drop curve, a change-up and a slider.

"I think she has an above average fastball. You have to be patient with her because she will run long counts," Childs said. "She's not just going to throw it down the plate, she wants you to hit her pitch."

She is the last in a long line of Miller pitchers, following in her brother Bryan and her sister Kelly's footsteps. She said they all get the athleticism from her father Danny, who is an avid runner.

Off the field, Zampino is a big fan of the new spy show "Burn Notice" and of the "Twilight" series. She enjoys watching baseball and spending time with her friends and family.

"Kaitlin has a great sense of humor and doesn't take herself too seriously," Childs said. "She always has a smile on her face."

Looking at Franklin and Marshall's 10-18 record this past spring and the fact the team was filled with freshmen and sophomores (including one first-year pitcher and one sophomore), there's a chance that Zampino could find herself playing very soon and helping to turn around another program.

The Miller softball team just completed its best four-year stretch in school history and it's hardly a coincidence Zampino was there. There's no greater measure of an athlete's true worth than if they're able to leave the team in a better place than it was when they got there.