By By STEVE FRANKLIN, Sports Writer
The term five-tool player is reserved for the elite ball players. The ones who can hit for power and average. The guys who can steal a base or snare a line drive while diving through the air. The players with rocket arms and gold gloves to boot.
Five-tool players can do it all on the diamond.
The term brings to mind names like Willie Mays, Jose Reyes, Jim Edmonds, Barry Bonds and A-Rod.
Well, you can add Marissa Fucito to that list.
There’s nothing the Washington senior hasn’t done on the softball field over the past four years.
Fucito currently leads the Lady Pack with a .383 batting average, 12 runs scored and six stolen bases in 10 games. She’s also hit one home run and drove in eight runs on the season.
Fucito broke into the Pam Pack lineup in her first game as a freshman in 2005. And she hasn’t missed a game since, starting 79 games in a row.
During her career, Fucito has played all over the diamond. She’s started at shortstop, third base, and catcher for the Pam Pack. During travel season, she’s played outfield, second base, and has even done a little pitching.
Fucito has spent the majority of her time snagging balls on the hot corner, serving as the Pack’s third baseman for the better part of three years. But this season, with the loss of starting catcher Taylor Rogers to graduation, Fucito has strapped on the gear and gone behind the plate.
Fucito’s play over the first nine games is one of the main reasons the Pam Pack are off to an 8-1 start in 2008. Paired with star pitcher Charity Watson, the Pam Pack have one of North Carolina’s finest pitcher-catcher duos.
The combination is already a proven winner.
In the summers of 2005 and 2006, both Watson and Fucito were part of the North Carolina Lookouts, a summer league team that won the United States Fastpitch Association World Championships in back-to-back years.
While playing for the Lookouts, Fucito had her most memorable softball moment. She hit her first career home run and to add to the moment, it was a go-ahead grand slam.
Fucito has accomplished a lot in her illustrious softball career, but she still has aspirations to do more. Next year, Fucito hopes to play for Pitt Community College.
But first, she’s got a little business to take care of in Washington.