Athlete of the week: Buffalo Gap freshman fitting in well with Bison
We have our first athlete of the week for the spring sports season. Voters made it loud and clear that Buffalo Gap freshman softball standout Elissa Caricofe was their choice. She received 64% of the votes after a week with six hits and seven RBIs in 10 at-bats. She had a pair of doubles and no strikeouts at the plate and no errors on defense as catcher.
Caricofe said joining a successful varsity team as a freshman has been harder than she thought, but her teammates have made it easier.
"The girls have been very welcoming," she said. "It's a great team."
She spent a lot of time in the offseason working to reach the level that she felt she needed to be at to play varsity softball. She said there are so many talented players on the team and she just wanted to match their ability.
While she is known for her hitting — Fort Defiance walked her four times in a game Tuesday night, three of those intentionally — Caricofe is also playing well on defense as catcher this year.
"I've been working behind the plate, trying to do better, getting my blocking better," said Caricofe, who began the sport when she was 5 or 6 on the t-ball field. The freshman also plays basketball, but softball is her sport of choice.
She loves catching, which may be the most demanding job in softball. She's been a catcher for five years and said there's just a boost of adrenaline she gets from handling all of the pitches.
"Elissa is a huge addition to our varsity team this year," said Buffalo Gap coach Holly Desper. "She works hard and is a great teammate. I enjoy the attitude she brings to practice and games every week. I couldn’t be happier with where she is at right now."
As for the intentional walks, Caricofe has a great attitude about that.
"It's frustrating," she said. "But at the same time I take it as a compliment."
If you have an athlete to nominate next week, please ask the athlete's coach to send the student's name and stats by Sunday to phite@newsleader.com.
Voting opens every Monday morning and closes Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. The winner will be announced Thursday morning on newsleader.com.
This week's other nominees were:
Grant Wright, Wilson Memorial, boys tennis: Wright won a pair of singles and doubles matches last week for the Hornets. In singles, he beat Staunton 8-0 Monday and Fort 8-0 Friday. In doubles, he teamed with Tyler Knick to beat Staunton 8-1 and Fort Defiance 8-0. Wilson won both matches.
Lydia Monroe, Stuarts Draft, girls soccer: Stuarts Draft split its two matches last week, but Monroe had a solid week on the pitch. She scored three goals in a win over Buffalo Gap Tuesday and followed that up with a goal in a close loss to Staunton Thursday.
Andrew Efird, Staunton, boys soccer: Efird had a goal and two assists in a 5-0 win over Stuarts Draft last week. The win was the third in a for for the Storm, who are now 5-1-1.
Iris Chen, Wilson Memorial, girls tennis: In a week when all but one match was rained out for the Hornets, Chen beat Staunton 8-0 in singles and 8-6 in doubles Monday. Wilson won the match 9-0.
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— Patrick Hite is The News Leader's education reporter. Story ideas and tips always welcome. Contact Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and follow him on Twitter @Patrick_Hite. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Buffalo Gap freshman softball standout named athlete of the week
