Tireless Aragon softballer Rae D’Amato makes strides with Cal Nuggets

The Nuggets 14U team finished off the 2021 campaign Friday at the Premier Girls Fastpitch National Championship tournament in Huntington Beach, going 4-2 in bracket play before being eliminated from the double-elimination format with a 5-1 loss to the Ohio Hawks.

“It was emotional,” D’Amato said of the close of her fourth season with the Cal Nuggets. “It was a good team we were playing but we felt like we could have come back. So, we were a little disappointed our bats couldn’t bring the runs back. But it was emotional because it was a good season and we felt like we could have done a little better.”

Feeling like she could have done better is something of a default setting for D’Amato.

Her exceptional statistics would tend to disagree. Through six games of bracket play, she batted .412 (7 for 17) while posting a 1.09 ERA in five pitching appearances. In her penultimate start of the tournament Saturday, a 2-0 win over the Lady Dukes-New Jersey, she fired a five-hit shutout. Sunday, she followed that up with a five-inning complete game in a 5-1 victory over the Lil’ Rebels-Las Vegas.

D’Amato didn’t downplay the good, but she was quickly critical of the one run she surrendered against the Lil’ Rebels as it was in a big spot, tying the game 1-1 in the top of the fourth before the Nuggets broke through with five runs in the bottom of the inning.

“I feel like I always need to improve,” D’Amato said. “You can always be better.”

Improving is precisely the goal D’Amato set for herself heading into the summer. Sure, all club players have similar goals. But D’Amato is on a mission to prove herself with an uber talented Aragon varsity squad featuring the likes of Pac-12 commits Megan Grant and Olivia DiNardo, both of whom are heading into their senior seasons.

D’Amato put herself on the map with the Lady Dons as a pitcher, working in tandem with sophomore Brooke Tran to help the team to the Central Coast Section Open Division semifinals. In fact, she turned in an impromptu starting appearance, with Tran unable to pitch due to a minor injury, in the 8-5 quarterfinal win over Branham.

At the plate, though, in the midst of the most potent line-up in the Peninsula Athletic League, D’Amato scrapped to gain limited playing time, hitting .286 through 28 at-bats.

“I would obviously love to hit more at Aragon,” D’Amato said. “But I also have to prove myself there because I feel like I didn’t prove myself and there’s a lot of good skill on that team. … But I feel like I can do it.”

What she lost in playing time, however, she gained in experience by learning from some of the best role models she could ask for.

“That team is a very loaded talented team,” D’Amato said. “It’s a very fun team to play for, especially with Megan Grant and Olivia DiNardo, because I feel like I can pick off a lot about them from the game of softball and I can learn a lot from them.”

D’Amato made strides with the Nuggets, moving up to the leadoff spot in the batting order around the midway point of the summer season. Once there, she embraced it, including a big performance at the Colorado Boulder IDT Tournament where, in 10 games, she totaled four home runs.

“I feel like this summer was very productive for me, especially with hitting more than pitching,” D’Amato said, “because my hitting has improved a lot over the summer.”

With the Nuggets, she pitched in rotation with Redwood City native Ava Bulanti, who starts her freshman year at St. Francis-Mountain View in the fall. And at Aragon, she figures to partner for Tran for two more years with Tran, as the two start their sophomore and junior seasons, respectively.

“[D’Amato] was a stud freshman,” Aragon head coach Gustavo Garrard said. “She’s going to be one kid to keep your eye out as she develops in her high school career.”

Garrard was dazzled by D’Amato’s playoff win against Branham, and it wasn’t just because she stepped up and responded to the pressure as a freshman. The workload was equally as impressive, as she had pitched several games for the Nuggets over the preceding weekend. Then come Monday, she was informed while lacing up her cleats she’d be starting Aragon’s CCS Open Division opener.

“That kid just pitched her heart out,” Garrard said. “She left it all out on the field.”

Now, D’Amato is facing a similar workload as she heads into Saturday’s tryout with the Cal Nuggets 16U squad.

“Definitely something to prove because I’m moving up to 16s and there’s already a team,” D’Amato said. “So, I feel like … because there’s always going to be somebody in your spot, so you always have to keep battling and proving to people.”