DuPage County captain: Neuqua Valley's Jenna Marsalli
It was President Theodore Roosevelt who popularized the proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
He didn't exactly have the game of softball in mind some 100 years ago.
It sure seems to stick to Jenna Marsalli.
"We would joke around freshman PE class that we didn't think she said three words," said Michelle Schmidt, Marsalli's coach at Neuqua Valley her first three years. "She's a quiet leader. Girls respond to that."
Marsalli lets her bat and sure glove at shortstop do the talking.
In four years at Neuqua Marsalli never hit worse than .450. As a senior she hit .488 with 11 homers, 10 doubles, 4 triples, 48 runs batted in and 53 runs scored.
She did it all with a quiet humility, never calling attention to herself. Marsalli is a grinder, back at practice with her Stone City Sharks travel team the day after Neuqua lost its last game.
"We always preach humility here," Stone City coach Jack Podlesny said, "but she was humble when she came to our program. The truly great ones let their play do their talking."
Leading Neuqua to its first regional championship since 2003, Jenna Marsalli is the 2010 Daily Herald DuPage County All-Area softball captain.
Born to batJill Marsalli's first born had a muscular, athletic build from the day she was born. Her dad, Brian Marsalli, said Jenna had a bat in her hands at age 2. It was bound to find its way to Jenna sooner or later. Both her grandfathers played fast-pitch; her maternal grandpa played competitively into his 50s. Her aunt was an all-state player in Michigan. Brian Marsalli played baseball collegiately at St. Louis."As early as she could walk," Jill said, "she loved those big bats."When she was younger some coaches suggested Jenna practice to be a lefty slap hitter; that would have been like confining Peyton Manning to an option offense.Although she never grew to the expected 5-foot-10 or 6 feet, the 5-4 Marsalli was soon booming shots in Bolingbrook and beyond. "She's not the biggest kid, but she has home run power," Podlesny said. "There's really not anywhere on the field she can't play. I do know that she will be in that 3x7 rectangle (batter's box) in college."It's not certain what position Jenna will play next year at the University of Illinois-Chicago, but she had Downers Grove South coach Ron Havelka shaking his head with a line drive she snared in their sectional game. Ex-Naperville Central pitcher Natalie Wunderlich, now at Eastern Illinois, remembers most the play Jenna made with her glove to win nationals while the two were teammates with the Naperville Diamonds."She was playing second base," Wunderlich said, "and she made this diving stop to her left that won the game for us. I play in college now and still don't see second basemen make that kind of play."An impact playerSchmidt's first interaction with Marsalli came at summer camp, Schmidt's second year at Neuqua. Former Neuqua player Kara Reid commented there that "she'll totally play varsity for us next year.""You'll have to wait," Reid was told, "that kid's in sixth grade."Neuqua went 13-22 in 2006, but the next year with freshmen Marsalli and Colleen Hohman aboard the Wildcats improved to 18-16. ""What that group brought in ," Schmidt said, "was a competitive nature and a winning lifestyle."This spring the Wildcats broke through in regionals, beating Plainfield Central to cap a 26-win season."It was great to finally get that after four years of disappointment," Marsalli said.Podlesny sees Marsalli making a similar impact at UIC. "We have a rule to get 100 swings in every day. She swings 200," Podlesny said. "She already has that college work ethic."A quiet leaderBefore this year Rebecca Lincoln only knew Marsalli from reading about her in the newspaper. A freshman catcher on a team full of juniors and seniors, Lincoln worried how she'd be treated. Adding to her anxiety, Lincoln dropped several pitches in an early game."Jenna pulled me aside," Lincoln said, "and we had a talk one-on-one and she said, 'Maybe try framing your pitches like this.' Just the fact that she took the time and helped me out, it really meant a lot. She just knows how to do everything.""As a freshman Jenna's teammates were very accepting of her," Jill Marsalli said, "and I remember having a conversation with her after that year and I told her, 'Just remember someday you'll be a senior - you have to remember to embrace the younger kids and accept them.' She promised me she would do that, and she's done that year after year after year."Marsalli was voted by her teammates funniest on the team, a side of her personality Neuqua coach Elaina Tanaka was completely unaware of.It is good to see that the serious athlete has that balance."I think the world of her," Tanaka said, "not only for her athletic ability but as a very caring person. She's so humble and appreciative and she is so coachable. She just loves to play." <div class="infoBox"><h1>More Coverage</h1><div class="infoBoxContent"><div class="infoArea"><h2>Related documents</h2><ul class="morePdf"><li><a href="/pdf/dupagesoftballfront10.pdf">DuPage Co. all-area team Page 1</a></li><li><a href="/pdf/dupagesoftballteam10.pdf">DuPage Co. all-area team Page 2</a></li></ul></div></div></div>