University of Georgia Athletics
DiCarlo 'Living The Dream'
May 20, 2016 | Softball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
In her first collegiate at-bat, Georgia softball freshman Alyssa DiCarlo produced a two-run single. It was the start of what has been a tremendous first season with the Bulldogs.
That first hit was back on Feb. 12, in a 9-0 rout of Elon. In fact, the third baseman from Glendale, Ariz., went 2-for-2 in her first game.
On Friday, many great games later, DiCarlo stepped into the batter's box at Jack Turner Stadium in the bottom of the first inning of her first NCAA Regional game — and delivered again. This time, DiCarlo drove a pitch to the big "G" on the wall in right-center field, bringing home the Emanuel sisters, Sydni and Cortni, from second and third. It was a two-out, two-run double and DiCarlo wound up on third after a throwing error.
By the end of the No. 16-seeded Bulldogs' 6-0 win over Maine, DiCarlo was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and made a nifty defensive play on a sharply-hit ball up the third-base line.
"Alyssa has always been a great hitter, just a pure, beautiful swing. From the first day we saw her we were like, ‘Wow, just beautiful,' and she's carried that in," Georgia coach Lu Harris-Champer said afterward. "She's really grown a lot this year; with her calmness you don't see her over-trying, you just see her letting her training come into the competition, and I'm really proud of the fact that she trusts what she does so well."
From that opening game Georgia (41-17) has had an all-freshman left side of the infield, with DiCarlo at third and Lacey Sumerlin at shortstop. They've been solid defensively and DiCarlo has been among the Bulldogs' (and the SEC's) best hitters all season.
Heading into Saturday's game against Northwestern, DiCarlo is batting .374, with 11 home runs and 59 RBIs.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised, but I remember watching them on TV, watching them play, being like, 'Wow, and I'm going to play there? I don't how this is going to go — this is crazy,'" DiCarlo said. "Once I got here it was different, being in the box it was different. I have gained a lot of confidence and having so many hitters around me that are so great, it makes me feel more comfortable stepping into the box."
Perhaps more impressive than DiCarlo's overall statistics are her numbers in SEC games. The SEC has nine teams ranked in the top 25, and against one of the elite conferences in the country DiCarlo has batted .347 — one of five Bulldogs in the top 20 in batting average in SEC play — but that's not all.
DiCarlo has hit nine of her 11 homers in SEC games, sharing the league lead. She's also second with 29 RBIs in SEC play, second in total bases with 55 and her slugging percentage against SEC teams is .733, fourth in the league.
It was in the Texas A&M series, in Athens in late March, that DiCarlo said really let her know she belonged. In the Bulldogs' sweep of the then-No. 4 Aggies, she went 6-for-11, with two home runs and nine RBIs.
"I think I got more comfortable, I settled down and I wasn't going up to bat like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to get a hit.' I was just like, 'Do your thing and do what you do in practice,'" she said.
In that first at-bat of her career, DiCarlo took huge swings on the first two pitches she saw and was quickly behind 0-2. Then she regrouped, fought off some pitches and delivered a two-run single.
Here's what she said after that game: "After I swung big swings on those pitches I just thought, I've got to calm it down. Then I was seeing balls and strikes; just calm the nerves and see the ball and hit it. Just do what I've always been doing."
As you can see, not that much has changed in her approad and attitude since then.
That night she also talked about how stunned she was to be starting the Bulldogs' season opener. Now in the NCAA tournament, with 57 more starts under her belt and a lot more great at-bats, that feeling is still there, too.
"It's humbling. I don't know, I still can't believe I'm here," she said, adding, "I still am completely living the dream."
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
