Batty about each other

Stephanie Miller thought she was just helping out a friend when she agreed to have a catch with him last spring.

What developed was a budding softball career and – how about this? – a little romance.

Her buddy, fellow CAPA student Thomas D’Amore (how appropriate), needed help when his usual baseball partner took ill. Miller, of 18th and Gladstone streets, had no eyes on playing softball for CAPA. Tennis was her game. In fact, she’d never played softball before.

But D’Amore, who plays baseball for the Delaware Valley Youth Athletic Association, noticed Miller’s potential when the two friends got together to throw the ball throughout the summer months.

"She had a great arm and knew how to throw the ball hard," said D’Amore, 16, a CAPA sophomore. "She wasn’t afraid of the ball.

"I told her to try out for the softball team."

Miller, 17, followed the advice and has developed into a valuable utility fielder for the first-year Pegasus softball team. The CAPA junior is now playing right field, third base and first base.

"I really like it," the varsity rookie said. "I love it at first base."

And she’s getting better "by leaps and bounds," Pegasus coach John Hecker said, noting, "She really picks up the game fast."

Something else blossomed besides a softball career in those summer months.

Miller and D’Amore, of Fourth and Ritner streets, clicked so well on the diamond that a romance developed. They’ve been dating for four months now.

"She seemed like a nice girl," said D’Amore, a tenor and alto saxophone player. "I saw something in her that I can’t explain."

He added that he hopes CAPA fields a baseball team so he can join Miller in playing for the school.

Miller said her favorite guy has been a big help in learning the game – except when he teaches her, well, the wrong things.

Then what happens?

"I get yelled at by the coach," she said. "Sometimes I try to backhand the ball off the ground. I am having a hard time getting out of that habit."

BUT MILLER IS just a rookie. She previously played for the Pegasus coed tennis team. Last fall, the squad was separated into boys’ and girls’ programs to accommodate Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association rules. When CAPA couldn’t get enough girls out for the team in the fall, the program was dropped.

Of course, like most CAPA students, the South Philly resident isn’t there for sports. Musical talent brought Miller to CAPA. The meritorious honors student started playing the clarinet as a third-grader and, while at CAPA, has performed at the Kimmel Center and in Harrisburg as part of a school music program.

For Miller, playing sports is just a bonus to the CAPA experience.

"Sports wasn’t a big deal when I first came here," she said. "When I was a freshman, volleyball was the biggest thing they had at the time."

The CAPA softball team is quickly earning respect after a 9-1 regular season, good enough for second place in the Silver Division. None of those wins was close, as the South Philly-based squad crushed opponents with advantages that ranged from 15 to 23 runs.

Miller, an instrumental major, credits CAPA’s success to its ability to work as team.

"We work together, as opposed to the coach always telling us what to do," Miller said.

It helps having a few players with travel-softball experience in junior Kim Paynter and sophomore twins Gia and Ali Shepherd, all from Northeast Philly.

The Pegasus squad can expect today’s opening-round playoff match-up to be a lot closer than those blowout wins. CAPA will be looking to avenge a 4-3 loss to Franklin Towne Charter – the Pegasus’ only regular-season setback. CAPA was ahead in that one, 3-2, heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, but the home team produced a pair of runs without a hit.

Since the loss, Hecker has been throwing batting practice closer to the plate so his hitters can get more comfortable with hitting Franklin Towne’s windmill style of pitching – basically, faster stuff.

"When all the hitters saw windmill pitching for the first time, they fell a little behind," the coach said.

Miller watched that first game with Franklin Towne from the bench after having what she described as "a rough day in school."

"This time I am going to be more supportive of the team, listen to everything the girls and Mr. Hecker have to say, and take it from there," Miller said.

Meanwhile, D’Amore has provided a few of his own pointers to pass onto his girlfriend and her teammates.

"If it’s fastpitch, I tell them to take the first pitch to see where to stand at the plate," he said. "I tell them to keep their eye ball and have fun."