Domiano’s day

There was absolutely no way Olivia Domiano was going to let go.

Domiano made the web gem of the game and gave her team the emotional life they had been searching for as Kenmore West beat North Tonawanda in Niagara Frontier League softball action that was played at T.K. Murphy Field, Tuesday night.

Domiano, who was playing right field, was tracking down a pop fly off the bat of NT’s Victoria Wachowicz.

Running into foul territory, Domiano made a spectacular grab as she crashed hard into the fence along first base side. Domiano was down and in tremendous amount of pain-but she held on to the ball.

“I knew that the fence was near me, I just couldn’t tell how close it was.” Said Domiano, whose efforts earned Player of the Game honors.

“(Coaches) have been telling us for the past few weeks you gotta catch every ball. So I was catching this ball!”

Domanio was down in pain for several minutes clutching her right ankle-which seemed to take the brunt of the collision with the fence.

Domiano was helped off the field and it appeared as if her day was over.

But after receiving medical attention, resting and talking it over with her mom, resolved that there was no way she was going to stay out of the game. Especially now that things are finally going right.

“When I was sitting there I just wanted to be out there so bad,” Domiano said.

“After making that catch I just can’t end my night here. I gotta get back out.”

Domiano re-entered the game and would eventually score the tying run in the sixth inning.

The Blue Devils had been searching for consistency in their defense. Especially in the outfield where dropped balls and mental errors had been eating away at their collective confidence. Ken-West coaches Matt Chimera and Joe Catalano had spent the past couple of days working their outfielders harder than ever. All the while drilling home the message of playing with confidence and being assertive when you call for a ball.

Ken-West pitcher Lydia Serrano, who threw a complete game, had a front row seat for Domiano’s highlight real catch.

“I love Liv,” Serrano said with a smile. “She’s one of my really good friends. It was unbelievable. When she hit that fence I was more in shock and when she caught it I was like oh God! Thank you so much!”

The Ladyjacks took the 4-3 lead in the fourth when Kaylee Haner crushed a two-run home run over the center field fence.

But the Blue Devils went ahead for good in the sixth after Sydney McIntosh tripled in Abby Borkowski with the winning run. Borkowski’s double knocked in Domiano to tie the game at 4-4

After coming off of a 15-2 loss to Niagara-Wheatfield on Monday, this was exactly the kind of feel good game the Ladyjacks needed. They hit the ball hard. Played error free defense-highlighted by a dazzling catch by center fielder Laney Wieclaw in the sixth that prevented the Blue Devils from completely blowing the game win open. They played as one.

“I think this is something that’s gonna build their confidence because we were right there. We were right there,” NT coach Alyssa Brosius said.

“They played their hearts out.”

The two teams are scheduled to play each other again on Wednesday at Kenmore West High School, 4:45 first-pitch.