Capri Catalano: Can she return to her freshman year form?

This is the first in a series of posts previewing the season and the individual awards in the Atlantic 10 in 2012. We will start by looking at Pitcher of the Year candidates.

The first player we will profile is Capri Catalano of Temple.

Catalano has transferred to Temple where she is a graduate student, after finishing her four years at USF. Catalano had an impressive start to her career at USF, going 17-1 with a 1.30 ERA, 6 saves, and 177 SO in 130 innings. That season was good enough for Catalano to be named the Big East Freshman of the Year. In that season, Catalano was 2-0 against Atlantic 10 teams with no runs allowed, 1 save, and 14 SO in 14.1 innings. Unfortunately, Catalano suffered a major injury to her right shoulder after her freshman season and has never been able to put up the same numbers. Catalano had to sit out the 2009 season, before returning to the circle in 2010 and 2011.

In 2010 and 2011, Catalano returned to the field, but she was not nearly as dominating, going 6-8 with 81 SO in 88.2 innings with a ERA just below 4.00. Catalano struggled in her two appearances vs. A10 schools, pitching 3.2 innings, allowing 6 runs with 5 of those being earned runs. It is safe to assume that she had not fully recovered from her shoulder injury during those two seasons.

There is no way to know whether Catalano will return to her 2008 form until she takes the field, but if she is able to the Atlantic 10 may see its most competitive regular season in conference history. Catalano would be able to give Temple a shutdown pitcher to go with its potent offense.