By Tim Parry
Boy, did I miss out on a good thing Sunday. The chance to see Rachele Fico make her debut as a member of the 27-time ASA champion Stratford Brakettes. The recently-crowned Connecticut Post Athlete of the Year was brilliant against the Xtreme Chaos, striking out 16 batters in the back end of a double header.

So in case there were any doubters out there, hoping her Brakettes performance would expose some sort of weakness, something that would make her look like a 17-year-old-girl and not a stellar athlete who gave a verbal commitment to LSU as a Masuk High School junior…

Guess what? Rachele Fico is the real deal.

Fico compiled a perfect 27-0 record for Masuk, which won its second straight CIAC Class LL championship with a 1-0 victory over Naugatuck at DeLuca Field on June 8. She threw 12 no-hitters, seven perfect games, and struck out 486 batters in 195 innings. She allowed only 21 hits and walked just seven batters and she had a 0.07 ERA.

And you can’t blame that on poor hitting in the CIAC. Not when you’re a one-person wrecking crew, and then proved it again on a higher stage.

Now the Brakettes could use some fans in the seats, and hopefully the presence of Fico will get some out there. Why not? Local girl makes good. Everyone loves a success story.

Here’s to hoping she gets to put in some work - even if just for one inning - against Team USA this July 20.