Trojans select Bitonti, Powell
Brandon Powell is California's spring sports male selection in the Centennial Chevrolet Scholar/Athlete Spotlight program.
Marissa Bitonti is California's spring sports female selection in the Centennial Chevrolet Scholar/Athlete Spotlight program.
Brandon Powell got to experience a WPIAL championship last season. Marissa Bitonti would like to know that feeling this year.
The two seniors are California’s spring representatives for the Centennial Chevrolet Scholar-Athlete Spotlight program.
It’s never easy to win a WPIAL title, but the path Powell and his Trojans baseball team took was extremely difficult and nerve-wracking.
California needed 11 innings to defeat Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in the semifinals, 4-3, on Alex Adams’ walk-off single. Powell drove in the Trojans’ first run of the game with a single, then made a key defensive play in extra innings.
“There was a ground ball up the middle and I dove for it and got the out at first,” Powell said. “They would’ve scored if I didn’t field that ball.”
Powell started the game on the mound before switching to second base. Neither team scored from the fifth through the 10th.
“Going into the 10th and 11th inning of that game, my heart was racing,” Powell said. “They could’ve scored a few times. We could’ve scored, but it was like no one could score.”
The championship game against Freedom turned out to be more of the same.
The Trojans, playing as the away team at Wild Things Park in Washington, again had to go extra innings, this time winning in the 10th when Johnny DeFranco’s sacrifice fly broke a 1-1 tie. California went on to win 3-1 after falling behind 1-0 in the first inning.
“I scored the tying run in the fourth inning and then we went into extra innings again,” said Powell, who reached on an infield hit and scored on Tyler Jacobs’ single.
Finally, after battling through 21 innings in two games, the Trojans secured the final out and their fifth WPIAL title.
“It was crazy. Everyone just threw their gloves as high as they could and we all jumped on each other,” Powell said. “It was an amazing moment.”
Bitonti seeks to live that moment as well. One of the top javelin throwers in the WPIAL, she earned a third-place medal and a trip to the PIAA championships last year.
Not bad for someone who only got into the sport because her sister picked up a javelin her senior year.
“My sister, Gia, wanted to earn a letter, so tried the javelin,” Bitonti said. “I was in seventh grade at the time so I went with her. She showed me how to do it and I just fell in love with it ever since.”
Bitonti, the daughter of John and Alexandria Bitonti, has success in the event her first year at the varsity level.
“I made it to WPIALs my freshman year,” she said.
Things didn’t go as well her sophomore year, but she bounced back as a junior.
“Last year I placed third, and that was crazy,” Bitonti said. “There was a lot of good competition.
“Then going to states was crazy, too, just seeing thousands of people, thousands of fans everywhere.”
Bitonti placed 16th in the state. She has her mind set on getting back to Shippensburg for the PIAA championships this year with a gold medal in hand.
“I want to win it this year, first at WPIALS is the main goal,” she said, “and then just try to do my best every meet.”
Excelling at throwing the javelin has paid off for Bitonti in more ways than one.
“Last year, at the first meet of the season I threw my personal record of 132 feet, six inches, and I got my dog from it,” Bitonti said with a big smile. “I told my dad if I threw 130 feet in my first meet then I should get a dog. He said no, but I got one anyway,” she said with a laugh.
Bitonti is a multi-sport star who has also lettered in basketball, although she didn’t play her senior year, and volleyball.
She was part of a section-winning team in basketball, and one of her top sports moments was hitting a last-second shot to win an AAU eighth-grade championship game.
In the fall, Bitonti led the Lady Trojans in assists as they reached the WPIAL volleyball final four for the first time since 1982.
She leaves no doubt which sport she prefers to play, though.
“Track is definitely my favorite,” said Bitonti, who discussed balancing several sports with academics.
“It’s just like time management, prioritizing things,” she said. “School’s really important to me so I try to get all my work done as soon as I possibly can, before I go to my sport.”
Bitonti is set to attend the University of Pittsburgh this fall where she will pursue a degree in biomedical engineering. She’ll leave sports behind after high school.
“I think it will be hard enough,” Bitonti said. “Time management goes to a whole new level in college.”
Bitonti is a member of the National Honor Society, The Future is Mine, Interact, SADD, Relay for Life, and Drama Club at California. She also has had success in a new venture.
“I started doing musical this year and I got a lead (part),” Bitonti said. “I’m Ursula in The Little Mermaid. If people want to come out and see that, that’s something no one knows that I do.”
The musical begins this week.
Powell, the son of Cabe and Jennifer Powell, is a multi-sport star also. He was a three-year starter as a striker in soccer, and has grown to love that sport, too.
“I watch it now,” Powell said. “I like all European soccer. I’m really into it.”
Powell, who has an older sister, Jordan, and a younger brother, Caden, commended his dad for helping him develop in baseball.
“My dad was my head coach for years and years,” Powell said. “He always put extra time in for me, playing all through the summer. He’s helping my brother now, who is 12 and is pretty good at baseball. He started up a travel organization, the Mon Valley Vipers.”
Powell has many great baseball memories at California – including drawing a bases-loaded walk against Bentworth to force in the section-winning run during his sophomore year – and hopes to add to those this season.
“We want to win another WPIAL title,” he said. “That’s always our goal. There is a lot of pressure with that. Everyone is trying to beat you. Everyone’s always coming for us. But it’s a lot of fun.”
Powell is currently dealing with an injury, however.
“It’s UCL sprain,” he said. “There’s a small tear in it. They’re afraid I’m going to tear it worse if I start pitching again. I think I still might end up pitching by the end of the year.”
Powell will attend California University of Pa. in the fall where he intends to major in computer engineering, and possibly play baseball, “depending on how my elbow holds up.”
Powell’s hobby gives a clear indication why he seems perfectly suited for the major he has chosen.
“I play a lot of video games,” he said. “I built my own computer to play them on. I bought all the parts and put them together. It was a lot of fun.”