Apr 18, 2018 3 min read

Name: Dana Vatakis

School: Monessen

Class: Senior

Sport: Softball

Vatakis’s week: The senior pitcher led the Greyhounds through a stretch of four games in four days with dominating performances.

Vatakis went 4-0 in the circle, allowed only three runs – one earned – with 61 strikeouts. The most memorable outing for the Robert Morris recruit came when she struck out all 15 hitters she faced in a 15-0 victory section opponent California in a five-inning perfect game.

“It was a pretty cool experience,” Vatakis said. “It was really exciting to accomplish something like that in my senior year. I wasn’t thinking about it until after the first couple of innings when our athletic trainer said something about me striking everyone out.”

The other place Vatakis did damage was in the right-handed batter’s box. In the four victories, she collected 11 hits, including three doubles, a triple, two home runs and 10 RBI.

Through her first six games of the season, Vatakis is 15 of 22 (.682) with a .708 on-base percentage and 1.936 OPS.

“Batting is a confidence thing,” Vatakis said. “If you get down on yourself, you most likely aren’t going to hit. My approach at the plate and being able to see pitches has really helped me. I just hope I can keep doing it for the rest of the season.”

Silent leader: A shy girl as a child, Vatakis isn’t much for words and chooses to lead by example.

Quietly going about her business in the circle, she has 537 strikeouts in her varsity career. Those single-season strikeout numbers have only increased (108, 167 and 178) with a concentration on improving individual pitches.

Vatakis throws five pitches: fastball, changeup, curveball, dropball and screwball.

“I’ve tried to work on pick-up speed,” she said. “But the movement is a lot better on my pitches. Each pitch I take time to work on. My goal every game is to get 15 outs. I do put a lot of pressure on myself. I shouldn’t, but I do. That’s just the type of player I am.”

One last hurdle: Monessen has improved with Vatakis, going from 11-4 in her freshman season to 15-7 then 16-7 last year.

Monessen is 5-1.

The Greyhounds have advanced one round deeper in the WPIAL playoffs each of the past three seasons. Their playoff run has ended at the hands of West Greene the past two years, including a 10-0 loss in the WPIAL Class A Championship in 2017.

“Every time we play them, there is a lot of motivation to beat them,” Vatakis said. “It’s all about trying to get runs, get outs and keep them from getting on base. Just from what we’ve accomplished in the past, we keep wanting more and more each year.”