Lisa Fabig sparks MacArthur to softball win

Lisa Fabig’s MacArthur softball teammates jokingly call her Liza, as in Liza Minnelli.

A look at Fabig after Wednesday’s hard-fought 4-3 win against visiting Clarke in a key Nassau ABC-I game tells one that her teammates have her pegged pretty well.

Fabig’s once white softball pants were a shade of brown resembling the Generals’ infield dirt. Her right hand had a small cut after diving for a ball from her third base position. Yup, Fabig plays the game of softball a little crazy (in a good way).

The MacArthur sophomore was 3-for-4 with a home run, two doubles, three RBIs and a run scored. She also had three assists and a putout.

“She’s tough. She’s an animal,” MacArthur pitcher Jess Budrewicz said. “She was huge today and if she didn’t do what she did, we probably wouldn’t have won.”

After Budrewicz allowed a first-inning, solo home run to Ally Koutsogiannis, Fabig answered with a two-run blast of her own in the bottom half of the inning.

“I saw the ball,” Fabig said, “and I drove it.”

SEE PHOTOSClarke vs. MacArthur softball

MacArthur (7-0) added a run in the third on a single by Ali Verdi (2-for-3) that scored Kristen DiCicco. The first of Fabig’s two doubles gave the Generals a 4-2 lead in the fourth.

Clarke (3-4) had chances in the last the three innings, but only scored once. It left the bases loaded in the fifth, and a runner at third base in the sixth. The Rams’ Kirstin Cox, who was 3-for-4, scored in the seventh inning to make it 4-3 with two outs.

But Budrewicz got a fly out to left fielder Hannah Rommel to end the game. Budrewicz had nine strikeouts and allowed nine hits and two earned runs. She and Farmingdale’s Chrissy Hassett lead Nassau with nine wins each.

Afterwards, Clarke coach Rachel Barry, a MacArthur alumna, was complimentary of the Generals and especially Fabig.

“Lisa killed it,” said Barry, who graduated from MacArthur in 2008 and played under current Generals coach Bobby Fehrenbach. “She’s also a good third baseman, who makes it tough for our lefty, slap hitters. She makes you think.”

Interestingly, Fabig played centerfield last season as a member of MacArthur’s Long Island Class AA championship squad.

“She’s one of those kids who gets after it,” Fehrenbach said. “She’s all business.”

Fabig said: “It’s my love of the game. It’s how I play.”