Reporter/Montgomery Player of Year Bilotti leaves North Penn a legend

As with most legends, the story of Jackie Bilotti began with a twist of fate.

Slated to begin her freshman year pitching for North Penn’s JV team, an injury moved the young hurler up to varsity and the ace spot. Four years later, Bilotti leaves North Penn as one of the most decorated players in the program’s history.

While her stature remained small, her reputation grew and grew. With each year, Bilotti only added to her growing mythos. For all the accolades, for all the wins, hits, pitching strikeouts, the moments that build a legend and the countless eyes looking up to her, Bilotti’s coach perhaps summed it up best.

“I’ve been coaching softball for 26 years at the high school level and she is the best player I’ve ever coached,’ Maidens coach Rick Torresani said.

After a remarkable senior year that saw her go 19-3 with a 1.39 ERA and 84 strikeouts and lead the team in hitting with a .439 average, five home runs and 16 RBIs, Bilotti has been selected the Reporter/Montgomery Media Softball Player of the Year.

If the legend began when Bilotti was promoted early in her freshman year, she cemented the lore with a no-hitter in her first playoff game. The Maidens then went on to win the district title that year, which Bilotti called her defining moment.

There were plenty of others, including a 5-4 District 1-AAAA playoff win over Council Rock South as a junior where she went 4-for-4, drove in four runs and homered twice, or the 1-0 nail-biter at Hatboro-Horsham this year where she drove in the only run, then made an incredible defensive play on a bunt to win the game.

Yet for all these accomplishments, Bilotti hasn’t boasted about it, instead keeping a laser focus on her goals. For her senior season, those goals were quite straightforward.

“The goal coming from last year to this year is always to get farther in the playoffs than last year,’ Bilotti said. “We had a really good season last year and the last three seasons I’ve been there have been really good so our goal every year was to get better and get farther.’

A district champ as a freshman and a district runner-up as a junior, Bilotti wasn’t able to reach her goal as a senior. North Penn lost to a tough Avon Grove team in the district quarterfinals, with only the top four teams advancing to states.

Sometimes, the figure behind the legend doesn’t measure up to the tales. In Bilotti’s case, she possibly exceeds them. Torresani said Bilotti’s focus comes from her preparation. The night before a game, the pitcher would go through the opposition’s hitters, form a plan against them and take the circle full prepared.

Torresani knew his ace would be so well prepared; he hardly had to worry about her most days. For Bilotti, that extra work was meant to insure there were no surprises the next day.

“I just tried to narrow down so it was me and the catcher,’ Bilotti said. “It’s a lot easier to play a game when your defense is so solid behind you and our team was really big on coring runs early, so that helped a lot and made me more relaxed as I pitched.’

Bilotti said one of the areas she put the most effort into during the offseason was physical and mental strength. Putting the time in the weight room helped turn her compact, as Torresani calls it, “Chase Utley’ swing into one with plenty of pop.

Time and retellings tend to turn legends into unbelievable figures. While Bilotti won’t be taken for a colossus any time soon, she got the most out of what she has.

“I’m not the biggest player, probably not even close or the fastest pitcher or the strongest batter,’ Bilotti said. “The strength part of it is really important for me to get as strong as I can be and to also be mentally tough, knowing pitch selection and taking care of that aspect of the game instead of blowing batters away because I know I’m not going to do that.’

Bilotti herself didn’t think she’d be a varsity pitcher until her junior or senior year, but that first playoff game showed her she was ready. After not hitting as a freshman, which Torresani said was likely a mistake on his part, her bat also became an integral part of the team.

Still, Bilotti never imagined the district title or winning the team’s first conference crown since 1985 and especially not the school record 68 wins, single-season record 19 wins, record for single season (1.12) and career (1.78) ERA, and .402 career batting average. Oh, and she only struck out seven total times in her career.

“There’s the old adage you don’t see many five tool players if you even ever get one in your career and she was the first one I can honestly saw was a five tool player,’ Torresani said. “I could have put her at any position and she would have been all league, all area, all state at any position, that’s how good she is.’

Both Torresani and Bilotti called it a successful season even with the absence of states. Besides, missing states did nothing to diminish Bilotti in the eyes of her legions of fans. To the scores of youth players in the townships that make up the North Penn school district, Jackie Bilotti is the goal.

“The kids look up to her,’ Torresani said. “I’ve had little girls in my summer camp the last three years say they want to be Jackie Bilotti. They know what type of kid she is.’

To her credit, Bilotti embraces it all.

“I try to help out with younger softball teams because I know that’s how it goes when you’re playing for the high school,’ Bilotti said. “Little kids look up to you and you can’t ignore the fact they’re looking up to you. I try to go out to their games and I coach little girls in pitching, coach an all-star team in the summer and go to their games whenever I can.’

Bilotti will continue as the gem of Arcadia’s incoming recruiting class. It wasn’t a hard choice, with Bilotti being sold on new coach Sarah Norris, the team and the school’s opportunity to let her pursue the education degree she desires.

Torresani expects Bilotti to play shortstop at the next level. He recalled a conversation with Arcadia’s coaches where they told him about a missed play in the infield where they looked at each other and said “next year, JB.’ They are so excited there.’

“There’s so many things she’s done as an individual and a lot of times when she’s done those things, it just looks so natural,’ Torresani said. “You watch it, sit back and think it’s nothing big but when you think about it, you have to go ‘˜Wow.’ She’s just an unbelievable person and player.’

Bilotti described her experience and North Penn and often cited how close she, her teammates and even the coaches were. She leaves North Penn as a legend, a player to be referenced for years to come. While there’s no doubt to her dedication and work, some things are just there.

“Sometimes, in games, it will feel like it’s natural,’ Bilotti said. “But that’s just because of how much work I put in during the offseason and in practice every day.’

Every legend has a beginning and every legend has an ending. Many times, it’s not a good ending. In the case of Jackie Bilotti, it just left room for a sequel.

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