Chess principles for softball success

Alexandra Krawczuk is teased about it all the time. Long before she was a softball catcher, the Bronx Science senior was a chess superstar. She has played the game of strategy since she was in fourth grade and has qualified for the national championships almost every year. When she was in eighth grade, she finished second overall at the prestigious event.

“[Coach Tom Morris] calls me a big nerd,” Krawczuk said with a laugh. “It’s like a team joke.”

But what makes Krawczuk so excellent with pawns and rooks is what makes her great with a bat and a ball. She has applied chess principles to softball, emerging as one of the top players in the Bronx. Morris calls her the MVP of PSAL Bronx A. With her .556 batting average, .796 slugging percentage and excellent defense behind the plate, to go along with the Wolverines’ division title, it’s hard to argue with him.

“I think sports, in general, are very close to chess,” said Krawczuk, who lives with her family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. “They both take determination and work ethic. It’s not something you can just pick up. You can’t just pick up sports either.”

She tried out for the softball team her freshman season on the advice of her junior varsity basketball coach, Harry Rattien. Krawczuk had a great arm passing the ball overhand, so Rattien, who also coached varsity softball, thought it would be a good fit. Her first time playing, though, was somewhat of an adventure.

“I think [Rattien] lobbed me like 10 pitches and I hit maybe one,” Krawczuk said. “I had never batted before. I was trying to imitate what baseball players on TV do.”

She eventually got better, made the team and Rattien made her the catcher. She hit .319 her freshman season and .286 her sophomore season as Bronx Science’s full-time catcher. Krawczuk never played travel softball. As the daughter of old-fashioned Polish immigrants, it was never a possibility. But last year Krawczuk really broke through. Because of chess – sort of.

Krawczuk got a video camera and started taping herself swinging. She would analyze at-bats, almost as if she was looking two or three moves ahead in chess, and figure out what she was doing wrong and right. She and Morris would practice hitting for hours each day.