CHULA VISTA — The No. 1-ranked softball team in the section, Mater Dei Catholic High School, follows a script before every home game. The Crusaders stand in single file along the first-base line, with the visiting team doing the same along the third-base line.
The players stand in silence while the national anthem plays.
Then 7-year-old McKenna Cooney breaks from the Crusaders’ queue, walks to the pitching circle and fires a ceremonial first pitch strike to catcher Charlize “Chuck” Masingale.
“I adore catching her first pitch,” said Masingale. “Her arm is getting stronger. I feel blessed to be a part of that.”
Cooney, who dresses for Mater Dei Catholic home games in a Crusaders jersey, is the team’s honorary player.
Mike Centrullo, in his 26th season as the Mater Dei Catholic head coach, started the honorary player program in 2013. By Centrullo’s count, Cooney is the team’s eighth honorary player.
The purpose behind the program is to pair the team with a young girl facing physical or emotional challenges. Cooney was born deaf but has been able to hear since she was 11 months old after receiving cochlear implants.
“This is a bonding experience the honorary player may otherwise never be a part of,” said Centrullo. “And my players learn to understand that they are very blessed. They understand what they have.”
As the team’s honorary player, Cooney throws out the first pitch at home games, attends some practices and sits in the dugout during games.
“It’s having a sisterhood,” said James Cooney, McKenna’s father. “On this team, she has a slew of older sisters. She loves it, for one because it’s a powerhouse program and the only way to get that way is by sticking to their goals and having a good head on their shoulders.
“It’s a lot of strong, young women. They show her that’s a great way to be. It’s like a whole bunch of sisters.”
James Cooney re he and his wife were initially devastated when they learned McKenna was deaf.
“I when she was 1 month old, holding her on my lap and I was crying,” James said. “In my mind, the cards were really stacked against her. You’re going to have a hard time. People are going to make fun of you because you have a disability. That’s what I was thinking.
“I started to cry and she reached toward me, as if to wipe away a tear from my eye. She had the most sincere smile on her face. She was all of a month old and more or less she looked at me and said, ‘It’s going to be OK.’”
McKenna is a first grader at Lafayette Elementary School. She was picked to be the Mater Dei Catholic honorary player because Centrullo works with James Cooney and was aware of McKenna’s challenge. While McKenna can hear and speaks clearly, when she removes her processor she cannot hear. She can read lips and knows sign languages.
Mater Dei Catholic’s softball team participates in numerous community services. The Crusaders spent a morning at a VA hospital, playing board games with vets and listening to their stories.
The team volunteered one day at the Humane Society. They practice during the season with a Bonita Valley Girls Softball Association team. And they bought gold shoe laces for themselves and another team for a game benefiting pediatric cancer research.
Mater Dei Catholic is 15-5 heading into Thursday’s game against Helix. Under Centrullo, the Crusaders have won eight San Diego Section championships, five league titles and one Southern California Regional championship. But the coach feels his job is about more than wins and losses.
“We feel very blessed with what we have,” said Centrullo. “Being a faith-based program, we feel giving back is our mission.”
Cooney is in her second season as Mater Dei Catholic’s honorary player.
“McKenna is definitely a gift to our team,” said Masingale, who is one of the players closest to Cooney, in part because she catches her ceremonial first pitch. “She puts a smile on all our faces. We all act as a family to take care of her.”
Cooney plans to play organized softball.
“I want to be a pitcher and hitter,” she said.
She’s famous for dancing in the dugout. And while she hangs with the softball team, her future might be in gymnastics. While Masingale and pitcher Arri Romero were interviewed after a Mater Dei Catholic win, Cooney eavesdropped while twisting her body into a backbend.
The soundtrack of a girls softball game is the constant cheering in the dugout. One of the Crusaders’ favorite cries is when an opposing pitcher gets the hook.
The Crusaders chant, “Save your arm! Save your arm!”
With Masingale being one of her favorite big sisters, Cooney likes the one for the catcher nicknamed “Chuck.”
“Chuck’s in the box. You’re scared. You’re scared. Chuck’s in the box. You’re scared.”
“Honestly,” said Masingale, “anything she sees us do, she wants to do. She gets a hoot out of that.”
