With the band Journey’s No. 1 hit blasting through the Farrington Stadium PA system, ASU freshman Elizabeth Caporuscio stepped into the batter’s box filled with her dreams and the team’s high expectations.
That “small town girl, living in a lonely world” has been nothing short of dominant to start off her Sun Devil career, and is second on the team in home runs with eight and batting .438.
Hailing from Lake Arrowhead, Calif., an unincorporated community nestled in San Bernardino National Forest, Caporuscio dealt with adversity early in her road to ASU.
In 2003, Caporuscio was one of 80,000 residents forced to evacuate their homes because of the Old Fire wildfire.
“I remember driving down the mountain and it was at night, so you could see the flames,” Caporuscio said. “You never know what can happen. Houses did burn, but I was very thankful that mine was fine. It just had ashes (on it), but I had some friends who weren’t too lucky. It was devastating for them.”
While still recuperating from the fire, Caporuscio went on to excel at Rim of the World High School and was a First Team All-State selection by CalHiSports, ESPN Rise and the scouting website Max Preps before coming to ASU. These accolades came a year after suffering a right shoulder injury that kept her sidelined for most of her junior season.
“It was obviously a sucky situation,” Caporuscio said. “It’s always harder coming back from an injury because you’re always behind everyone else, but I worked through it.”
While her right shoulder hasn’t hurt since, Caporuscio still does precautionary therapy for both shoulders to make sure she doesn’t have to deal with it again.
Caporuscio’s arm has already proven to be a valuable asset, as she commands respect from runners on the base path. This was one of many things coach Clint Myers discovered in Caporuscio that prompted a comparison to a former ASU great during her recruitment.
“She reminded us a lot of Katie Cochran,” Myers said. “She ended up deciding Arizona State, and we are real glad she did.”
Also left handed, Cochran was the leading hitter on the 2008 team that captured ASU’s first national championship and she holds most of the school’s offensive records.
Along with these high assessments of her talent, Caporuscio has dealt with the transition between high school and college as well as a player can.
“It’s been pretty hard because mostly everyone in my high school has known everyone since we were little,” Caporuscio said. “I like it because you meet new people. You don’t know their background. You start out fresh and you’re part of their future.”
So far, that transition has been eased by roommate and teammate freshman Haley Steele.
“Liz is like my best friend here,” Steele said. “We live together and pretty much spend every day together. We just play softball. Sometimes it is just as simple as that.”
Caporuscio said she also has been helped by the freshmen on the team, as they let her know she wasn’t “the only one new to this.”
However, the freshman centerfielder isn’t dialing back her goals just because she is facing more experienced competition.
“Just because they are older than me doesn’t mean they are better,” Caporuscio said. “No matter what their age, I know if I try just as hard, I have a chance.”
With that work ethic, Caporuscio has become one of the most consistent players for the Sun Devils. She is only one of three players who have started every game for the team, the others being seniors Katelyn Boyd and Annie Lockwood.
“She’s another one you just don’t want to wake up,” Myers said. “There’s still some phases of the game she hasn’t seen, so we will just have to take it one step at a time and help her along the best we can, but right now, she’s just lights out.”
Caporuscio has been working on being more assertive in the outfield, though Myers said he understands how difficult it can be when she plays in between seniors Taylor Haro and Lockwood.
“The centerfielder is the boss out there, and she has got to take a little bit more charge,” Myers said. “Sometimes that’s hard for a freshman to tell a senior … But again, that’s something she has to grow into if she wants to be the centerfielder. She has got all of the capabilities.”
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu
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