Photography courtesy Jerzie Nutile
Chesapeake High senior Jerzie Nutile just lives for softball. She has even practiced outdoors when it’s 20 degrees. When Nutile doesn’t have a game or practice for her high school or club team, she still works nonstop. Her coaches say she trains harder than most other players. The 17-year-old puts in up to five hours per day perfecting her skills for six or seven days a week by lifting weights, running, playing at a nearby field with friends, hitting a ball off a tee, or pitching to her father in a garage.
“I love softball so much,” she says “It’s something I want to pursue for a career. Players look up to me, so it’s a motivation for me to really work hard. The harder I work, the more likely I am going to get to my goal of being able to play professionally and influencing kids. I really want to make the Olympics.”
Despite her top-notch skills and abundance of confidence, Nutile was never so uneasy when she tried out for Chesapeake as a freshman in 2017. “I was so nervous and I didn’t know where I would fit in,” Nutile explains. “When I went out, I was one of two freshman and the rest were upperclassman.”
Nutile, a pitcher and shortstop, can look back at that experience now and laugh. She easily made the team and quickly developed into one of Maryland’s top high school players. The 5-foot-9 Nutile went onto dominate as she led the state in home runs (11)—which was also a school record.
Nutile’s prowess helped her earn a softball and academic scholarship to Longwood University in Virginia.
“I was lucky to coach Lauren Gibson, who played four years at Tennessee, and the U.S National team,” Chesapeake Softball Coach Don Ellenberger says. “She worked out more than anybody I have ever seen. She took her talent and made herself that much better. Jerzie has been the same way. She has so much talent and she worked really hard to turn herself into a great player.”
Nutile developed her skills playing 10 years of club softball, including the last two for the Ashburn Stars in Northern Virginia. She plays year-round and about 100 games a year. She competed in tournaments in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee.
“She can play anywhere,” Ellenberger says. “When I first saw her play, she was a catcher.”
Nowadays, Nutile is playing shortstop and pitching for Chesapeake. The switch hitter batted .459 as a sophomore with 11 home runs, 20 runs scored, and a team-leading 37 RBIs to help the Cougars to the Class 3A state championship game the following year.
The year before, the Pasadena resident hit .397 with 11 homers, 22 runs scored, and 37 RBIs.
“She is powerhouse as a hitter,” Ellenberger says of his third-place hitter. “She has home run potential on any pitch.”
Nutile worked as Chesapeake’s No. 2 pitcher for her first two years in high school. She would have been the team’s No. 1 last year but the season was wiped because of the pandemic. Nutile hopes to get that opportunity this spring.
Photography courtesy Jerzie Nutile
“She is a dominant pitcher,” Ellenberger says. “Over the last couple of years, she has refined her pitching so much.”
Now that Nutile’s high school career is winding down, she’ll start preparing for college. She chose Longwood over Duke, Delaware, Liberty, and the University of Pennsylvania.
“She is a great fit for our program,” Longwood Softball Coach Megan Brown says. “I can’t wait to see the good things she will do for us. She is a talented player and she will have the chance to hit, pitch, and play shortstop.”
Nutile will concentrate as much on her studies as on softball since she wants to be a biological engineer. She carries a 4.4 weighted-grade point average and took a combined seven advance-place classes during her junior and senior years.
“I really want to use my academic platform to bring awareness of to the potential cures for cancer, dementia, and Alzheimer’s,” Nutile says. “I want to be a research scientist, and I really like to help people.”
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