It is the biggest hit of the season — so far — but there is a bit of for-the-record debate. Alyssa Schrader hits a game-winning home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington, Ill., and give the Carthage women's softball team the victory that would ultimately earn it a share of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin title.
Sure, a home run is a home run. But for one as important as this one, the more details, the better. Was it a blast? Did it barely get out? Help!
“I realized I'd hit the ball well, but I didn't think it was a home run by any means,” Schrader says.
Junior pitcher Krystina Leazer, speaking for everyone in the dugout, had a different view.
“Right when she swung, we knew,” Leazer says. “I have no idea where it even landed. I was too busy running to home plate (to greet Schrader).”
Coach Amy Gillmore was at her customary position in the third-base coaching box when the big swing took place. Presented with the comments of Schrader and Leazer, she offers her version.
“That was a no doubter,” Gillmore says. “I knew as soon as she hit it; that one was gone. You knew as soon as it left the bat it was gone.”
A tie with Illinois Wesleyan for the regular-season CCIW title, along with a second-place finish to the host Titans (ranked eighth in the May 2 National Fast Pitch Coaches Association Division III poll) in the conference tournament, made the 20th-ranked Lady Reds (34-8 overall, 11-3 CCIW and second in the Great Lakes regional rankings to Illinois Wesleyan) a logical choice for an at-large berth to the 61-school NCAA Division III Softball Championship. The third-seeded Lady Reds will play sixth-seeded Anderson (IN) (30-10) on Thursday, May 10, in Bloomington, IL.
If a spot in the NCAA tournament had been dependent on Schrader bragging about herself, Carthage's season would be done. A brief telephone conversation with Schrader leaves impressions. From here to the moon above everything, a team-first person. Unpretentious. Modest.
She is asked if she likes to have a bat in your hands with a chance to win the game?
“Yeah,” says Schrader, who in 2010 batted .402 with 11 home runs and 37 RBI and was honored as Carthage's first NFCA All-American. “I think our whole lineup is very strong this year. So no matter what, any time you come up in the game it's a great opportunity to either keep the game going, or hopefully hit in one of my teammates who are on base. It's an exciting position to be in.”
It is exciting for Gillmore and the team, too.
Beyond the Numbers
Schrader, the Lady Reds' senior first baseman when she isn't their No. 2 pitcher, is one of the nation's leading home run threats. Through games of April 29 she was tied for second among Division III players with 13 home runs (which broke her school record of 11 in 2010). Through May 5, she led the Lady Reds in runs batted in (40), total bases (92), slugging percentage (.736) and bases on balls (29); is second in batting average for players with more than 100 at-bats (.344; freshman Katie Morman leads at .356, Leazer is 3-for-6); and third in runs (29; sophomore Vicki Pyan has 38, Morman 35). She had a 17-game hitting streak and has 13 games with two or more RBI, both team highs. Schrader is the Lady Reds' all-time leader in home runs (37), RBI (122) and bases on balls (70).
Above and beyond the numbers, what Schrader is, is a coach's dream. Low in maintenance. High in leadership.
“Shrade's has been our leader on the field, off the field,” Gillmore says. “She gets the team going. She is the first one to pick anybody up. She's going to be missed. That part of her is going to be missed, I don't want to say, obviously, more than her bat and her pitching. But there's something to be said when taking leadership of a team. We only have two seniors (outfielder / third baseman Stephanie Schafer is the other). She epitomizes our team. She definitely is our leader, and keeps us going.”
Gillmore references the first game of that April 26 doubleheader at Illinois Wesleyan. The Lady Reds lose, 2-0. They have only two hits, but cannot take advantage of six walks and two hit batters.
The Lady Reds have a chance in the seventh. Pyan walks with two out. Schrader flies out to end the game.
“When we lost that first game, (Schrader) was the first one to say, 'You know what? It's one game. So we have to come back and we do it the hard way,' ” Gillmore says.
“As a coach, I didn't really have to say anything. She just stepped in, said, 'Here we go', and the team responded. I had my say, don't get me wrong. But as a coach that's what you look for.
“When the game's on the line, she's the person I want up to bat. Whether it be a home run, a single, a double. She has power. She's very quick with her hands. I would take her in any pressure situation. That was a big one for us. That won the game, and gave us a chance for first place.”
Schrader, who was on the athletic director's honor roll last spring and who will graduate May 20 with a degree in Special Education, remembers being a “little frustrated” after the first game.
“It was a big game," says Schrader, who on May 7 was named CCIW Player of the Year. "Both games were big for us. To not take the first game was a little bit heartbreaking. I didn't do as well as I wanted to to help our team.
“We needed to let that first game go, and hopefully capitalize (on chances) and make it a little different in the second game. It felt great to get a good hit and a big hit for our team, a timely hit when we needed it. I feel like our team worked really hard in the second game to stay in it. It wasn't just one person that really kept us alive in that game.”
Coming Back
Schrader's two-out double in the fifth scored Morman from second and ties the score, 1-1. In the bottom of the sixth, Alyse Mikolas singles in Bryanna Heckel to tie it, 2-2. Leazer gets out of a two-out, runners-on-second-and-third jam in the top of the seventh. With one down, up comes Schrader. Out goes the softball.
“I didn't even see the ball land,” Leazer says. “It was hit so hard, that the second it went off her bat, I think there was a stampede in the dugout. We were all just flying to home plate. It was crazy. It was celebration right away. It went so far. We knew right off the bat that it was a home run. It was an awesome feeling.”
Schrader, named CCIW Hitter of the Week on April 19, says she is never concerned with whether or not the ball is going out of the park.
“You always think as a hitter that you hit the sweet spot that you feel like it's a good hit,” says Schrader, who puts in countless hours in the batting cage in the TARC, officially known as the McNamara Indoor Baseball / Softball Facility. “Me, personally, I don't really know (if it's a home run) until I see either my coaches excited or if I can hear my team.”
She is not trying to hit home runs.
“Nope,” Schrader says. “I'm just trying make contact, put the ball in play, and make something happen for the team.”
Schrader makes something happen for this team with more than her bat. She was a pitcher at Plainfield (Ill.) Central, where assistant coach and former Gillmore player Kelly Bolton (Class of 2004) put the Carthage bug in her ear. Schrader was primarily the designated hitter during her first two seasons before spending most of 2011 as the first baseman. During her first three seasons, she made 15 pitching appearances, five as a starter, and had a 7-2 record.
Pitching in
This season, Schrader has made 18 appearances, all starts, and has pitched 100 1/3 innings. She is 9-3, with a 3.63 earned run average.
“It has actually helped out a lot,” Leazer says. “Last year, I didn't really get to rest that much. So it really helped a lot. I have been able to pitch second games (of doubleheaders). When we got to the conference schedule, I was a lot more well rested than I was the previous year. ... She has really done well.”
Well, you know, anything to help.
“I'm glad that I'm pitching a little bit more this season,” says Schrader, who worked on drop-change to go with her fastball, change up and riser. “It's definitely a fun position to play. I wish I could have been a little bit more dominant in my senior year to help out the team a little bit more.”
Gillmore echoes Leazer's comments. Schrader, who has been good with the glove, making one error in 225 total chances, has done fine when she gets the call to pitch.
“We've always had a couple other pitchers, so we let her primarily either be DH or play first base,” Gillmore says. “This year, we needed some pitching, and she stepped in and filled the role really well. Schrader can definitely show some speed when she needs to. She's going to throw more of the junk: drop, change. She'll hit more of the corners, where Krystina can come down the middle and blow it by you.”
Schrader has given the Lady Reds a lot of innings as a pitcher, which helped Leazer to the point where she could effectively pitch 25 of the 34 innings Carthage played in the CCIW tournament. Still, Schrader is more feared for what she does hitting the ball than pitching it. Although she had one hit during the CCIW tournament, she was walked five times.
Last year, she might have gone fishing at pitches out of the strike zone. Her numbers in 2011 were OK (.322 batting average, .591 slugging percentage, 8 home runs, 26 RBI), but a definite dip from 2010. Gillmore attributes the slip to pitchers making adjustments and pitching around Schrader. This year, Schrader has made the adjustments. The 29 walks are by far the most she has had as a Lady Red (she had 6 as a freshman, 19 as a sophomore and 16 last year).
“Overall, I think I'm maybe a little bit more disciplined this year than I was last year,” Schrader says. “I'm laying off the junk. This being my senior year, seeing pitchers that I have seen before. You know what they throw, what they don't throw. I'm being patient, and I'm going after the right pitch at the right time.”
Schrader's total package — the power, the pitching, the work ethic, the maturity and the leadership — makes her stand out as a teammate.
“She's an awesome teammate,” Leazer says. “She's always there for us before she's there for herself. Overall, she's just very helpful. I'm glad she's on my team, I'll say that.”
It is suggested to Gillmore that, if Schrader did not get a hit all season but Carthage won every game, Schrader would be fine with that.
“Very true,” Gillmore says. “Very true. In her heart of hearts, she wants to get a hit every single time. This is, I think, the best way to summarize Alyssa Schrader: She can strike out, and she can hit a home run, and you wouldn't know the difference. She acts the same. She's not jumping all over the place when she hits a game-winning home run, and she's not pouting when she strikes out. You would not know what she did by watching her demeanor. When she's on the field she's in the zone of playing the game, and I think people feed off of that. 'OK, I can't get down. She's not down. I've got to do the same thing that she's doing.' ”
EXTRA SWINGS, WITH ALYSSA SCHRADER
What is you favorite place to hang out on campus?: “Besides the softball field? Honestly, I think I would say the softball field on campus, because I do feel like that's where most of my time was put in, and that's where I developed a lot of friendships with my teammates. It's like my home away from home.”
Which class or teacher would you recommend?: “I'd have to say any class with Dr. Lynn Brownson (Associate Professor of Communication and Digital Media).”
Life after Carthage: “I hope to have a career in helping students with special needs.”
Cubs, White Sox, or somebody else?: “I'm a Cubs fan.”
Preferred method of communication: “I would rather have a conversation on the phone than I would through e-mail. I don't Twitter. I do have a Facebook account, but I'm not a big fan of it. I'd rather talk to people in person and have a personal relationship.”
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