Naperville Central senior first baseman Jamie Saran is a fearsome slugger in the eyes of opposing pitchers.
There’s a legitimate reason for that. The Northern Illinois recruit‘s 35 home runs and 204 RBIs are the program’s career records.
But Saran has other, often overlooked qualities, which she demonstrated when she scored from second base on a single to right field by senior Avery Hayward on Friday.
“Jamie’s a really smart base runner,” Naperville Central junior Natalie Lau said. “I know she can get the job done when we need her to.”
Saran slid into home plate in a cloud of dust to give the Redhawks a 3-1 lead over DeKalb in the third inning of a DuPage Valley Conference game at Aurora University.
Three innings later, Saran tried to score from first base on Lau’s double to center field but was tagged out at the plate. Naperville Central coach Andy Nussbaum said after the game he shouldn’t have sent her that time. The Redhawks still won 15-5 in six innings.
“I knew there were two outs on both,” Saran said. “’Nuss’ was telling me to go, and I was cutting those corners and I was just going as fast as I can to try to score.”
Saran, a four-year starter who is hitting .413 with eight doubles, five home runs, 36 RBIs and 25 runs scored for conference co-leader Naperville Central (18-12, 10-3), has been emphasizing movement as she expands her repertoire of skills.
“I got more fast over the summer because I did a lot of agility training and I worked on turning fast,” she said. “I love running drills. I do them quite often, and I’m definitely going to be doing them a lot more getting ready for college. I’m still working on it.”
Those agility drills came in handy against the Barbs. In the first inning, Saran snagged a line drive and stepped on first base to double off a runner. It was the first of five putouts for Saran, who also successfully navigated a fierce wind to make a lunging catch of a pop-up in the fourth inning.
Saran made another nifty play in the sixth. DeKalb’s Izzy Aranda was on first after a leadoff single when she got caught off the base by Naperville Central senior catcher Meredith Cann.
Saran caught Cann’s pickoff throw and chased Aranda nearly all the way to second base before flipping the ball to Lau, who tagged out Aranda.
“I love making great plays and helping out my teammates,” Saran said. “They made a lot of great plays as well today.”
Saran went 1-for-3 with a walk but had two hard-hit balls turned into outs, one of which got to the right fielder so quickly that Naperville Central senior Shea Meech was forced out at second.
Saran’s presence in the lineup and her ability to make adjustments boosts all of the Redhawks.
“What’s difficult for Jamie is not the really good pitches, it’s the variance in speed,” Nussbaum said. “You’ll get somebody like (Neuqua Valley ace Ava) Drehs, who is as fast as we see, and then you’ll get some people that aren’t as fast, depend more on junk and get the ball over the plate.
“It’s hard for high school hitters to adjust to that, and I think she’s done a good job of that. She hits with power, hits the ball the other way and knows the game.”
Saran also knows how to encourage her teammates.
“Jamie is one of the best teammates you could ask for,” Lau said. “She brings a lot of positivity into the dugout.
“You know whenever you’re upset about making an error or messing up, you can always go talk to Jamie, and Jamie will make you feel better about it. I aspire to be like her. So I’m definitely going to miss having Jamie in the dugout and on the field with me next year.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
