This past fall, Abbey Williams was a big contributor for Mother McAuley’s Class 4A girls volleyball state championship team.
In fact, Mighty Macs coach Jen DeJarld called the junior outside hitter “the cog on our team that has made the biggest difference.”
But the girl can play softball as well. And although her college future will be on a court, she still loves games on the diamond.
“I’ve been playing softball since I was young,” Williams said. “I played travel for a little bit. Now I’m just here to have fun in high school and play with these amazing girls.”
She was pretty amazing herself Thursday in an 18-1 nonconference victory in four innings over host Stagg in Palos Hills.
Williams had three hits, an RBI and a stolen base and also played flawlessly at shortstop for McAuley (1-2). Kayla Syring added a triple and three RBIs, while Maeve Emmons allowed just two hits and struck out eight.
Tessa O’Connell contributed an RBI double for Stagg (0-1).
Williams, who also pitches, is one of two front-line volleyball players from McAuley who play softball. Loyola-bound libero Sam Falk is a third baseman/catcher for the Mighty Macs.
And DeJarld isn’t in freak-out mode about it, either.
“Oh, no,” Williams said, breaking into a smile. “Coach DeJarld is super supportive of me and Sam, and I love that. She just says to go out there and have fun.”
Williams had three singles against Stagg. One came on a sharp grounder to left field, the next on an RBI blooper to left and the third on a bunt.
For the season, she’s batting 5-for-10 with a double and four runs. As a pitcher, she has six strikeouts in seven innings.
In 2023, Williams hit .318 with two home runs. McAuley softball coach Caitlyn Migawa puts her third in the order behind the mega-productive Syring.
“The great thing about Abbey is she never stops working,” Migawa said. “Even when she has days like today when she gets three hits, she’ll want to get more reps. That’s the way she is. She wants to get better.
“Even though her main sport is volleyball, she wants to get better at softball.”
Another great thing about Williams?
“I love how she cheers all of us on,” Syring said. “She has so much energy and it gets everyone else going.”
Syring, who also plays basketball, is a regular attendee at McAuley volleyball matches.
“Oh, Abbey is just amazing as a volleyball player,” Syring said. “I like how she cheers everyone on, but those spikes… those hits… are incredible.”
Softball hasn’t always been kind to Williams. She was in eighth grade when a major mishap provided a painful moment in her travel career.
“It was the day before Easter Sunday,” Williams recalled. “I was on first base and going to steal. The catcher threw it a little far off and I slid a little too early. She ran into me with her leg and knocked out some of my teeth.
“Fortunately, I had my braces on and they kept them in my mouth.”
Williams recovered but stopped playing travel softball to concentrate on club volleyball. She left travel softball with good feelings, however.
“After that happened, the support I had helped me through it,” Williams said of the accident. “If it wasn’t for them, I might not have wanted to keep playing in high school.”
Williams played volleyball, basketball and softball as a freshman at McAuley.
“I knew going into my freshman year that I wanted to play three sports,” Williams said. “So I juggled that with club volleyball.
“When I decided to focus more on volleyball after freshman year, I stopped basketball. But I wanted to keep playing softball because I still loved it.”
Even though …
“Yes, even though I got my teeth knocked out,” Williams said, laughing.
Tony Baranek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
