Neither sophomore first baseman Kaitlyn Streiler nor freshman pitcher Maddie Such entered this season with varsity experience.
It didn’t dissuade first-year Lake Central coach Yvette Tovar from describing them as “impact players.”
The Indians’ sights are set on winning a state championship, and Streiler and Such could help push them over the top, joining a team that returned all but one starter after reaching a semistate final.
“It’s in their eyes,” Tovar said. “It’s reachable. It’s all right there within our reach.”
Streiler hit .522 with 27 RBIs as a freshman on the junior varsity team and might’ve been in position to earn a late-season call-up. But she suffered a concussion just as the postseason was starting.
If Streiler was already knocking on the door, it swung open when first baseman Morgan Heinecke, a Northern Kentucky recruit, decided not to play this season. Streiler has walked right through that door.
“As we started fall workouts, Kaitlyn came out and was at first base and never looked back,” Tovar said. “In the offseason when we were doing our workouts, through tryouts and the last two weeks of practice, she’s shown big improvements.
“Kaitlyn has made strides at first base, and her hitting is just incredible. She hits the ball with intensity and with purpose, that’s definitely for sure. I look forward to seeing her hit live against some of the teams we’ll be playing. I’ve seen her hit live at practice against our pitchers, and we have really good pitchers. … I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of damage she can do for us this season.”
Such, who is one of those pitchers, is impressed by Streiler too. They joked about playing for rival travel teams, but Such said they’ve managed to become “best friends” at Lake Central.
“She’s a wonderful person to be around,” Such said. “On the field, she has really high energy, and she knows what she’s doing. She can hit the ball far. I don’t even know how to explain it. She can hit the ball probably to that JV field over there (beyond the varsity field’s left field fence). She always puts in hard work. We work well together.”
It’s anticipated that Such and junior pitcher Sofia Calderaro, who emerged as a bona fide ace for Lake Central last season, also will work well together.
“She’s a great pitcher,” Such said of Calderaro. “She did a lot of wonderful things for the team last year. Both of us are going to execute this year. It’s going to be me and her working to win state.
“We have two different, varied styles of pitching. It’s two very different things, and it’s going to make us both better for the season.”
Such elaborated on how she and Calderaro could complement each other.
“I definitely have speed,” Such said. “For my age, I throw fairly hard. I have spin too. But it’s a very spinny pitcher and a very speedy pitcher. It throws batters off. If we both throw in a game, it’s going to throw batters off completely.”
That’s what Tovar has envisioned. Such allowed one run on three hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in five innings in Lake Central’s season-opening 3-1 win at Munster on Wednesday, and Calderaro added two scoreless innings.
“She’s going to add a good layer on to all of the success we had last year,” Tovar said of Such. “Everything was kind of on Bob’s shoulders, so to have two incredible pitchers in the state of Indiana, pitching differently, on our team, I’m really looking forward to seeing both of them in action this season.”
Streiler also is eager to see what Such can do.
“She definitely throws hard, and she has a good rise ball,” Streiler said. “Her attitude on and off the field is really good. She’s definitely a great person to be around.”
And what about Streiler’s goals?
“Just try to work as hard as I can,” she said. “Just be really vocal and try to work the best for my team and try as much as possible to be the best I can be.
“I can hit pretty well, and everyone has to do their job. We all have the same goal, to win state. I think we will.”
Such also believes it’s possible.
“I love our chemistry,” she said. “Just being a freshman here, all the girls are great. Offensively and defensively, we’re very strong. We have a great chance to win state this year.
“This year is going to be the year we win state. I have a good feeling about it. Everybody has a good feeling about it. We’re putting in the work that is leading us to winning state.”
Tovar, an assistant under Brooke Baker-Runyon last season, has set that bar for the Indians, who last won a state title in 2004.
Tovar, a 2003 Lake Central graduate, started in right field on both the state championship team in 2002 and the runner-up team the following season, when Baker-Runyon was named Miss Softball. Tovar then played at Indiana State.
Tovar has also been an assistant at Highland and Andrean, including under Baker-Runyon, before she returned to her alma mater with Baker-Runyon last season.
“A lot of good players have come through here and not won a state championship,” Tovar said. “We’re really pushing that, and we’re definitely hoping to get there.”
