Hitting seems to come easy for Boone Grove’s Mercedes Szakacs.
The junior first baseman hit over .400 with 11 home runs in her first two seasons.
“Cede has power galore,” Boone Grove coach Ron Saunders said. “When she doesn’t try to hit home runs, if she went through the whole year and just tried to hit the ball hard, she would probably have 15 home runs and bat about .500.
“Sometimes she gets so anxious that the swing’s not the same. But she has a beautiful swing.”
That swing has produced outstanding results for Szakacs, who committed to Valparaiso in October.
She hit .427 with team highs of eight homers and 32 RBIs last year. As the team’s left fielder during her freshman season, she hit .429 with three homers and 18 RBIs.
Szakacs has even higher expectations this season. She opted not to play volleyball or basketball this school year in order to focus on softball.
“I want to do better than I have these last couple of years,” she said. “I want to be all-state. I want to have the stats to qualify.”
Szakacs said she also believes she’s become a more mature player.
“I’m definitely taking the upperclassman role, especially helping the freshmen and sophomores, which I really didn’t do a lot last year,” she said. “I’ve done that better.”
Saunders has seen that progression from Szakacs.
“Cede’s an awesome kid, awesome player,” Saunders said. “She’s willing to do anything I’ve asked. She’s at first base now, but she can play third, she can play left, and she will. She’s one of the leaders on the team, there’s no doubt about it.”
Senior shortstop Emily Veschak signed her national letter of intent with Drake in November, and she and Szakacs are on course to become opponents in the Missouri Valley Conference in the not-too-distant future. For now, Veschak has been savoring her final season as Szakacs’ teammate.
“I really enjoy having her on the team,” Veschak said. “She’s always laughing and bringing a positive vibe. I’m excited to see what she’s going to do for the team this year. She’s going to make a huge impact.”
Szakacs said she hopes to make an impact on kids in the future. She plans to study education at Valparaiso and intends to become a teacher.
“I really like helping kids,” she said.
Szakacs said she’d also like to get a second degree in business and envisions opening a softball facility to provide more options for Region players.
More in the near term, she wants to help Boone Grove, which was the Class 2A state runner-up in both 2015 and 2016, pursue more hardware. The Wolves finished second to Hebron in the Porter County Conference in both the round robin and the tournament last season and are seeking their first sectional title since 2019. They moved up to Class 3A last season.
“We’re all really coming together as a team,” Szakacs said. “We all get along. There’s no arguing. We’re really making sure we get all the plays down, and our bats are good.
“The seniors are really standing out, which is good since they’re our captains, and the freshmen are adding a lot more pieces we were missing last year. We’ve just been doing really good, and I’m really excited for the season.”
