Lincoln-Way West junior Reese Rourke is quite a sight at shortstop.
She sprawls. She dives. She knocks down sure-shot singles and delivers remarkably strong throws from her knees.
On Thursday, the North Carolina State recruit made two highlight-reel plays, only to come up a millisecond short on the pegs to first. Then came a third tough try, a slow roller to the left side.
“That’s so fun,” Rourke said, smiling. “When you see the slow roller, your eyes light up. It’s like, ‘This is my play.’”
Rourke came up aces there and in a few other ways for the host Warriors in a 12-2 five-inning SouthWest Suburban Conference win over Homewood-Flossmoor in New Lenox.
Reese Cusack led the hitting parade for Lincoln-Way West (16-7, 5-4) with a grand slam and five RBIs. Reese Forsythe, Kaylea Armstrong and Madi Lukasik also homered, while Jessica Noga and Abby Brueggmann combined for the pitching win.
Elodie Sullivan hit a home run for H-F (6-10, 2-6). Skylar Skinner added an RBI double.
Rourke, meanwhile, reached base twice and scored both times. She led off the bottom of the first with a single, stole second, went to third on a fly ball to center field by Forsythe and scored on a double steal with Cusack.
“Coach (Heather Novak) always tells us that it makes a huge difference just getting 60 feet,” Rourke said. “After a steal and then the tag up, you have to be aggressive because it’s hard for teams to defend.”
At the same time, Rourke is racking up firsts, rewriting Lincoln-Way West’s softball record book.
In 2023, she became the first freshman for the Warriors to earn first team all-state honors. Last season, she became the first one to accomplish that feat two years in a row.
Rourke holds multiple single-season program records, including a .505 average, 15 home runs and 117 total bases. She already has 20 stolen bases this spring, the most in program history.
“Going in as a freshman, all I thought was, ‘I want to make varsity, I want to make varsity,’” Rourke said. “I never thought toward these others things. I never even knew they were accomplishments you could get.
“Once I started getting them, it was something to work toward. It feels good to know you’re setting a tone.”
It’s a tone that resonates throughout the team. Cusack and Rourke form one of the Southland’s most experienced middle infields. They’re tough, too.
“Having both of us up the middle is definitely a fun vibe,” Cusack said. “We’re always talking, communicating before each pitch, so we know what to do and where to go.
“It’s also nice because Reese is the leader on our team. She’s always talking, always hyping everybody up. She’s always ready. She’s always there for us.”
Whenever — and wherever.
During the past two seasons, Rourke was also the team’s top pitcher. It wasn’t part of her plan.
“I always pitched when I was younger,” Rourke said. “But as I got older, I kind of hit a plateau and I said, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore, I want to play shortstop.’
“So all travel season, I would work out at shortstop and then I’d go to pitch. I didn’t have all the skills that some other pitchers had, but it became a mindset for me that, ‘How bad do you want it?’”
Bad enough that when Novak asked her to take the pitching reins as a freshman, she was willing to grab them.
“Reese has always been that athlete and that player who wants to do whatever is best for the team,” Novak said. “When she came here, we knew she had experience both as a pitcher and playing short.
“Ever since, it’s been year to year, month to month, week to week with whatever the team needs. With her athleticism and how talented she is, she makes a difference on the mound, at short, in the box and on the bases.
“She really impacts the game.”
Tony Baranek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
