Andrew senior Kathleen Hester did something Tuesday that absolutely shocked me.
It wasn’t her performance in the circle against Lockport. I’ve witnessed and written about her pitching excellence time and again.
But Tuesday was the first time I’d ever seen her with a bat in her hands.
It was shocking to me.
It was shocking to her, too.
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“Yeah, coach (Alyssa) Gunther was reading the lineup on the bus, and she was like, ‘Hey, ‘Hes,’ you’re pitching,'” Hester said. “Then I noticed that there was no flex after it.
“I was like, ‘I’m hitting?’ Then she told me, ‘I like your approaches, so I’m going to put you in the lineup.'”
And wouldn’t you know it? Hester reached in one of her three at-bats.
Good call, coach.
“We’re confident, obviously, with her on the mound but also in her bat,” Gunther said. “She’s been having a good approach in the games that she has been in there.”
Hester actually has two hits to go along with an RBI this season. Pitching-wise, she’s 4-1 with 38 strikeouts and a 1.20 ERA.
Let’s get to that pitching.
Hester’s approach in the circle during Andrew’s 4-1 win over Lockport in a SouthWest Suburban Conference crossover was pretty impressive.
She shut the Porters out through six innings, recording strikeouts in each of the first five. She threw a couple of change-ups — one for a third strike — that were out of this world.
It gave her ample opportunities to do her signature “Hester Hop.” They had to feel sweeter this time because they led to her first pitching victory over Lockport.
She certainly looked happy.
“Yeah, I was feeling kind of loosey-goosey,” Hester said. “I was having fun in the dugout, I was having fun on the mound, I was smiling with my teammates. That’s honestly when I pitch my best.”
I wouldn’t exactly call it a mountain, more like a hill, that Hester is starting to conquer.
The one who knows her better than anybody, junior catcher Madison Vrastil, really loves the loosey-goosey Hester.
“At the beginning of the season, Kathleen was trying to be the best she could ever be,” Vrastil said. “But just being the best she can is just relaxing and doing what she knows how to do, muscle memory. She does a really good job when she isn’t too hard on herself.”
Hester didn’t lack for support. Madison Hanik came up big in the first inning with an RBI single. MaTaia Lawson put her power and speed to use in the third by driving a ball to the fence and running it out for a two-run, inside-the-park homer.
At shortstop, Lawson played flawless defense behind Hester. Apparently, the loosey-goosey attitude rubs off.
“Oh, I love Kathleen’s pitching,” Lawson said. “She’s so confident in herself, so it makes it easier for us on defense. When we have confidence in her and her pitching is consistent, we don’t stress out so much.”
Hester actually shocked me twice Tuesday. That “Hester Hop” looked pretty smooth for a kid who only two months ago was wearing a boot on her right foot because of a broken toe.
Had to get that story.
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“Really? Ha-ha, it’s so embarrassing,” Hester said, laughing. “OK, we were doing a game in gym class and I was going for a ball. We were on some slippery wrestling mats. I tried to stop and I couldn’t really stop. My foot just kind of went straight into the wall.
“I initially thought it was jammed. The day of, I went to lifting and I was squatting. But then later that day, I couldn’t really walk on it. Still, during that time I was out, I was doing one-knee drills in my garage with pitching just to try and keep my arm in shape.”
It’s what a winner does.