For several years, Lake Central’s Sofia Calderaro has gone by the nickname “Bob.”
More than once, catcher Izzy Calinski has referred to her teammate as “Sof.”
By any name, Calderaro has excelled as the Indians’ top pitcher this season.
“Sof is the hardest worker I’ve ever met,” Calinski said. “She constantly challenges herself to do better, always striving for more.
“She could have a perfect game and be like, ‘I still need to work on my rise ball. Everything can be better.’ She doesn’t settle.”
Calderaro latest outing came Wednesday night on the road against rival Crown Point, and she delivered as Lake Central cleared a big hurdle toward winning the Duneland Athletic Conference title. The sophomore right-hander allowed an unearned run on seven hits with one walk and 10 strikeouts in the Indians’ 6-1 win.
“She stepped up for her team a lot, and that’s all you can ask for,” Lake Central coach Brooke Baker-Runyon said. “Holding Crown Point to one run, that’s a good day.”
Calinski agreed that Calderaro pitched quite well.
“Me and Sof were definitely rockin’ in there,” Calinski said. “She threw great.”
Such performances from Calderaro have become the norm, including a perfect game in her previous start as Lake Central (17-2-1, 10-0), ranked No. 11 in the Class 4A state coaches poll, topped Portage in five innings on Tuesday.
After outdueling Kendra Steinberg and Crown Point (13-5, 9-2) on Wednesday, she boosted her record to 12-2 and lowered her ERA to 1.28 with 90 strikeouts and 10 walks in 65 ? innings.
Baker-Runyon hasn’t been surprised by the success of the diminutive Calderaro, who bettered her showing from Lake Central’s 14-4 win against Crown Point on April 12.
“We did anticipate it,” Baker-Runyon said when asked about Calderaro becoming Lake Central’s top pitcher. “She’s nothing flashy. It’s like that circle is her domain. She just stays in her headspace and just keeps batters off balance. She has a lot of movement. And you look at her standing all of what — 5-foot? — she’s a quiet girl, you wouldn’t think much of her. Then she gets on there, and it’s like people are swinging for the fence and just whiffing.
“She’s doing really well this year. We did kind of anticipate it. She plays a really good travel ball schedule, a lot of good competition in the summer. What makes me most proud of her is she’s leaving her comfort zone a lot, which has worked to her advantage.”
After pitching five innings in two appearances as a freshman, Calderaro wasn’t so sure about her role this season. She kept an open mind.
“I came into this season hoping to contribute to this team, whether I’m No. 1 or whatever,” she said. “I consider myself just a pitcher on this team trying to help out.
“I just try to work as much as I can — work my spin a lot, go to my lessons as much as I can and talk to my coaches to see what I can improve on.”
And what about “Bob”?
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“It started all the way back in T-ball,” Calderaro said. “Me and my friends were joking around with weird names, and ‘Bob’ just stuck.
“The first travel team I went to, they made up nicknames, and they asked, ‘Do you have a nickname?’ And I couldn’t think of anything, so I just said ‘Bob.’ It just kind of stuck.”