Many times, Oak Lawn sophomore Kaitlyn Berkery doesn’t know what she’ll be doing until she arrives at the ballpark.
Such is the life of a multidimensional player.
“Yeah, but I like playing anywhere, so it’s all fun to me,” Berkery said. “I do really enjoy playing second base, but I like pitching, too.
“It really doesn’t bug me, actually, as long as I’m playing.”
Berkery was her versatile best Monday as the Spartans defeated visiting Reavis 2-1 in a South Suburban Red game.
Teagan Krystof homered and hit a walk-off sacrifice fly for Oak Lawn (14-12, 8-8). Berkery, who scored the winning run, recorded the pitching win in relief of Alexus Martinez.
Juliana Chalupa hit a home run and added a single for Reavis (10-19, 5-11).
The hitting hero, however, was Krystof.
In the bottom of the third inning, she sent a towering home run over the fence in left field to put Oak Lawn on top. She then batted with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh.
“I was pretty nervous at first,” Krystof said. “I was nervous when it got to 3-1. I was thinking, ‘Should I take the next one? Should I hit it?’
“There were a lot of thoughts going through my head. I just wanted to put a ball in play.”
Krystof accomplished her mission by driving a ball to deep right-center. Berkery, who led off by getting hit by a pitch and advanced on singles by Jess Carey and Danielle Dempsey, scored easily.
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For Berkery, it had been a typical kind of day.
She started the game at second base. She was on the receiving end of a throw by Carey that picked off one runner at first and nailed another at second on a throw from left fielder Natalie Orozco.
The game was tied in the top of the fifth when Oak Lawn coach Shawn Neubauer pulled her off second base and sent her to the bullpen to warm up.
Berkery was watching when Martinez got out of a major jam by striking out Chalupa on a 2-2 change-up.
“Yeah, I saw that,” Berkery said, smiling. “That was nasty. After that, I felt pretty confident going in (to relieve). I’ve learned a lot. I feel like I throw better when I’m confident, so that was my goal for this season — to stay up at all times.”
Berkery allowed a bunt single but was otherwise flawless, finishing with two strikeouts over the final two innings.
When she led off the top of the seventh, Berkery barely flinched after being hit with a pitch in the upper left arm.
“She’s tough,” Krystof said. “Back in Little League, we called her ‘The Hulk.'”
Even back then, she had a quick bat with power.
“I always pulled the ball,” Berkery said. “So my coach would just call me ‘The Hulk’ because everything I saw I would always smash to the left side.”
As a pitcher, Berkery (4-4) has struck out 54 in 58 innings. She’s batting .259 with three home runs.
She plays as many different sports as she does softball positions.
“Oh, man, she’s unbelievable,” Neubauer said. “I had the opportunity to coach her in basketball, and she’s just a bulldog. I mean, all the sports she does. In volleyball, you watch her and she’s all over the place. In basketball, she’s all over the place.
“Here, she has kind of taken over the second base role the past couple of weeks. We’ve noticed she’s one of our best options out there. But she’s also one of our best options on the mound. She’s all business and does great things for us.”