Had some fun recently talking softball — both present and past — with former Marist pitching ace Angela Zedak.
Zedak just finished her junior season at Northwestern. She posted career bests in four hitting categories and made just one error in left field.
She doesn’t pitch anymore. Well, except for fun.
“If we’re early to practice sometimes, we’ll mess around and pitch to each other,” Zedak said with a laugh. “I’ll tell them, ‘Hey, I’m a pitcher. I used to do this full time.’
“Sometimes, I forget that I pitched our team to state twice in high school. But I do miss it. Pitching was something I shared with my dad. He was my catcher my whole life.”
Oh, the memories.
Zedak was truly one of the best I’ve ever seen in a Marist uniform — or any softball uniform, for that matter. That’s saying a lot, given the talent the Southland has produced.
But if you think I’m exaggerating, let this sink in.
During her four seasons at the plate, Zedak hit a program-record 59 home runs. That’s third on the Illinois High School Association’s all-time list. She’s second in RBIs with 84 in a single season and 239 for her career.
As a starting pitcher for three seasons, Zedak won a program-record 57 games. She averaged better than a strikeout per inning with an ERA that hovered just over 1.00.
Zedak, who made the all-area team three times, was the 2019 Daily Southtown Softball Player of the Year.
Marist coach Colleen Phelan didn’t have to do much of a sales job on her all-area ballot.
“Angela was probably one of the best, if not the best hitter to go through our program,” Phelan said. “What she did for us overall for four years had never been done before.
“What’s crazy about Angela is if you look at her stats, you don’t think it was possible for her to always have a better year. But every single year she got better, even in the year when she came off an ACL. I’m not shocked at all with her success at the next level.”
As a junior at Northwestern, Zedak had 40 hits, 33 runs, nine homers and 33 RBIs. Those are all career highs. One of her biggest games came against Iowa, when she went 3-for-4 with a home run and two doubles.
In a super regional game against Arizona State, she drove in the winning run in the 11th inning.
On the biggest stage of all, during a Women’s College World Series game against UCLA in Oklahoma City, she had two hits and scored a run.
There were close to 13,000 people in attendance.
“Yeah and I was trying to be like, ‘It’s just another game,'” Zedak joked. “But we prepared ourselves so well in preseason, playing in different environments against different competition. The super regional at Arizona State really prepared us.
“Everyone, when they are a young softball player, dreams about going to the World Series. To have those dreams come true was so fulfilling.”
Which led to talking about more memories.
“When I was 11, they hosted a travel tournament out there, so I played on that field,” Zedak said. “There is a picture of my name on the scoreboard.
“To be back there and actually be on the field as a college player was super cool. It was a real full-circle moment.”
Love for “full-circle” moments would explain that big smile on Zedak’s face when I spotted her at the Marist Supersectional game against Lincoln-Way East.
“I thought it was really awesome that I wasn’t the only Marist alum there,” Zedak said. “There were a few others like Kara Apato and Kali Case and Abby Dunning.
“It’s cool to see the alumni keep coming back. I think it speaks a lot for the program and what coach Phelan has going on at Marist.”
Zedak is feeling the love at Northwestern as well. Mark it down now. She intends to use an extra year of college eligibility beyond next season.
“I love softball and I love Northwestern,” Zedak said. “I love my coaches and my teammates. To take more classes and play for these coaches for an extra year is an opportunity I would never pass up.
“My coaches have helped me grow more than just as a softball player but as a person.”
It’s a win-win.