Unfazed Columbia recruit Alaina Nolan closes in on career strikeout record for St. Edward. ‘Focus on winning.’
· Yahoo Sports
Her very own “Empire State of Mind” may be beckoning St. Edward’s Alaina Nelson, but the senior pitcher has some unfinished business to take care of first in Elgin.
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Foremost for Nelson, a softball recruit for Columbia in New York, likely would be leading the Green Wave to a second straight regional title and advancing further than last year’s sectional semifinal.
Before that, however, Nelson should end up becoming the program’s all-time strikeout leader, although she insists that aspect is entirely in the back of her mind.
“I’m pretty close to it, but I don’t go out looking for a record,” Nelson said with a shrug. “I just go out and pitch as hard as I can to get a win. I just focus on winning.
“If I can gather a few strikeouts, and I do, all that other stuff will come.”
Nolan kept it up Wednesday, throwing a two-hitter with nine strikeouts in host St. Edward’s 16-0 Chicagoland Christian Conference win over Wheaton Academy that was shortened to four innings at the Elgin Sports Complex.
In her fourth season as the team’s ace, Nolan led a nine-hit attack for the Green Wave (8-5, 6-2). She finished with three hits, including a double, and added four runs, a walk and three RBIs.
It boosted her season batting average to .361 with 10 RBIs.
Junior shortstop Layne Dawson added two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs for St. Edward, which benefitted from nine walks issued by two pitchers for Wheaton Academy (1-7, 1-6).
“I think Alaina’s pitching is pretty much the same,” St. Edward coach Jerry Kublank said. “I think she’s probably a little faster. Every year I believe she’s been a little faster.
“How much? I don’t know, maybe 10%, it’s possible.”
In February, Nolan posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she had hit a personal-best 66 mph during one of her pitching lessons with Eliot Narotsky in Willowbrook.
“I’ve gone to him since I was 6 or 7 years old,” said Nolan, who grunts much like a hard server in tennis on each pitch she throws. “He’s taught a lot of girls that have gone to D-I programs and is the most knowledgeable person I could be around. I never strayed from the process and he helped me with that.
“I grunt and I grunt. I just pitch with so much energy I can’t really control it.”
She insisted breaking pitches that include a screwball, curve and rise are her bread and butter.
Her nine strikeouts Wednesday boosted her career total to 771, just 10 behind Lindsay Zdroik, the program’s record holder. Zdroik pitched the Green Wave to a fourth-place finish in Class 2A.
It’s a goal that probably appeals more to Nolan than the strikeout mark.
“I never clock her pitches because she doesn’t want me to,” Kublank said of Nolan. “She doesn’t want me to put an emphasis on it.”
Kublank was an assistant to head coach Paul Netzel for the Green Wave’s 2016 state team.
“Lindsay was a really good one and I didn’t think anyone would break her record,” Kublank said. “Then all of a sudden Alaina is getting all these strikeouts.”
Nolan gave Kublank a scare last week in a close game at Chicago Christian.
“We had a 5-4 lead in the fourth and she made an unorthodox throw, almost sidearm, making a defensive play and strained her arm and we had to take her out,” he said. “With prom last weekend and a rainout Monday, she was able to rest and come back (Wednesday).”
Nolan, who carries a 4.6 GPA on a 4.0 scale, attributed that to being tired and muscle soreness.
Already a fan of the big city from a visit when she was younger, Nolan pointed out that an official visit sold her on Columbia.
“It’s where I want to be,” she said. “I fell in love with it. I love how busy it is out there and love being around the energy and culture.”