Smith joins MSL greats in softball's coaching hall of fame

There will be a new hall of famer coaching softball in the Mid-Suburban League this spring.

Beginning her 17th season at Conant, Cathyann Smith was inducted into the Illinois Coaches Association Softball Hall of Fame last month.

The former Schaumburg High School all-area pitcher and Illinois State graduate gives the Mid-Suburban League three active hall of fame coaches, including Elk Grove's Ken Grams and Barrington's Perry Peterson.

“It is a humbling and surprising experience,” said Smith who has won 312 games and guided Conant to three MSL championships. “When I think of people in the hall of fame, I think of elites like Ken Grams, Perry Peterson, Barb Bostian and Peggy Scholten. To be in the same grouping, I am truly honored.”

Smith, like so many of the top coaches, is just as concerned about her players off the field as on.

“I just want my kids to take away lessons that mean something to them — whether it was skills that I was able to help them with on the field or how to handle something in life. There's so much more to coaching than just x's and o's.”

Kelly Wolff has seen that side of Smith for years, serving as her assistant since 2004.

“It's not just about the game with Cathyann, it's about life,” said Wolff, a former head softball coach at Luther North who works in the physical education department at Conant. “She cares about the kids on and off the field, and she cares about them once they leave here.

“She keeps in touch with them and we try to see all of them who play in college at least once. A lot of her former players still reach out to her once they graduate which is phenomenal.”

Smith graduated from Schaumburg High School where she played for longtime Saxons coach Kay Winkelhake.

It was Winkelhake who discovered Smith when she arrived to the suburbs after growing up playing baseball in Chicago.

Her family moved to the suburbs when she was 11 years old.

Smith played for a slowpitch softball team in seventh grade and it would be the first time she tried pitching.

“The coach saw I was a lefty and just said ‘Let's try it,'” Smith recalled. “I made the All-Stars and I thought it was fun.”

That ‘fun' experience would lead to Smith becoming an all-area pitcher at Schaumburg and leading the Saxons to a regional championship her junior year.

Winkelhake found Smith in eighth grade and got her to play for her fastpitch travel softball team.

“I began fastpitch by literally throwing the ball against a wall (at a local elementary school) and I thought it was fun,” Smith remembered. “Kay did the travel team through the Schaumburg Athletic Association and a couple of my friends had talked about going into fast pitch. She came and found me and asked me to play for her eighth grade team and it was kind of fun.”

Fun enough to keep Smith's interest and she made the freshman team at Schaumburg the next year. However, she broke her ankle midway through the season.

She made the varsity as a sophomore and then pitched the Saxons to a regional championship over Hoffman Estates in 1990.

She actually started out playing volleyball and basketball as a freshman and eventually dwindled it down to softball.

“Softball was the most fun for me,” she said. “I still see some of my teammates from high school and my catcher and first baseman are still two of my best friends today.”

But while she enjoyed playing the game in high school, it was not until after her career was over that she actually thought about coaching.

While majoring at Illinois State in special education. Smith took the opportunity to teach softball to a group of eighth graders at a local junior high.

“I really enjoyed teaching those kids the sport and working with them,” she said.

When she came back home after her sophomore year in Normal, Winkelhake asked if Smith wanted to help coach with her travel team. Smith agreed and gained more experience.

Once she began student teaching at Conant in 1996, she knew she wanted to coach.

Her cousin, Karol Hanusiak, was the Conant softball junior varsity coach at the time and was also teaching physical education at the school.

“We grew up together in Chicago and when she was coaching girls basketball at Resurrection, I used to go to her games and she'd let me participate in her practices,” Smith said. “I was probably in about sixth grade.”

At Conant, Smith volunteered to help with her cousin's junior varsity team and that's when she really got the bug to coach.

Just five years later, Smith became the varsity softball coach at Conant in 2001.

Wolff became her assistant four years later.

“She has helped me grow into a stronger coach,” Smith said. “Kelly has been a head coach and has done it all, but she likes to do work behind the scenes and she is very good at it. She knows how to organize and run things. She is a great support system. And she is very smart about the game. We've just had a good balance for 13 years.”

In 2011, Smith and Wolff guided Conant to its first MSL championship since 1974. The Cougars went on to win two more in 2012 and 2014.

While Smith said that first title for Conant in 37 years was a highlight, it's also the little things that stand out.

“Winning conference and regionals are always good but some times it's just that one game where everything comes together or the game where the girl who has been in a slump all of a sudden gets the game-winning hit.”

Four-year Conant starter Lauren Grzelak has had plenty of hits over the past three seasons and she is excited to begin her final one.

“I think one of the things that makes her such a good coach is that she focuses so much on team chemistry,” said Grzelak, who is certainly focused in the classroom where she has never had a grade other than an ‘A” at Conant.

“There is a so little time together in the spring but she makes it a priority that we spend time and bond as a team, and that works really well.

“We always do team-bonding activities. I know we are going on a huge surprise over night trip somewhere during spring break, She puts it all together, that's one of her key components.”

Grzelak hopes to stay in touch with Smith once she graduates and begins studying in the medical field.

She has helped me a lot weighing my decision for college,” Grzelak said. “She's an English teacher, too, so that gives her the academic side of things.”

“She takes academics very seriously so that helps everyone,” said senior third baseman Morgan Bihun, a Wisconsin-Green Bay recruit who wants to become an English teacher. “We work hard in practice and we do a lot of team bonding which really helps. She always stresses good team chemistry. She and coach Wolff are a good team together.”

Cougars senior pitcher Sam Gadomski pointed to Smith's ability to get the most of her players.

“Her work ethic for our team is great,” said the right-hander. “She is always pushing us to do our best and coming up with new drills to help us improve.

“From a pitching aspect, she works with me a lot in the offseason. She is always giving me tips. She really knows how I pitch and what pitches to call for me to get the strikeouts or the win.”

Gadomski echoed her teammate's comments about how Smith brings team unity.

“She's always talking about keeping the team together,” Gadomski added. “There are no issues outside of softball.”

And when it comes to softball, nobody loves it more than Smith.

“She knows the game,” Wolff said. “She is passionate about it.

“She works her magic when she calls a game. She works well with pitchers and catchers. She really studies the game.

“And the one thing I've taken away is how she cares about the last kid on the bench as much as the first kid in the field. And that's always hard for kids to understand.”