Bartlett's Kay verbally commits to ISU
Elizabeth Kay can play the final two seasons of her Bartlett softball career stress-free, at least in terms of where she's going to college.
Kay, the Hawks' all-area catcher, verbally committed this week to accept a scholarship offer from Illinois State University where she will play for coaching icon Melinda Fischer.
"(Illinois State) in known for its education program and that's what I'm planning on majoring in,: Kay said Friday while working the front desk at The Hitting Zone in Bartlett.
In her first two years on the Bartlett varsity, Kay has become one of the best softball players in the area. This past spring, she hit .439 with 14 doubles, 9 triples, 3 home runs and team-highs in RBI (32) and runs scored (33). In helping the Hawks to a 30-6-1 record and the program's first Elite Eight berth, she had a .994 fielding percentage behind the plate and threw out 53 percent of the runners who tried to steal on her.
Kay has also shown great versatility, also playing third base and in the outfield. She said Fischer talked of her being a versatile player at ISU as well.
"She told me to work a lot on catching but also third base and some outfield," said Kay, who plays for Brad Dennison's 18U Bartlett Silver Hawks in the summer.
At ISU Kay, whose brother Tim is a scholarship golfer at Northern Illinois, will play for one of the most successful coaches in college softball. In 22 years as the Redbirds' coach, Fischer has amassed a record of 724-483-4, making her the winningest coach in ISU athletic history. The program qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time this past season.
ISU has won seven Missouri Valley Conference titles under Fischer including four of the last six. Fischer, who helped the Redbirds to the 1969 College World Series as a player, has been named MVC Coach of the Year five times.
When asked what excited her about going to ISU for softball, Kay said: "Everything."
"It's a great program, one of the strongest in Illinois," said Kay, who also considered Illinois and SIU-Edwardsville. "I really liked the coaching staff a lot."
Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith couldn't have been happier when Kay told him she'd committed to ISU.
"She's worked so hard to prepare herself to play in college," he said. "It's a great feeling to get it out of her way before her junior year. Now she can concentrate on continuing to be a great student and honing her softball skills to get ready to play college -softball.
"You can't ask for a better scenario for her. It's close to home and they play a quality brand of softball down there. I couldn't be happier for her."