Following in Mom's footsteps

Lizzy Ploen barks out encouragement before every pitch.

The "general" and shortstop of the Naperville Central softball team, it is Lizzy who pitcher Natalie Wunderlich hears above the chatter.

But there is another voice ringing in Lizzy's ears. Words from someone close, and not just in relation. Support from someone who has walked in Lizzy's shoes before.

"I don't think she hears me," said Lizzy's mom, JoAnn Ploen, "but she told me the other day, 'I hear you.' She's somehow tuned into me."

Perhaps that is because JoAnn Ploen is no stereotypical parent living her athletic dreams vicariously through an 18-year-old child.

JoAnn has played the game.

A graduate of Helias High School in Jefferson City, Mo., class of 1981, JoAnn played softball for four years. Just like Lizzy, JoAnn played shortstop. That burning desire didn't skip a generation.

"I love watching her play," JoAnn said. "She's very competitive. I was competitive and still am today."

Kandice Gustafson doesn't play the same position as her mom, Glenda, did. They do share a passion for softball.

Glenda, an eighth-grade math teacher at District 204's Granger Middle School for 10 years, was a pitcher at Rich Central High School and later collegiately at Bradley.

Throwing to twin sister Brenda, Glenda and Rich Central finished second in the state her sophomore year in 1983. Dad Rick Nelson was Glenda's pitching coach.

Now Kandice is a senior outfielder on the Neuqua Valley varsity softball team.

"Softball has definitely been a family affair," Glenda said.

The game they played

Glenda Gustafson didn't go a day without pitching when she was a girl. She even practiced in the snow.

It all came together for her in 1983, when as a sophomore Glenda won 28 games for south suburban Rich Central. The team went all the way to the championship before losing to Streator 6-2.

"But from the sidelines you would have thought we won the game," Glenda said, "and they lost the game, we were so excited."

Glenda remembers that "in her day" it was commonplace for pitchers to throw three, four -- even five days in a row. Girls threw longer and there were far fewer pitchers than today.

"I could probably name the five pitchers from around the state that I knew when I was playing," she said.

Rae-Ellen Pugliese, whose daughter McKall is a sophomore on the Fenton varsity team, played for Proviso West from 1977-81.

McKall's biggest asset for the Fenton team may be her speed. The way softball is played now, the ability to run and slap bunts and hits is at a premium.

"We never did that (slap bunt). It was get up and hit away," Rae-Ellen said. "The game is more strategic now."

When JoAnn Ploen watches the girls playing softball these days, she sees a completely different athlete.

Bigger. Stronger. Lizzy Ploen, 5-foot-8 and 150 pounds, all muscle, is a normal-size girl at the college level.

"She would have been the biggest person on our team," JoAnn said.

A different game

Player size is not the only area where softball "in the early days" pales in comparison to the present game.

Janet Kasper, whose twin daughters, Rachel and Val, are juniors on the Lake Park team, played at Proviso West from 1977-81.

She marvels at Lake Park's softball facility -- no different than most high school fields these days.

"We used to play in a dirt field in the back of school. We had a backstop -- that was about it," Kasper said. "No dugout. Just benches."

The growth of the game has exploded since the first Illinois state tournament in 1976-- and not just during the spring.

Janet Kasper played for local park district teams during the summer. JoAnn Ploen traveled from town to town with her Jefferson City team.

Fast forward to today, where from weekend to weekend JoAnn travels with Lizzy's ASA teams to Ohio and Colorado for summer tournaments.

JoAnn estimated that she and husband Doug have spent close to $5,000 flying Lizzy to camps and to see coaches, the end reward a potential Division I college scholarship. Lizzy has committed to Boston College.

"My parents would have never driven me to another state," JoAnn said. "They still travel to see Lizzy play, but they can't believe that that's what the sport has come to."

Rae-Ellen Pugliese didn't start playing softball until she was in high school. Her youngest daughter, Payton, is starting now at 7 years old.

Janet Kasper always thinks it would be fun to hit off a live pitcher these days.

On second thought, she knows, maybe the batting cage is a better idea.

"Girls today are so much better, so much further advanced than we were," Janet said.

Passing the torch

Kandice Gustafson played basketball, soccer and softball growing up. But softball was in the blood.

She started at 6, and Glenda coached her on the under-10 Naperville Diamonds. Kandice later left the Diamonds to join the Stone City program out of Joliet, but she still gets instruction from mom.

"She developed her passion out of my passion," Glenda said. "When normal kids are out playing around, we go to a field for batting practice."

JoAnn and Doug Ploen played co-ed softball until Lizzy was 2.

Lizzy played Little League baseball with the boys until she was 12. She didn't actually take up softball until the summer before her freshman year. It fit her like a glove.

"I knew when she was young that she was talented," JoAnn said, "that she would die on the vine playing softball."

Janet Kasper coached her girls in a local Itasca team when they were younger. Now she gets her enjoyment from just watching.

Glenda Gustafson coached the Stone City Marlins going back to 1992.

But nothing compares to watching her daughter play the game she loves.

The game mom played and passed on to her little girl.

"It's heart-wrenching at times, in critical moments," Glenda said. "Having that experience I wish I was there. It's that passion inside of you, wanting success for them like when you played."