Starring role for Lakes’ Olker
A small video camera perched on a tripod behind Carmel Catholic’s softball backstop caught the eye of Lakes pitcher Paige Olker.
“I saw the camera,” Olker said. “But I didn’t know (the game) was being webcasted.”
Thanks to Carmel’s student broadcasting club, Friday’s nonconference game between Lakes and the host Corsairs was webcasted live. If you missed it, a tape of the game can be viewed at ihigh.com.
“We (webcast) all the football games,” said Carrie Egan, Carmel’s college planning director, who had Lorena Fernandez manning the camera and the duo of fellow freshmen Hasana Huff and Logan Harper sporting headsets and calling the action. “This is actually the first softball game we’ve done.”
With the camera aimed at her, Olker didn’t lose her focus, so to speak.
The 5-foot-6 junior pitched a complete game, scattering 6 singles, as Lakes jumped out to an early lead and captured a 7-3 victory.
“Paige did a great job,” Eagles coach Bill Hamill said. “She keeps her ball low, and she can hit spots. It’s a nice thing to know that we got Paige and ‘Dish’ (sophomore Taylor Dishinger). At the beginning of the year, we were like, ‘Who are we going to have for pitching out here?’ ”
Lakes (9-4) gave its pitcher plenty of offensive support, starting in the top of the first inning. After back-to-back two-out walks to Meghan Milewski and Kaela Bryant, Jamie Dykstra ripped a single into left field and raced to second when the ball eluded the left fielder, scoring both runners.
The Eagles got more two-out hitting in the third. Milewski (3-for-3) sped home on a double by Dykstra (2-for-4, 2 RBI) to make it 3-0. Cassidy Schaar and Lindsay Meverden hit back-to-back RBI singles, and after Olker walked, Kate Hohenstatt (2-for-3) singled in a run.
“We can hit,” said Hamill, whose Eagles had 11. “We work at it a lot.”
Olker did well to shut down Carmel’s hitters.
By the time the Corsairs came to bat in their half of the fourth, they trailed 7-0.
“We were just a flat team,” Carmel coach Jason Raymond said. “Flat in the field, in the dugout. Our bats were flat.”
Abby Andrejek’s RBI single in the fourth got Carmel (6-6) on the board. Skyler Zak’s pinch-hit single also drove in a run in the 3-run frame.
In the Carmel sixth, Lakes turned a double play when third baseman Schaar snagged a sharp groundball, stepped on third for a forceout and fired to first baseman Sara Braden.
Lakes didn’t commit an error, which was key since Carmel didn’t strike out.
“Our defense was really good,” Olker said. “We stayed down on all the groundballs, and the double play was good.”
Olker retired the first six batters she faced before hitting Madeline Felipez leading off the third. Lakes’ pitcher survived a Sally Snarski shot off her body in the second. Second baseman Bryant completed a 1-4-3 putout on the hard-hitting Snarski, who singled and scored in the fourth.
“I was OK today,” Olker said. “I had a lot of high (pitches). But I came back.”
Carmel leadoff hitter Kelley Dodge went 3-for-4, but other than the fourth, the Corsairs had only three runners reach scoring position.
“I think we lack emotion out there,” Raymond said. “We’re trying to find ourselves. We’ll win one. We’ll lose one. Our record says that. We are what our record says it is.”