Softball: Crosthwaite slugging her way to top of Wheaton North record books

A little-known fact about Wheaton North junior shortstop Reagan Crosthwaite: She likes to play the piano.

And this spring, Crosthwaite has been conducting a home-run hitting symphony while helping the Falcons jump out to a 15-2 start and nestle themselves in the thick of the DuKane Conference softball race at 5-0, tied with Lake Park through mid-week.

Crosthwaite is hitting .472 with a .576 on-base percentage and 1.207 slug to go with 10 home runs and 28 RBI, while striking out only 3 times in 66 plate appearances.

The 10 home runs are significant on a number of fronts, with multiples coming against elite pitching, including the likes of Antioch senior star Jacey Schuler (headed to Michigan State) in the season-opener, while two came off St. Charles East standout Grace Hautzinger (committed to NCAA Division II Rollins in Winter Park, Fl.).

Crosthwaite’s penchant for the long ball also has put her in the Wheaton North record books. Her 24 career home runs in only 3 seasons is a new school record, besting Lauren Vaughn’s previous mark of 21. Crosthwaite is one homer away from tying her single-season mark of 11, established last year.

Crosthwaite hit 2 home runs against St. Charles East, the first breaking the school’s career home-run mark.

And pretty soon Crosthwaite will eclipse the Wheaton North career RBI mark, which stands at 82. Through mid-week she needed six to break it.

“I think it’s my swing technique and my timing,” said Crosthwaite when asked about her home-run totals and the reason her balls soar over fences more than most. “Before this year and last year, I didn’t really hit home runs. I put in a lot of practice to be able to do it. I adjusted my swing plane, did a lot of strength training and really focused on timing up pitchers.”

St. Charles East coach Jarod Gutesha noted Crosthwaite had 4 of North’s 6 RBI in the first meeting between the two teams.

“She was consistently balanced and timed up in the box to whatever we threw,” he said.

Crosthwaite credits her dad, Bruce, for helping her with her hitting.

“My dad works with me a lot,” she said. “We hit at DTA (DuPage Training Academy in Carol Stream) and in my garage off a tee. I take a lot of swings every day, even if I don’t want to do it, I still do it. When I started to take softball seriously, I knew I had to put in the work in order to be good at it.”

Her work ethic certainly doesn’t go unnoticed in the Falcons’ dugout.

“Reagan has an unbelievable work ethic not only in practice, but outside of practice,” said Wheaton North senior third baseman Monica Kading, also headed to Rollins College.

“All that time she puts in shows in her game. The reason she’s hitting all these home runs is because she’s learning from her previous at-bats, whether she just miss-hit the ball or swung at the wrong pitch. Every time she comes into the dugout I know the next at-bat is going to be better because she’s now better prepared.”

Wheaton North senior pitcher and Valparaiso University recruit Erin Metz is impressed with Crosthwaite’s approach at the plate.

“The fact she doesn’t let anything get to her head makes her cool, calm and collected every at-bat,” Metz said. “She doesn’t change her mindset and keeps it the same no matter the pitcher — hit the ball and hit it hard.”

Crosthwaite said some of her favorite homers include one against St. Charles North last year because they were the top team in the conference. Crosthwaite also mentioned the homer that broke the school record against St. Charles East “off a really good pitcher,” and one that hit the scoreboard at Wheaton North this season against Naperville North.

“The one that broke the (single-season) record last year is the one that stands out the most for me,” Metz said. “She was a sophomore dominating girls older than her. She set the tone of her high school career, which is she’s going to be one of the best hitters in the conference, if not the state. I completely forgot about the one that hit the scoreboard because she hits home runs so frequently. She has insane power.”

Crosthwaite, who plays travel softball with the Bourbonnais-based Illinois Stars 18U team and is in multiple advanced-placement classes academically at North, isn’t too shabby a shortstop either. To start the week she had made only 2 errors in 40 total chances.

“I take a lot of reps at shortstop and work on my throwing technique, which is a huge part of fielding, too,” she said. “I think fielding can get overlooked because hitting home runs are a lot more flashy statistics than just making plays in the field.”

“Reagan is very athletic and can make any play you would want a shortstop to make,” St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. “Her power is impressive, especially with her size. She doesn’t look like the typical power hitter, but her mechanics and timing allow her to be a threat to put it out every at-bat. Even when a pitcher is very careful and does a great job of hitting spots, she is able to find a way to put it in play hard.”

"Reagan has been a tough out ever since her first at bat against us,“ Lake Park coach Lynsey Gunnells said. ”You can see her passion for the game every time she steps in the box. She means business and does whatever it takes to make it happen."

Wheaton North coach Allie Ravanesi calls Crosthwaite a quiet force on and off the field. She has been equally impressed with how Crosthwaite has grown as a leader.

“Reagan knows how to compete and she does it well,” she said. “She is more quiet verbally, but her actions speak volumes and her teammates feed off that. She has and is still setting a high standard for current and future players at Wheaton North and those are the players we want. She wants to do well, she wants her teammates to do well and she is going to do great things on and off the field in the future.”

Home runs and strong shortstop play aside, Crosthwaite said the focus now is to keep the team’s momentum rolling forward.

“The girls on the team are great,” she said. “We’re having a lot of fun and we have good team chemistry. We hold each other accountable to do well in practice and do the little things right. We know we can make a run this year at conference and in the playoffs. We believe in each other.”