Cary-Grove’s Efflandt heading to Yale

Lindsay Efflandt would like to someday be a screenwriter.

For now, though, the Cary-Grove senior is content to be writing her own script to college.

Yearning to be educated at an Ivy League school, Efflandt found that to not only be in her future, but she’ll get to play softball in college as well. The three-time all-area standout and two-time honorary co-captain of the all-area team recently committed to Yale University.

“Once I realized it was a slight possibility I grabbed onto it and when I realized I could play softball there I was all over it,” said Efflandt.

While Cornell and other Ivy League and east coast schools were also in the running, Yale’s academic offerings and a trip to the New Haven, Conn., campus did the trick.

“They have Yale College, which is a liberal arts college within the university, and I really liked that,” said Efflandt, who carries a 4.4 GPA, is in the top four percent of her class, and scored a 31 on the ACT. “I went out there and fell in love with the campus. It has all that Gothic architecture and it has an urban feel but it’s still it’s own campus.”

Efflandt, who was 24-7 last season with a 1.10 ERA, 9 shutouts and 206 strikeouts in 210-plus innings and hit .337 with 3 home runs and 19 RBI, said she will likely major in film with a concentration on screenwriting and a minor in English. She will not sign a National Letter of Intent as Ivy League schools, although being NCAA Division I in athletics, do not provide athletic scholarships. But that doesn’t mean the softball won’t be top-notch.

“It’s very competitive within its own league,” said Efflandt, who plays for the Illinois Chill travel softball program. “Ivy League athletes are very balanced with education and their sport. I wouldn’t say it’s less intense, but academics comes first.”

“That’s what her dreams were,” said Cary-Grove coach Tammy Olson of Efflandt going to the Ivy League. “She was patient with the process. It’s really nice. She’s worked hard and she’s realizing her goals.”

Yale was 12-34 last season and 5-15 in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs have a new coach this year in Jen Goodwin, a former assistant at Harvard and Dartmouth who most recently has worked for the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Efflandt has already begun her writing career. She is close to completing the first book of a series she says is, “fantasy, scifi, romance ... young adult stuff.”

And with her college choice made she can now concentrate on her senior season at Cary-Grove before heading off to Yale.

“It’s perfect,” Efflandt said of Yale. “It’s so perfect I could talk about it all day.”

Or write about it.