Courtesy of Linda Bouvet, Lake Superior State Sports Information Director
SAULT STE. MARIE – In the world of college softball, there is no such thing as a normal season for the Lake Superior State softball team.
The Lakers were scheduled to play eight home double-headers this season, including this weekend’s games against Lake Erie and Ashland. Their first home date of the 2015 season was March 31, when the city of Sault Ste. Marie still had three feet of snow on the ground. The snowpack finally melted, but Locey Field was covered in a fresh – and thankfully thin – blanket of snow Tuesday night.
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has a backup plan for teams that aren’t able to host home games due to field conditions. Like their previous home games, this weekend’s homestand has also been moved. LSSU will be making its fourth trip to Ohio.
The Lakers have not played a home game since April 24, 2012, when current seniors Brandi Anderson, Alyssa Avila, Amanda Maxon and Allison Traczyk were freshmen.
LSSU fifth-year softball coach Lori Shimasaki calculated that during the last four weeks of the 2015 season her team spent 100 hours on buses and 11 days in class. All the while, the Lakers maintained the highest team grade point average of all LSSU varsity teams. Last week they received the Laker Club Award, which goes to LSSU’s top academic varsity team, for boasting a team GPA of 3.21. In 2014 their team GPA was 3.28.
“I’ve proctored 7-10 exams,” Shimasaki said of the Lakers’ road trip routine. “We run study hall after breakfast and during the evening after games. When I come down for breakfast, players will already be there studying. That means they’re getting up at 6 a.m. to study.”
The Lakers’ idea of traveling “in style” is taking the 25-passenger bus with wifi, tables and electrical outlets that allow for quality study time.
“They can get on the bus and do their work,” Shimasaki said. “They do it on their own. It’s all them – taking ownership. Next week is finals week and they’ve all talked to their professors…It’s a testament to the professors, too. They’ve been flexible, emailing me tests, allowing for special circumstances. Some prefer that the athletes take their tests early instead of late.”
LSSU’s top students on the softball team are sophomore infielder Emily Estep (3.972/biology), sophomore outfielder Taylor Steinhelper (3.934/exercise science), sophomore infielder Carly Banchiu (3.877/business administration), freshman infielder Terryn Williams (3.637/sport and recreation management), freshman pitcher Riley Durbano (3.5/athletic training), sophomore infielder Chantel Olschanski (3.479/business administration), senior infielder Amanda Maxon (3.415/criminal justice).
“Winning the Laker Club Team GPA Award was such an honor, especially after a season like this one,” said Estep, who also received the Chelberg Award for being LSSU’s outstanding student-athlete majoring in the sciences. “To know that we are still reaching our goals even when the odds are stacked against us is a feeling like no other.”
On the field, the Lakers are also on an upward climb. At 11-22 they have the most wins by a LSSU softball team since they were 16-23-1 in 2004. Maxon led the GLIAC in batting average at .476 before suffering an injury last weekend at Wayne State, and the Lakers have already surpassed their team base hit totals from 2013 and ’14.
But attainting the athletic program’s highest team GPA is a goal that they strive for every season.
“Speaking for myself, I can say it wouldn’t be possible without the grace of God and my wonderful teammates who are always there to hear me practice my speeches or listen to me vent about how hard that exam was,” Estep said. “It also wouldn’t be possible without the people who religiously send us notes from lectures we miss. Without those selfless students we probably wouldn’t make it too far. As well as our understanding professors who regularly make accommodations to help one student out of their class of 50 so they have that fair shot at the ‘A’ they want so badly want. LSSU softball is full of hard-working student-athletes with a great Laker family.”
Knowing the unavoidable climate-related obstacles she faces, Shimasaki and assistant coach Nikki Stein seek out players who can adapt to difficult circumstances.
“It helps that recruits be well-rounded student-athletes,” she said. “I look at grades before I look at their player profiles. They have to be able to handle adversity and make adjustments at the last minute, and do those things away from their parents and homes."
