Latest news with #Richwalski
Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
A true ‘game-changer' for Crown Point, Paige Liezert is the 2025 Post-Tribune Softball Player of the Year
Crown Point junior pitcher Paige Liezert still finds it all to be a bit 'surreal.' That the Bulldogs won the Class 4A state championship. That she spearheaded the run to that first title since 2017. The way it all transpired. But Crown Point coach Angie Richwalski sees things clearly. 'She's definitely a game-changer,' Richwalski said. 'She's the spark that held it all together and kept it all the way through.' Liezert, the 2025 Post-Tribune Softball Player of the Year, went 20-2 with two saves, a 0.85 ERA, and 293 strikeouts to 26 walks in 139 2/3 innings for the Bulldogs (31-4). She allowed just 44 hits, throwing six no-hitters and two perfect games. Liezert capped her breakout season with a masterpiece as Crown Point topped Center Grove 2-0 in nine innings in the state championship game. She scattered four hits with 16 strikeouts and two walks. 'It was definitely surreal, still a little bit of a shock,' Liezert said. 'A lot of hard work went into it, a lot of determination and trust in my coaches, knowing when they should pitch me and the pitch counts they put me in. It was a lot of trust and hard work, a lot of bullpens — just having the trust in yourself. 'It was just surreal moments with the strikeouts that I got and just how far we were able to go in the postseason and then winning it all. It was just insane.' Everything came together this season for Liezert to reach that pinnacle. 'Paige is one of those who's always had the tools in her tool belt since we got her as a freshman,' Richwalski said. 'It started last year, but this year she really learned how to use all of her tools and maximize the efficiency and really hone in and mature and start making great decisions and buy into the process. 'All of those typical sports cliches, she got there at the same time this year. It made her kind of this unstoppable force. She really came into her own this year all at once.' Last year, the Bulldogs split their innings almost evenly among three pitchers. Liezert went 5-3 with a 1.89 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings, a team high by 2/3 of an inning. Her freshman season had been curtailed by a fracture in her right wrist. 'No doubt she could've carried those innings last year, too, but with the injury as a freshman, we really wanted to take care of her and make sure that everything was 100% healed and build the stamina the nice, long, slow way and go through the process,' Richwalski said. 'But once she started seeing the innings, the numbers would very likely look the way they did.' Richwalski said Liezert made significant strides even during the course of this season. 'She threw that early Lake Central game, and she gave up a couple of hits,' Richwalski said. 'She threw that early Daviess County game, and she gave up a couple of hits. It was just really a lot of her and I getting on the same page and what works for her and getting our catcher Evi (Cuevas) in on what works — how do we make everything work and how do we make everything perfect? 'As the season went on, we were learning every game. There were a couple of games in the middle of the season where I had Paige call for Lexi (Smith) to just sit and talk through pitch-calling strategy and why we want to call this instead of that, why we want to put this pitch way off the plate and then come back in with it, why we want to use a change-up here, why we want to use a rise ball there. All of that.' The plan had a purpose. 'We really sat and really tried to make sure she understood it from a strategic standpoint and not just, 'I get out there and I throw the ball. That's my job. That's what I do,'' Richwalski said. 'No, no. Let's get into the finesse, let's get into the finer details. As a coach, I'm a big believer in when they understand the why, they're going to buy in even more.' Liezert spoke about the 'nerves' and 'stress' she experienced at various points in the season, especially during the win-or-go-home postseason. She and the Bulldogs got past powerhouses that included Duneland Athletic Conference nemesis Lake Central, Penn and Center Grove, escaping two bases-loaded jams in the final. She ultimately was prepared for the spotlight. 'Me and coach Angie focused more on my pitch calling and more communication,' Liezert said. 'We worked on not having to throw as many strikes as I did previously, and we definitely tried to work the count better and keep the batters on edge of what was coming next. 'I definitely worked on my movement and having later break instead of just a big break. We kind of slimmed it down to where it breaks right before the plate, so the batter thinks it's going to be a strike, but it breaks away, so they don't really know what's coming. I definitely worked on my change-up through the whole season, and it really showed up in state to kind of keep them off balance even more, to kind of have that off-speed.' Liezert, who changed her commitment to Miami of Ohio late last week after a new coach was hired at Illinois-Chicago, has been full speed ahead. The Bulldogs lose four seniors, including three starters, but should return most of their core. 'I just had to look down and keep working hard this year,' Liezert said. 'I didn't really expect to do as good as I did this year. But I just knew I had to keep working no matter what. Even though I was successful this year, I'm definitely still putting in the work and hoping to be even better next year. 'Hopefully we get to the same spot we got this year. We have to come in with the same mindset we did this year. Most of the girls will be the same on the team, so the team chemistry should be the same.' Liezert reflected on this group and what it was able to accomplish. 'The whole team knew this team was special and we could go far if we put our minds to it,' she said. 'We had the team chemistry to do it. The team was just so close. Everybody was friends with each other. There was no drama through the year. It was just a very good group of girls, and we just had to put the work in and grind, and we did. We worked hard and took every practice as an important practice and strived to get better and set goals for every practice to get better. 'This wouldn't be possible without the team I had behind me. They're definitely a big reason, the only reason, we made it this far. With the defense and the bats behind us, the team was just incredible.'
Chicago Tribune
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
UIC commit Paige Liezert downplays her role. ‘I just show up and do my job.' Crown Point knows better.
Before Paige Liezert had thrown a single pitch in high school, Crown Point softball coach Angie Richwalski believed a future ace was on the way. Liezert is fulfilling that promise this season. 'We've been expecting this from her, and it's been great to see it all come to fruition,' Richwalski said. Liezert's season-ending injury during her freshman year proved to be only a minor hurdle on her path to stardom. As a junior, the Illinois-Chicago commit has emerged as one of the state's top pitchers. Following her five-inning shutout of Kankakee Valley on Monday, Liezert had a 0.96 ERA and 168 strikeouts in 80 1/3 innings, and she had nearly as many wins (11) as walks allowed (14). Richwalski said Liezert's most recent success for the Bulldogs (19-2, 10-1), who trailed Duneland Athletic Conference leader Lake Central by one game before a showdown Tuesday and are on pace for their best record since at least 2021, comes from mastering the more cerebral parts of the game. 'She's starting to understand how to use the entire strike zone and how to see it from a batter's perspective more,' Richwalski said. 'We've also worked on trying something else when she gets a swing and a miss so that batters aren't seeing the same pitch over and over again. 'She's really maturing in terms of how to manipulate batters and work the count.' Amid Liezert's dominance this season and early commitment to a Division I program, teammates like sophomore catcher Evi Cuevas said there has been no change in her calm, soft-spoken personality — aside from a brief show of frustration when a pitch misses its mark. 'She's definitely quiet,' Cuevas said of Liezert. 'She's not someone who's going to call a lot of attention to herself.' That's likely because Liezert believes her pitching isn't anything extraordinary. 'I just show up and do my job, and I feel like that's what I'm supposed to be doing,' she said. 'I'm glad that I'm contributing to my team's success, but I wouldn't be in this position without the defense behind me or the offense getting runs on the board for our win. It's definitely a team effort.' Two years ago, Liezert wasn't part of that team effort for very long. She suffered an avulsion fracture in her right wrist after pitching just nine innings. 'It was from the way I was pitching at that time,' she said. 'I overstretched some of the ligaments in the forearm, which ended up tearing the bone off and creating a fracture.' Liezert was sidelined for two months after the injury, a span that felt much longer to an athlete who had never experienced an injury recovery period. 'It was devastating,' she said. 'It was the first injury of my career that actually put me on the bench. I was so excited to play because I'd made varsity as a freshman and was ready to prove that I belonged there, and I wasn't able to help my teammates either.' After her wrist healed, Liezert said she tweaked her mechanics to prevent future issues, utilizing her fingers more to create movement with her pitches. She has also had regular dry-needling procedures, acupuncture-like treatments that relieve tension in the forearm muscles. Healthy last season, Liezert went 5-3 with a 1.89 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 59 1/3 innings. 'It was super exciting to finally contribute to the team and to make more connections with the girls on the team because I was actually playing,' she said. Buoyed by that success, Liezert made an effort to improve her repertoire during the offseason. 'I definitely worked more on my breaking pitches, making them more deceiving by having them break later with more of a sharp break to the plate than a gradual one,' she said. It's all coming together for Liezert as the postseason approaches. Crown Point will play Morton on May 27 in the first game of a Class 4A sectional that also includes Lake Central and Munster. 'When Paige came in as a freshman, we were super excited for her because she came in with a tool belt full of weapons,' Richwalski said. 'Now we've reached a place where we know how to keep her healthy and she knows how to use all of the tools that she has.'
