Coaches’ beliefs drive C-G, CLC

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When Tammy Olson’s softball team thought its largest goal this season should be to stay above .500 and contend for a conference title, Olson told them they could strive for better.

Her Cary-Grove team looked at its roster and decided she was right.

When Brian Strombom noticed his players at Crystal Lake Central taking extra measures last summer to improve their own games so the culture at Central became one of winning instead of losing, Strombom knew this season would be special.

His players delivered.

Olson’s team intended to go above last season’s 14-18 record; Strombom’s team slugged its way to 23 wins after compiling nine in the past three years combined.

For their unwavering leadership this season, their belief and encouragement and their teams’ vast improvement, Olson and Strombom are the Northwest Herald Softball Coaches of the Year, as determined by the sports staff with input from local coaches.

C-G finished its season 32-7 overall and won the program’s first Fox Valley Conference division or league title and first-ever regional and sectional titles.

Olson also notched her 300th career win and led the Trojans to an appearance in the Class 4A Judson University Supersectional, where they lost to Elk Grove Village.

“The thing that was so great about this group was that they supported one another from start to finish,” Olson said. “They never looked past the present day. When you’re playing a demanding schedule things can get a little overwhelming, but they did an outstanding job of staying focused and moving through the season one game at a time.”

Strombom surprised everyone by jumping out to a 7-2 start, eclipsing last season’s win total – six games – by April 13. An upset against FVC Fox Division rival Prairie Ridge to open division play solidified the Tigers as a force this season. Central finished second in the FVC Fox and lost in a Class 3A regional semifinal to Vernon Hills, wrapping up a 23-9 season – the program’s best record since 2002.

“I knew this season we would be worlds better than we had been, and I knew we had the capability of winning,” Strombom said. “But I didn’t know that we’d come together as well as we did. That was the most rewarding thing about this season, just watching how well the girls worked together.”

Central celebrated some early-season milestones, including the win against the Wolves and another against longtime rival Huntley, and the success started to beget more success, Strombom said.

“[Losing a lot] was tough,” Strombom said. “The great thing about softball is you have a game almost every day, so you have opportunities to bounce back. But there does come a point where, if you’re losing enough, it’s hard to bounce back. The expectation just wasn’t there for winning.

“ ... These kids all wanted to be better individual players and since they all committed to their own development, it made them a better unit. Then I thought our new assistant coach Kristin Lavorato galvanized the girls. It was a matter of these girls coming together that this came my way.”

Olson’s team put together a 17-game winning streak that ended with the supersectional and included a 14-1 showing in FVC Valley Division play led by a group of sophomores, juniors, four seniors and a freshman pitcher-catcher tandem, ensuring the Trojans’ taste of success will carry into next year.

“It was the kids; they did this and they made this season happen,” Olson said. “I was just so proud of everything they did.”