Jacobs grad's move to outfield leads to ISU scholarship
Lizzie Andrews earned her place at Heartland Community College in Normal, Ill., thanks to her skills at shortstop and third base at Jacobs High School.
Andrews' efforts at a new position -- center field -- have earned her a scholarship to play for NCAA Division I Illinois State's softball program this fall.
"I never saw myself as an outfielder," Andrews said. "I've learned so much."
When Andrews arrived at Heartland, the team had veteran players at shortstop and third base.
"I knew I wasn't going to play there," she said.
Injuries to two outfielders, though, opened a spot in center field, the place Andrews played as a freshman on Heartland's NJCAA Division II national championship team. This season, as a sophomore, Andrews earned second-team All-America honors and was named the Mid-West Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
"It worked out for the best," said Andrews, who batted .436 this season with 53 RBIs, 13 triples, 19 doubles and a .503 on-base percentage. "I feel a lot more comfortable in the outfield now."
Andrews' comfort in the outfield even made her a mentor to the team's freshman players this spring as Heartland advanced to the national tournament for the second year in a row.
"I've gotten a lot of compliments from them, that I really helped them out a lot," Andrews said.
Playing at Illinois State will be a smooth transition, considering Andrews played last summer for the Bloomington Lady Hearts with "four or five" ISU athletes.
"We'd talk about ISU and I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool if we all played together?' " said Andrews, who is playing for the Lady Hearts again this summer.
As for where she'll play for the Redbirds, Andrews has left her mind and her options open.
"I told (ISU coach Melinda Fischer) that I'd play anywhere," she said.
Teammates in Alaska: Former Prairie Ridge baseball teammates T.J. Swank and David Mitroff have teamed up this summer with the Athletes In Action team in the Alaska Baseball League.
Swank, who will be a junior this fall at D-I Coastal Carolina, has a team-high two saves as a relief pitcher for AIA (10-14) and has compiled a 2.81 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 16 innings pitched.
Opposing hitters in the ABL, a summer league for the some of the nation's top college prospects, are hitting .186 against Swank.
Mitroff, who will be a redshirt sophomore at NAIA Olivet Nazarene this fall, has started eight games at catcher.
Millikin's main man: Dundee-Crown grad Cory Henry led D-III Millikin University's men's golf team this season with a 76.24 stroke average over 18 holes and six top-eight individual finishes in 10 tournaments.
Henry, who won a pair of individual tournament titles during the 2009-10 season, finished 11th at this spring's College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament, helping the Big Blue to a second-place team finish.
The team also finished the season ranked No. 23 in Golfstat.com's D-III Head-to-Head Standings. Millikin also won four tournaments as a team.
Barry Bottino writes a weekly column and a blog about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at BarryOnCampus@hotmail.com and check out his On Campus column every Saturday in the Northwest Herald sports section.
