Lauren McNulty - what being a Hawk is all about

[Dave Betcher]

The below story exemplifies what opportunities are available to the hard working Hawk players - if they want to take the innitiative to reach out and make opportunities. Lauren - your work and determination will payoff BIG TIME for you - keep up the work and have a great season!

Trojan junior McNulty ready for ’07 after intense off-season

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Photo by John Cox

Downers Grove North junior Lauren McNulty will start at third base for the Trojans this season.By Dave Owen
Downers Grove Reporter
Tue Mar 20, 2007, 12:54 PM CDT

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Downers Grove, IL - Downers Grove North’s Lauren McNulty was one of just four sophomores to earn West Suburban Silver all-conference honors last year.



And the hard-hitting Trojan is hardly resting on her accomplishments.


“This year I went to like 10 or 12 colleges to work on my (hitting) mechanics with coaches — schools like Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Miami of Ohio, a lot of different ones,” said McNulty. “That helped out a lot, along with bringing that back to
Downers North and teaching a lot of the other girls what I’ve learned.”


The dedicated McNulty also works locally with a hitting instructor, then spends hours after those sessions on her own applying the lessons to her hitting.


“She’s a great player,” Downers North coach Mark Magro said, “and I look for her to step it up even more this year. She’s stronger — she took no days off, even in the winter. She’s definitely motivated.”


The all-conference results last year show the benefits of her work so far, and with the Trojans returning several starters from a successful 2006 season, the bar is being raised even higher.


Taking Downers North’s team success to another level (the Trojans have won just two regional championships in school history, and one since 1979) is McNulty’s next goal.


“(Last year) gave us a lot of confidence,” she said, “and this year we’re even stronger in the field and we have a few more players that can bunt well. That’ll give us more dynamics hitting-wise and give us a lot of options compared to other teams.”


The Trojans also hope to have other intangibles working for them.


“We have great team chemistry right now,” McNulty said. “If we can keep that chemistry going with the talent we have, we’ll be unstoppable.”


However, as far the Trojans go, McNulty is already well traveled. Following the off-season college tour to hone her hitting, she will move defensively from first to third base this spring. She also has played the outfield in traveling softball.


“They like to move me all over,” McNulty joked. “But as long as I’m out there somewhere, I’m content.


“It’s scary on occasion (at third), but after our practices and the coaches hitting balls as hard as they can at me down there, during games isn’t going to be as tough.”


McNulty and the Trojans appear ready for anything — even a tough conference schedule that includes two of the state’s final 16 (Oak Park-River Forest and
West) from 2006.


“As long as we play smart, we’ll do well,” McNulty said. “We have a pretty good scouting report on teams — we have a lot of girls who play traveling ball and know what to expect. As long as we set high goals and work hard to reach those goals, we should be able to compete with them.”

Trojans at a glance


Last year’s record: 21-14
Coach: Mark Magro (2nd year, 21-14)
Home field: Doerhoefer Park on Saratoga Avenue, north of Ogden Avenue, Downers Grove
Top returners: Lauren McNulty (3B, jr.), Ellen Jagielo (P, jr.), Katie Iser (OF, sr.), Amanda Tran (SS, sr.), Jessica Honaker (C, jr.), Maddie Honn (OF, sr.), Catie Nehls (2B/OF, sr.), Kristen Boulter (1B, sr.)
Promising newcomers: Anneliese Jagielo (OF, jr.), Nicole Pacyga (P, jr.)
Key games: The first two weeks are loaded with challenges, including a stretch of three games in four days against Wheaton Warrenville South, Hinsdale South and Downers South. The Trojans go from the freezer to the fire to start West Suburban Silver play, following their April 16 opener with Proviso West by facing perennial league-power Oak Park-River Forest in Game 2 of WSS action
Home opener: Wheaton North (March 28)

[smak]

;D
We would like to congratulate Lauren on the above article. We have witnessed the hard work and dedication she has exerted during the off season. She is an exceptional role model. I hope that my 3 Hawks ( Nora, Maeve, and Rowan) can be the type of scholar/athlete/person that Lauren has become.

John McGuire

[Dave]

Just heard Lauren hit her 2nd homer in first 2 games - great start!!!

[Quick draw mccgraw]

I was too quick - Lauren just hit her 3rd homer of season ... WOW!

[Homer Hawks Site Administrator]

Pacyga throws 1-hitter in Trojan debut

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By Dave Owen
Downers Grove Reporter
Thu Mar 29, 2007, 04:39 PM CDT

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Downers Grove, IL - Nicole Pacyga knows how to make friends in a hurry.


In her first appearance for Downers Grove North’s softball team after transferring from Plainfield South during the off-season, Pacyga no-hit Wheaton North for the first 6-2/3 innings Wednesday as the Trojans earned a split of their season-opening doubleheader with a 3-1 win in Game 2.


“That was a nice surprise,” Downers North coach Mark Magro said, “and that was the first time we had ever seen her pitch. She had mono and couldn’t even pitch in practice, but got the doctor’s OK to come back.”


Pacyga finished with a one-hitter and allowed just one walk. Katie Iser provided the big hit with the score tied 1-1 in the fourth, as her triple plus error scored the deciding two runs. Kristin Boulter added a double and Maddie Honn an RBI sacrifice fly in the win.
Wheaton North had won the opener by the same 3-1 score, doing all of its damage with a three-run first inning.


Setting the tone for Pacyga’s gem, Game 1 starter Ellen Jagielo finished with a two-hitter — with no Falcon hits after the first inning.


“Both pitchers did good jobs,” Magro said. “That was the bright spot for us.”


The offensive highlight of Game 1 was provided by Lauren McNulty, who smashed a solo home run over the center field fence. Honn also had a double as the Trojans outhit Wheaton North 5-2.


Lockport fences in Mustangs
Downers Grove South’s softball team was left with a “de-fence-less” feeling in its season opener Tuesday.


Forced to shift their scheduled home game to Lockport due to a delay in installing the outfield fence at Downers South’s field, the Mustangs fell 6-2 to the perennial south suburban power.


Beyond its fence woes, Downers South faced a proverbial brick wall in key hitting situations.


“We left 11 runners on base,” Mustangs’ coach Ron Havelka said. “We left the bases loaded in the first and third innings and had runners at second and third in the second. We couldn’t come up with that big hit.”


Downers South had just three hits — a double by Lindsey Liermann, a Katie Gunderson triple (ironically off the fence) and a single by Brooke Andresen. But Lockport pitchers issued 10 walks to provide numerous opportunities.


In her varsity pitching debut, Downers South’s Karissa Habel had nine strikeouts and two walks.


“Habel did a nice job and had nice movement on her pitches,” Havelka said. “Lockport just bunched their hits (seven) together nicely.”


The first Mustang run came via a bases-loaded walk, then an Andresen infield out in the top of the sixth brought Downers South within 3-2. But Lockport added three runs in the bottom of the inning to pull away.


The Mustangs committed two errors, both in the sixth inning. The Porters played errorless ball.