In her no-whiff zone, this hill’s a breeze

Updated: May 5, 2011 8:37PM

When T.F. South senior Sophie Kessler struck out April 20 against Oak Forest’s Emily Norton, she was one of 15 Rebels batters to go down on strikes that day.

Curiously, the fans on the Rebels’ side went up, giving Kessler a standing ovation after she waved at a 1-and-2 pitch.

Shortly thereafter, Kessler went up, too. Up a hill that rises a “house and a half” high beside her Lansing home. Then down and back up, four times total — punishment for her first strikeout in nearly two years.

Which explains the standing “O.”

Must have been a weird feeling.

“I don’t know,” Kessler said, laughing. “It felt normal to me. I think the team was more shocked than I was.”

Kessler doesn’t remember specifically when and whom it was who struck her out in a game midway through her sophomore season. In fact, she said she really wasn’t aware of her truly remarkable streak until about halfway through her junior year, when her father, Rick, pointed it out.

Dads always keep track, don’t they?

“After that I started trying to not do it,” Kessler said. “But at the end of last year, when I finished with no strikeouts, I had reached my goal.”

Kessler hit .452 with 14 doubles and 29 RBI in her junior season, after which she committed to Purdue-Calumet College of St. Joseph.

Brianna LeBeau, of Richards, Caitlyn Balandis, of Reavis, and Norton all had their chances in 2010 but couldn’t slip a third strike past her.

“She protects the plate real well,” T.F. South coach Katie Hanko-Sweeney said. “Some teams try to pitch the outside corner to her and she gets to the outside of the plate. She’s got a great swing and a great eye up there.”

Going into this week Kessler was 27-for-51 (.529), with six home runs and 28 RBI.

The power number is a testimony to her strength. Her strength is a testimony to her dad.

That hill is just outside the backyard fence at the Kessler spread and rises up to I-80. From spring through fall, it’s part of a training ground for Sophie and her four brothers and sisters, all of whom play sports.

“Every time I do something wrong on the field I have to run up and down the hill for my punishment,” Kessler said. “Usually, he determines how bad the mistake is before he tells me how many times, but a strikeout is four.”

The boys, who play football, push tires while they run for good measure.

And for good health.

“My dad, ever since we were little, always trained us,” Kessler said. “We’d always do running agility things in the back yard. One day he had us doing hills, and we hated them so much he decided to use it as a training punishment.

“I remember three years ago they decided to make the hill higher and we all cried,” she continued, laughing. “But it keeps us in shape for our seasons. When I go for conditioning the first time, everybody else is having a hard time and it’s nothing for me. So it’s made me stronger.”

The hill has yet to beat her. It took one of the best pitchers in the state to do so in an at-bat. No one has done it since. No reason to feel sad.

“That’s what I told everyone,” Kessler said. “If it had to happen, at least it was her who struck me out.”

Norton admitted she was on a mission.

“I’d seen an article about how she didn’t have a strikeout, so of course I was pretty much gunning for her. What pitcher wouldn’t be?” Norton said. “She didn’t strike out the first two times, so I was really hoping for the next one.”

For the record, Norton used a screwball, a curveball, a changeup and finally a riseball. It took the whole arsenal.

“I was pretty excited to strike her out,” Norton said. “I patted her on the back afterward. She had a good run.”

Up the hill and into T.F. South legend.

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