Hinsdale South’s Cairo finds power surge

Updated: July 12, 2011 2:00PM

With a new swing and a new bat, Lauren Cairo has found some power at the plate this summer that didn’t exist in the spring.

The Hinsdale South junior enjoyed one of the highlights of her softball career earlier this month when she hit a walk-off three-run homer against the Orland Park A’s in a tournament game.

Cairo, a Darien resident, has seven home runs this summer for her travel team, the Bridgeview Redbirds 16U Black.

“I’ve been working on staying as quick as possible with my hands,” Cairo said.

She also has switched to a Louisville Slugger Xeno, a composite bat that has “no vibrations in my hands when you swing,” according to Cairo.

Cairo’s team is playing in the Metro championships this week in the South suburbs and then heads to Dalton, Ga. for another national tournament.

Cairo is in her first season with the Redbirds and is playing for the first time with her cousin, Jenna, a Fenwick sophomore. Her uncle Nick is the coach of the team, which also lists Jerry Dundee as the manager on the team’s roster.

“(My relatives) have been part of the team for three to four years,” Lauren said. “They ask me every year to play. This year I decided to play with them.”

Now Lauren gets to see her cousin and uncle nearly every day during the summer. The Redbirds are mainly south suburban-based with other players from Mother McAuley, Queen of Peace, Lockport and Stagg.

Cairo has been playing catcher for the Redbirds and has made appearances at third base. For Hinsdale South, Cairo started the season at second base and eventually played in right field.

The Redbirds have already played tournaments in Highland, Ind., Elgin and Peoria this summer.

Cairo was the only Hornets player and joined a few Downers South players as the only West Suburban Conference representatives to play in the first Northwest Suburban Softball Showcase last month at Stevenson. The event modeled baseball’s Stevenson Showcase where players from performed drills in front of college recruiters and then played all-star games with players from other conferences.

Cairo was nominated for the Showcase by her high school coach, Kelly Van Hout.

“I extremely appreciated the opportunity to be a part of it,” Cairo said. “Even playing in the all-star games, I was nervous at first. I just played as hard as I could.”

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