Softball: Senior Maddy Wallace and sophomore Sage Mardjetko make for winning pitching combo for Lemont

Sage Mardjetko and Maddy Wallace are never too far from the circle on the days they’re not pitching.

Whichever Lemont pitcher is not throwing plays center field, several feet behind the circle on a straight line.

The mind of a pitcher apparently doesn’t take a day off.

“I always think through things, what the catcher is calling, what’s coming, what I would do in a certain situation,” said Mardjetko, a Lemont sophomore. “I love being out there seeing things, especially in center field, seeing what [catcher] Frankie [Rita] is calling, thinking what I would do.”

Whatever she is doing is working.

Lemont is 12-3, and a big reason for that is the winning combination in the pitcher’s circle.

Mardjetko, the fourth sister to come through the Lemont softball program, has burst on the scene with a 6-0 record, 0.29 earned run average and 111 strikeouts in 48.1 innings. Wallace, a senior and Central Michigan recruit, is 4-3 with 56 strikeouts in 30.2 innings, and has allowed only one earned run in her past four appearances.

Lemont coach Christine Traina can’t go wrong with these two.

“It’s a joy to watch them both pitch,” Traina said. They’re both two competitors, love to be on the mound, when they’re not on the mound they both play center field for us. Both have good bats, are just good kids, they want to do well for themselves and their team.”

Like two sides to a coin, both girls put their own unique spin on pitching.

They throw many of the same pitches, but Wallace’s dominant ones are her curve and changeup. Mardjetko, meanwhile, said that her rise ball is her best and most natural pitch.

Mardjetko’s numbers so far are simply stunning, except to her.

She’s only allowed two earned runs and three total runs in 48.1 innings and has six double-digit strikeout games. All 21 of her outs against Evergreen Park came by strikeout, and Mardjetko also struck out 17 each against Richards and Bishop McNamara.

“No, I’m not surprised. I have high standards for myself, and I expect to do great,” Mardjetko said. “I work hard at what I do, and I play for an elite travel team [the Beverly Bandits]. We play some of the best travel teams around, so I’m used to seeing great competition.”

Lemont softball fans are used to the Mardjetko last name.

Sage’s older sister Jade pitched at Lemont, and just finished a collegiate career at Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wisc. Nina Mardjetko also pitched at Lemont, and now is at Illinois Wesleyan, while Kali Mardjetko caught for Lemont.

Sage Mardjetko said she started playing softball around age 5, and started pitching around 9 or 10.

“Definitely from Nina I learned you have to throw a lot of changeups, changeups are definitely a must,” Mardjetko said. “Kali always told me when you’re going up against really good hitters, you never want to give them something they want to hit.”

For Wallace, much has changed since she starred on Lemont’s 2019 team that won the program’s second-straight sectional title.

At that time she wasn’t committed to a college yet. In fact, she wasn’t even talking to schools. Wallace also said she still was learning how to pitch.

“Pitching is more mental than you think,” she said. “As time has gone on I have grown more on the mental side. I feel like my maturity has got 10 times better than when I was a sophomore.”

Wallace had a rocky start to her first season in two years, with 25 of her 26 runs allowed this season coming against Marist, Homewood-Flossmoor and Lincoln-Way West, but clearly is getting stronger as the year progresses.

“Obviously, we had a really tough schedule starting with Marist. I had more nerves, also not having a season, and I was really hard on myself,” Wallace said. “As time has gone on, I’ve pitched a lot more, connected more, and I’m more comfortable with myself.”

While some teams with multiple elite pitchers throw both in a particular game, Lemont, for the most part, takes a different route, alternating Wallace and Mardjetko.

Both warm up before games, and both like having the other around to lighten the load.

“I feel like having another great pitcher makes things a lot less stressful,” Wallace said. “It’s a good feeling to have that to lean on. A lot of teams don’t have that. We’re both very supportive of each other. When Sage is out there, I’m playing center field cheering her on and she does the same for me.”

With this kind of elite pitching, Wallace is optimistic of a breakthrough come postseason.

Lemont won back-to-back sectional championships in 2018 and 2019, but still is chasing the program’s first state appearance since 1989.

“I’m really excited to see where we end up,” Wallace said. “I feel like our pitching staff is one of the strongest it’s ever been. If we continue to do what we’ve been doing I feel like we have a chance to take this a step further.”