Putting it together
Multitalented senior Katie O’Drobinak does various things for Lake Central but has a precise plan for the future: Biomedical enginieering
Katie O’Drobinak has a very specific career path in mind.
The Lake Central senior has committed to play softball for former Highland standout Stephanie Zimny at Indiana Tech, where she plans to study biomedical engineering.
“I want to make prosthetics,” O’Drobinak said. “I want to make prosthetics for wounded warriors, kids who don’t have limbs to play sports like this, try to make it as normal for them as possible.”
O’Drobinak has been inclined toward such a pursuit for a long time.
“My dad’s an engineer,” she said. “I have a brain like him. I’ve always been his righthand man trying to fix things and do different things with him. We think a lot alike. We both want to figure something out. We never want to leave the problem there.
“So just looking into different types of engineering, that really just caught my eye early at a younger age. I just stuck with it. I like the idea of helping people.”
O’Drobinak has helped Lake Central in a number of ways.
On Wednesday, she hit a two-run homer to spark a 6-0 win at home against Duneland Athletic Conference rival Crown Point.
She has played both first base and third base this season for Lake Central (17-4, 10-1), which is ranked No. 8 in the Class 4A state coaches poll. After going 2-for-3 against the Bulldogs (11-8, 8-2), she was hitting .404 with three homers and 22 RBIs.
O’Drobinak started at second base last season and hit .299 with four homers and 22 RBIs as the Indians reached the Class 4A state championship game. She has also played catcher.
O’Drobinak stopped pitching entering high school to focus on her hitting and defense.
“I want to be as versatile as I can for the team,” she said. “I’ve been all over the place.”
O’Drobinak’s approach hasn’t been lost on Lake Central assistant Russ Serrato, who was filling in for coach Jeff Sherman on Wednesday.
“She’s such a utility player, never complains,” Serrato said. “Katie’s a very valuable senior.
“She’s capable of doing that every game. She has a really good swing. If she has a bad at-bat, she comes back and gives you a better one.”
It didn’t take long for O’Drobinak to have a quality at-bat against Crown Point. She launched a home run to center field with two outs in the first inning.
She singled and scored on Amanda Aardema’s two-run single in the sixth as Lake Central broke open the game with four runs, further backing an outstanding performance from pitcher Olivia Balog.
“I was just going up looking for my pitch,” O’Drobinak said of her homer. “It’s early in the game, and you want to take a lot of pitches, feel the pitcher out. But if you see your pitch, you have to hit it. That was my pitch. That’s my home run pitch.
“My coach taught me that when I was younger — if you have your home run pitch, you can’t let it go. I did not let it go.”
Crown Point coach Angie Richwalski described the low, inside fastball as Kendra Steinberg’s lone “bad pitch” in an otherwise “pretty flawless” outing. The Bulldogs, who hadn’t scored fewer than two runs in a game this season, left runners on second and third in the sixth.
“That last inning, we got a little mopey, beaten down, and we let them jump on us,” Richwalski said.
Balog allowed five hits with six strikeouts and no walks.
“Olivia was just really nice with mixing up her pitches,” Serrato said. “We have four good pitchers, but Olivia stepped up (Wednesday). We were planning on using a couple of kids, but how do you take her out? They didn’t have too many good cuts on her.”
By completing the regular-season sweep of Crown Point, Lake Central remained one of two DAC teams with one conference loss, along with Valparaiso (13-1, 9-1).
“It’s amazing,” O’Drobinak said of defeating Crown Point. “Every season, they’re our top gun, so we want to make sure we play our best, obviously always, but we’re top-notch when we see them on the schedule. It’s really preparing not only physically but mentally, too, just knowing we’re playing that type of competition, a big opponent and rival.”
The win meant a little something extra to Serrato. His last game as a head coach came in the Class 3A state championship game in 2009, when Andrean lost 10-0 in five innings to New Palestine.
“This is the kids’ game. It’s all about them,” Serrato said. “But for me to get a chance — unfortunately I had to — I’m just glad it came out well for us. It feels good. I told my wife, ‘Karen, I’m so happy I got to coach third, and that wasn’t my last moment.’ At least I know we won. At least I have that going for me.
“It was an emotional game. We’ve struggled this year at times. They’ve struggled this year at times. But it’s like a Bears-Packers game, Michigan-Ohio State. I’m just really proud of our kids.”