Olshevski and LIU Post teammates going out with World Series trip
If it’s the biggest softball tournament of the year, Hannah Olshevski is going to be in it sooner or later.
Olshevski played in the Little League World Series with Robbinsville and reached the NJSIAA state finals with Robbinsville High. It took four years, but she will now pitch in the NCAA Division II World Series with LIU Post.
The Pioneers are making their fifth WS appearance and first since 2015, the year before Olshevski arrived. They are 0-8 in the big event and will try and break that streak when they open Thursday against Young Harris College in Denver.
“This means a whole lot,” Olshevski said. “The year before I committed they made it to the World Series, so that was one of the biggest selling points for me. I was like ‘Wow that’d be pretty awesome.’ So ever since I got here, our senior class has always been working toward it. To do it now as seniors is pretty cool.”
Olshevski has done her part as she is part of a one-two pitching punch along with junior Katie Humhej. This season she is 25-6 with a 1.94 ERA and 82 strikeouts. She won the regional championship game against New Haven, then won the East Super Regional opener over St. Anselm, 5-1. Olshevski came back the next day and suffered a 9-6 loss to the same team in game two, as the umpire’s small strike zone on both sides led to an unusually high-scoring tournament game.
In the title game later that day, the Pioneers rallied from a 1-0 deficit to defeat St. Anselm, 2-1, thanks to a home run in the top of the eighth. That may have been the longest game of Olshevski’s life as she could only sit and squirm.
“Very,” she replied when asked how nervous she was. “It kind of hit me midway through the game when it was so close that the first game could be the last game I ever pitched in college. That kind of hit me pretty hard just because it didn’t go the way I would want my last game to go. It was kind of a crazy thing to be thinking about. Since I wasn’t playing, all these thoughts were going through my mind.
“Once we tied it up in the second game I started getting more confident because throughout the playoffs we came from behind a lot. Our team has been really awesome with that.”
The Pioneer seniors not only won it for themselves, but for their underclassmen teammates who need to find other teams to play for next year. Olshevski committed to C.W. Post, but in the fall a merger with LIU Brooklyn was announced. The athletic program will be Division I, and the Post softball team will be a casualty.
“Brooklyn teams are kind of replacing some of our teams; and our teams are kind of replacing some of their teams,” Olshevski said. “My softball team is done after this year, which was kind of a motivating factor for us all year. I got lucky with this being my last year, I’m gonna be out before the merger takes place.
“My (younger) teammates are out of a team next year and my coach is out of a job. Since it’s D-1 and LIU Brooklyn has a softball team as well, they decided to hire that coach. And that coach is deciding not to hold a tryout. Basically their team is taking the spot as the softball team for both schools.”
Which sent the final C.W. Post team (although officially it is called LIU Post) on a mission.
“Probably our main motivating factor to make it here was to kind of shove it to the athletic department and go out on one of the highest notes our program has ever had,” Olshevski said. “I think it’s like that for a lot of the teams. So it’s kind of cool we made it this far.”
It’s the ultimate way for Olshevski to conclude a college career of ups and downs. She sparkled as a freshman, going 21-7 with a 1.80 ERA and 63 strikeouts as Post reached the regional championship before falling one game short of Super Regionals. During winter break of her sophomore year Olshevski tore her ACL. She managed to play through it and struggled to a 14-13 record (but still had a 2.00 ERA) and the Pioneers did not advance out of their conference tournament. She was still hindered as a junior but went18-8 with a career-high 2.23 ERA as Post fell one game short of a World Series berth.
“I got surgery the summer before my junior year so I’d be able to pitch but coming off the surgery was tough,” she said. “This year was my best season since freshman year.”
Olshevski did not consider red-shirting for two reasons — she wanted to play her final season with her senior classmates, “who are my best friends,” and she is set up to pursue her master’s degree in physical therapy next fall at Arcadia.
For her career, Olshevski is 78-34 with a 1.99 ERA, 317 strikeouts and 134 walks. Among her many honors are Division II Freshman of the Year Finalist, East Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year and All-ECC first-team honors. She said she is “100 percent,” happy with her career and college experience.
“Coming from Robbinsville I’ve always been on really great teams that made it far in postseason,” Olshevski said. “When I came to Post I was just looking for a college to hopefully keep that trend going. I probably wouldn’t have been happy being on an average to below-average team coming from what I had played with growing up.”
As it turns out, she will be going to yet another championship round, which could have the most meaning of them all.
“This is maybe a little more special considering the huge stage that it’s on,” Olshevski said. “We’re one of the last eight teams in the country to be there now. It’s kind of still hard to believe, but it’s exciting.”
In other words, it never gets old.
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