Sarah Milkowski barks instructions to her teammates as they take the field on a cloudy, breezy day at Richards.
“Right! Right! Right! The other right! OK, let it go!” the York junior catcher shouts to the right fielder searching for a looping fly ball Wednesday.
That was during warmups, minutes after the Dukes arrived at Richards for a surprise road game. Field conditions had forced a last-minute relocation from Elmhurst to Oak Lawn.
After warmups, York players line the path to first base, waiting for Milkowski to draw them in for their pregame huddle. She high-fives each Duke while unleashing a raucous rallying cry to the delight of her teammates.
Milkowski immediately backs up her talk with her play, driving in a run and throwing out a would-be base stealer in the first inning. In the second, she’s the linchpin in a bizarre 5-2-8 double play to thwart a squeeze bunt attempt. York wins 11-3.
Neither wind nor schedule changes shake Milkowski’s confidence. Opposing pitchers haven’t had much luck with that, either.
The junior catcher is batting .566 with 20 RBIs and a team-leading nine doubles. Milkowski went 9-for-9 with six RBIs two weeks ago in a doubleheader sweep of Riverside-Brookfield. Her performance made her the Tribune/WGN-Ch. 9 Athlete of the Month for April.
“Her pitch selection has been outstanding,” York coach Drew McGuire said. “She’s not one to swing at a whole lot of balls. She doesn’t help pitchers out a lot, and she’s very confident in her hitting, and that pays off when she’s got two strikes on her.”
‘The loud one’
Milkowski earned her spot behind the plate as a freshman amid a team of seniors. She batted .280 that year, .373 as a sophomore and led the young Dukes to a fourth-place state finish. Even then, Milkowski was the heart — and voice — of York softball.
“I’ve got to be the loud one,” she said. “When we get down, I have to get everybody up. We all have really good roles, and everyone knows what to do.”
Milkowski, a three-year varsity volleyball and basketball player, bats left-handed behind clean-up hitter Abby Solem, who leads the team in home runs. With Milkowski as protection, opponents must pitch through, not around, the heart of York’s lineup.
Milkowski’s 200-point average boost from last season came after she revised her batting stance. McGuire suggested she anchor her back foot, step directly toward the pitcher and maintain her balance throughout the swing.
At the plate, Milkowski keeps her rear foot planted, bouncing her front foot in anticipation as the bat head swirls tightly near her head. Her swing is powerful yet controlled, mirroring her vocal role on the team.
“She’s phenomenal,” McGuire said. “If we get rattled, she’s already jumping out behind the plate and getting people calmed down. She’s a leader on the field and the kids respond to her. She can keep it light when she needs to and get everybody focused when we’re in a tough spot.”
Sacrifice and simplicity
Milkowski’s season has not led her to re-examine her simple approach to softball, or life. She claims not to analyze opposing pitchers from her perspective as a catcher — “I’m supposed to,” she says. “You just kind of see it and hit it.”
She finds no deep explanation for her career-best numbers. Rather, her motivation can’t differ much from when she first took the field in kindergarten.
“I love this team,” she said. “It makes playing fun. When you’re playing for fun, it makes it that much better.”
She even downplays her first career home run, which she hit April 8 at Wheaton North.
“The wind was blowing out, and it was a really short fence,” she says.
Milkowski joined Relay for Life to help raise money for cancer research. She volunteers with her younger sister’s softball team, which their father coaches. And when torrential rains pounded Elmhurst last April, Milkowski spent a day and night helping a neighbor salvage belongings from her flooded house.
“She’s the type of person that would do anything for anyone,” McGuire said. “I can ask her to come early to the field and help out and stay late at the field and help out. I can’t really say enough about people like that.”
Milkowski has a 4.6 grade-point average (on a 4.0 scale), is a National Honor Society member and enjoys her math and science classes. She hopes to study engineering or medicine in college. If softball is still in the cards, that would be fine with her, too.
Sticks
The Dukes batted .184 and lost both games at last spring’s state finals in East Peoria. York was thrilled with its second trip to state, but the finish revealed the team’s youth in the batter’s box. Returning to state would require more “sticks.”
“Sticks” is an informal term for baseball or softball bats. It’s also Milkowski’s nickname. She wore jersey No. 11 as a freshman, and the outline of parallel bats on the back of her uniform led her dad to call her “Sticks.”
York is batting .361, and McGuire’s starting lineup is approaching .400.
“I did not have this last year,” McGuire said with a laugh. “It’s a testament to them. They worked hard in the offseason. They got stronger in the weight room, and it’s something that we stressed in the offseason, that we have to hit.”
Milkowski was one of two Dukes to hit safely in both games at state last June. With her career-best month in the books, the next step is preparing York (13-8, 2-2 West Suburban Silver) for another playoff run.
“It was an incredible experience,” Milkowski said. “We’ve kind of got a target on our back, and we’ve got to do the best we can. Everyone’s been really stepping up.”
‘Instant Replay’
York’s Sarah Milkowski will be featured during a segment on WGN-Ch. 9’s “Instant Replay” at 9:40 p.m. Sunday. If you miss it, watch the video at prepsplus.com.
2013-14 Athletes of the Month
September: Mike Ivlow, Joliet Catholic, football
October: Justin Jackson, Glenbard North, football
November: Gabby Sims, Downers Grove North, swimming
December: Cliff Alexander, Curie, basketball
January: Luwane Pipkins, Bogan, basketball
February: Jalen Brunson, Stevenson, basketball
March: Kiara Lewis, Young, basketball
April: Sarah Milkowski, York, softball
