Was this her time?
Senior pitcher/first baseman Abby Zawadzki entered her fourth varsity season for St. Charles North knowing it could be, but also feeling like she had more to prove in her finale this spring.
Pitching behind graduated North Star standouts Paige Murray and Ava Goettel, Zawadzki had worked just 18 2/3 innings up to that point. Her career batting numbers were more noteworthy.
Still, there was a lot of work left to do.
“A lot of coaches tell kids, ‘Make the most of your senior season,’” St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. “Abby did it, and she did it by going to work with her travel team and on her own following junior year.”
The results were impressive.
Zawadzki, the 2026 Beacon-News/Courier-News Softball Player of the Year, hit .420 with 11 home runs and 45 RBIs. In the circle, she went 12-0 with a 2.07 ERA, leading the North Stars to the DuKane Conference title and a Class 4A regional championship.
For Zawadzki, it was a season that could be termed Shohei Ohtani-like in honor of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way star.
“That’s how my assistant Thijs Dennison and I would describe her,” Poulin said, mentioning Ohtani by name. “She was just incredible at the plate, dominant in the circle and then there was her play at first base.
“She’s the best first baseman I’ve seen all year, and over the last three years, in fact. She can do it all.”
The 6-foot Zawadzki handled 140 chances between pitcher and first base with no errors for a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
“I was going into the season thinking about competing at the very best I could,” Zawadzki said. “Coming out and giving it my all.”
In her first three varsity seasons, Zawadzki hit .227 with 14 homers and 64 RBIs.
She continued individual lessons from Kristie Spielman-Phillip for pitching and Marc Mantucca for hitting but also added some group training classes at Invictus Health and Recovery in Geneva.
Zawadzki pointed to plyometric exercises helping to improve her explosiveness, strength and flexibility and were key to boosting her pitching speed and overall shape.
Those workouts often included South Carolina-bound catcher Hayden Sujack, her good friend from crosstown rival St. Charles East.
“We’ve been friends since we played together on the Bartlett Hawks 12U team,” said Zawadzki, who moved to St. Charles in middle school.
Zawadzki was hardly flying under the radar before this season, however.
Her work during travel, especially pitching, earned her plenty of notice that included a scholarship offer from Mississippi. Zawadzki committed to the SEC school in November 2024.
She decommitted in September 2025 and reopened her recruiting after deciding she wanted to play closer to home. Learning behind pitchers like Murray and Goettel also helped.
“Obviously, both were fantastic and having them in front of me was a blessing,” Zawadzki said. “They were definitely role models, but I knew I had to step into bigger shoes this season, especially pitching. Those few innings my junior year were not the best outings.”
Her repertoire includes a screwball, curveball and rise in addition to a fastball that tops out in the mid-to-high 60s.
Her work in 81 innings this season earned her the conference’s co-pitcher of the year with South Carolina recruit Hannah Wulf, a senior left-hander for St. Charles East.
“She didn’t just get hitting and pitching lessons,” Poulin said of Zawadzki. “She worked on her conditioning, strength and the mental aspect, too. It tells you a lot about her maturity and perspective.
“What she did was have as outstanding a season as we’ve ever had here. She left me speechless.”
Now as an uncommitted prospect, what does the future hold?
“I’m wondering that, too,” Zawadzki said. “I’d love to pitch and play first and hit. It’s one of the questions I ask coaches — how they feel about a two-way player.
“Honestly, whatever the school needs.”
