There was a time when St. Laurence senior Emma Lotus dared to dream about being the first female Major League Baseball player.
Or at least had fun thinking about the possibility.
“I played travel baseball up until I was 12 years old,” Lotus said. “Yeah, there was that dream. Then my dad kind of reality checked me. He was like, ‘You are not going to be playing baseball for much longer. You need to try and play softball.’”
Lotus showed up for her first softball tryout with her baseball bat. Afterward, she happily switched sticks.
“Once I played softball, I immediately fell in love with it,” Lotus said. “Just being able to play with all girls, there was more of a closer bond.”
The Central Michigan recruit was a multipurpose leader Monday for the Vikings in a 3-2 GCAC Red victory over host Providence in New Lenox.
Lotus reached base three times and scored once for St. Laurence (7-1, 1-0). Mallory Hervieux added an RBI single, while Sarah Klonowski struck out 12.
Sophia Thormeyer had a two-run double for Providence (5-5, 1-1). Angelina Cole also doubled.
Lotus led off the game with a walk, then took advantage of sloppy ball management by the Celtics in the infield to come around and score.
In the top of the fourth inning, Lotus used her back to earn an RBI, being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Her play of the game, though, came on defense.
Providence trailed by just one run when Kailee O’Sullivan led off the sixth with a pop fly to the right side. The ball fell between Hervieux, playing second, and right fielder Emily Terrazas.
As O’Sullivan tried take an extra base, Lotus raced in from center field, picked up the ball and fired a dart to second to nail O’Sullivan.
“I could see both ‘Mal’ and E.T. were unsure who was going to catch it, so I started sprinting a little harder,” Lotus said. “When I saw it drop, I heard everyone calling ‘two.’
“When I saw her running, I just made the throw.”
In the nearby pitching circle, Klonowski breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s very nice to know that Emma, and just the whole team in general, has my back,” Klonowski said. “When I miss a pitch, I know that I can put trust in them. I know they’re always going to be there for me.”
Batting leadoff, Lotus is the Vikings’ ultimate chaos creator.
“When I get on base, I have to score one way or another,” Lotus said. “By getting on, I have to steal or I know Sophia (Sanchez) is going to bunt me over.
“We have to do the little things right. I know by me getting to second, it helps ‘Sof,’ so she doesn’t have to bunt. She can hit me in.”
Jordan Ogean, batting fifth in the order, gets to watch the fun.
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“You know she’s going to do something — always,” Ogean said. “She doesn’t strike out. And when she gets there, she never stays on the same base.
“Emma is always positive. She’s always boosting up the team. Whenever we’re down or the game is close, she’s always picking us up.”
Emma’s older sister, Easton, who played in high school at Marist, is in her sophomore season at Louisville.
“She’s doing really good,” Emma Lotus said. “She actually just came home for Easter. We FaceTime and text every day.”
Being teammates just hasn’t been in the cards.
“Well … Louisville was one of my options,” Lotus said. “It was between that or Central Michigan, but Central Michigan ended up being the best place for me.
“It obviously would have been awesome to play with my sister, but now I’m just going to have to play against her.”
