Standout College Softball Player Returns as Volunteer Head Coach

There isn't much downtime in Sarah O’Malley-Fisher’s schedule.

She works, she’s the mother of two young children, and she’s gearing up for her second summer as a volunteer head coach for the Glen Ellyn Phillies' 18U Blue Elite Travel Team, which is a part of the Glen Ellyn Park District girls' softball program.

How is she able to juggle all of her responsibilities?

“I try to make sure that the 16 young ladies who play for me get my attention when we are together,” she said. “When I am home, I focus on my family. I do my best to develop a schedule for the team that will allow us to prepare for our tournaments and to practice our fundamentals, and I do my best to balance that with my own family needs.”

O’Malley-Fisher, a standout collegiate player at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and her staff—Tom Lux, Cassie Slechta and Kayla Kramer—will begin preparing the Blue Elite team for its 2011 summer schedule when high school teams wrap up their seasons in June.

“They (assistants) have the same passion for the game as I do,” she said. “They are great at working within the framework of our team goals and keep our team moving toward our goals of players being the best players and people they can be.”

The Blue Elite squad’s roster consists of a number of girls from area prep teams such as Wheaton North, West Chicago, Lyons Township, Schaumburg and as far as Lincoln-Way West High School in New Lenox.

But six Blue Elite players live right in Glen Ellyn, and are currently mainstays on the Glenbard West varsity team. Those players include junior infielder/outfielder Kelly Borneman, senior second baseman Michele Waggoner, junior first baseman/pitcher Meghan Johnson, junior shortstop Maddie Morris, junior outfielder Rachel Hitzemann and senior pitcher/first baseman Taylor Steinhilber.

Hitzemann usually hits second in the Hilltoppers’ lineup, while Steinhilber has already thrown a no-hitter this season. They are the daughters of Steve Hitzemann and Brad Steinhilber--president and travel league commissioner, respectively, of the all-volunteer Glen Ellyn Girls' Softball Association, which assists the Park District with running the summer softball program.

O’Malley-Fisher is already quite familiar with all of the aforementioned girls on the Glenbard West squad. She was the Hilltoppers’ assistant coach from 2009 to 2010.

That's why O’Malley-Fisher jumped at the opportunity to become the Blue Elite coach last year. She enjoys teaching the game, and saw it as a chance not only to teach, but to build her own team and get girls college exposure.

“Brad (Steinhilber) kind of got me interested in doing this,” she said. “If we win along the way that’s great, but that’s not my ultimate goal. If the girls learn how to play the game right, that’s my ultimate goal. I want to teach the game. Teaching the game is so much fun for me and that was a really big draw. I love to teach the fundamentals, and we work a lot on fundamentals.”

Her attitude toward softball and coaching style is exactly why Brad wanted her as coach. Brad thought that her style would ultimately help the athletes reach their full potential as players and individuals. 

“I think we’ve been very fortunate to get Sarah,” Brad said. “She brings a lot to the program, especially to the elite side. She’s very good at teaching younger kids. She’s just really good with the girls and very knowledgeable, it’s benefited our program immensely to have her on our staff.”

The team will have a busy summer schedule--they're expecting to play as many as 60 games through August. Then it'll be time for fall-ball where all eyes will be on them. 

It’s during the fall season that college recruiters come knocking.

“There’s a lot of great talent in this area,” O'Malley-Fisher said. “It gets them an opportunity to get recruited and see how the recruiting process works.”

Four current Blue Elite players already know what it's like to get recruited and have already signed with college programs. Taylor Steinhilber will be playing at Carroll University; Casey Witt, a catcher for Lyons Township, is going to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside; Jenny Goldsmith, an outfielder at West Chicago, is heading to Oberlin (Ohio) College; and Wheaton North’s Maureen Denhof is off to Grand Valley State.

“We teach all the girls what it takes to be recruited,” O’Malley-Fisher said. “We give them all the tools to be recruited and help them decide what school is best for them. Not all girls are Division I softball players. They have fun, they learn the game and they find a place that’s going to be a good fit for them.”