Liberty’s Lefringhouse enhancing all-state resume by adding power surge this season

LIBERTY, Ill. — Ally Lefringhouse would rather stay out of the spotlight, but her softball talents make it difficult for her to avoid it.

Lefringhouse, a senior catcher for Liberty, has been a consistent force over the last four seasons. She has played at least 25 games each season, made just five errors behind the plate and accumulated a .374 batting average and a 1.003 OPS. She has been an all-state selection each of the last two seasons.

Even still, Lefringhouse does not like to flaunt her accomplishments.

“I don’t like to put myself out there and be like, ‘Look at me! Look at me!’” Lefringhouse said. “I kind of just go with the flow. I try not to be so much of an individual as part of the team.”

That humility. combined with a strive for perfection, has provided the Eagles with a steady hand to lead the way.

“She’s been the glue that holds us together,” Eagles coach BJ Fessler said. “She calms us down when things are going sideways. She puts a lot of pressure on herself to perform at a high level, and that’s probably her big bugaboo, but what else would you want out of an athlete other than holding themselves to a high standard?”

Lefringhouse continues to set that bar high for herself, but she has raised it in terms of hitting for power this season. She had just one home run in her freshman through junior seasons, but she has hit six in 26 games this season, including one in the regular season finale against Pittsfield on Thursday.

Lefringhouse has a clear favorite of her six home runs — her go-ahead home run in the eighth inning of Liberty’s 4-3 victory over the Saukees on April 29 that bounced off the top of the center field fence and landed on the other side.

“Coming back is one of my favorite things, and I liked how we were able to work our way back up to tie the game then take the lead,” Lefringhouse said. “It just felt, I guess you could say, ‘Heroic.’ I don’t really want to label it as that, though.”

Her modesty would not allow her to label it as such.

“She’s been the ultimate teammate and the ultimate softball player to coach,” Fessler said.

As for what has been the catalyst for her sudden power surge, Lefringhouse struggled to come up with a physical reason. Rather, she says it has come down to what is happening between her ears.

“I don’t know if anything changed dramatically,” Lefringhouse said. “I was always more of a contact hitter. It’s definitely a big jump from last year to this year. I just feel like last year, my approach was I had to get a hit every single time. I was very hard on myself, so then it would stress me out to where I didn’t hit as well. This year, I’m just trying to go up there with a positive mindset and see where it takes me.”

Fessler believes the success of Lefringhouse’s teammates — three starters are hitting above .400 and the Eagles have hit 27 home runs as a team — has pushed the four-year starter to new heights in the slugging department.

“I think she’s finally in a position where she’s leading, and she’s in a position where she has her teammates who push her to the next level,” Fessler said. “She’s got a bunch of teammates smacking the ball, and she doesn’t want to be left behind. She’s going to jump up there and smack the ball, too.”

A little superstition never hurts, either.

“A certain amount of times someone has put my hair in a braid, then we did worse than usual, so now I just put my hair in this little pony tail every single time, and I don’t let anybody braid it or anything,” Lefringhouse said.

She made that call after Liberty’s 4-3 loss to Quincy Notre Dame on April 3, the Eagles’ first defeat of the season.

“I was like, ‘Well, this hair isn’t working out for me, I guess,’” Lefringhouse said.

The secret is out.

“I haven’t really said that out loud until now,” Lefringhouse said.

It was the first Fessler had heard of Lefringhouse’s superstition.

“She doesn’t tell me anything,” Fessler joked. “Whatever works, keep doing it.”

Fessler and the Eagles, who compiled a 21-5 regular season record, would take more of “whatever works” when they embark on their postseason journey, which begins with the Class 1A Barry Western Regional semifinal game against Griggsville-Perry on Tuesday.

“She’s going to be hard to replace next year,” Fessler said. “Somebody’s going to have to step up and say, ‘I’ve got her spot.’ It’s going to be some pretty big shoes to fill.”