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Oswego’s Jaelynn Anthony is the Record Newspapers softball Player of the Year · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Oswego's Jalen Anthony is the Record Newspapers Softball Player of
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  Speaker 1: the Year. Written by Joshua Welga, this article is being
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  Speaker 1: read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlet
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  Speaker 1: her parents call her the switch. Like a light switch,
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  Speaker 1: Jalen Anthony toggles between the faces of her softball persona,
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  Speaker 1: laughing and telling jokes. One moment, she can be stone
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  Speaker 1: focused the next. When the Oswego senior pitcher threw at
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  Speaker 1: State her sophomore and again her junior year, she was frightened.
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  Speaker 1: Not even her mom realized it. Nobody could tell I
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  Speaker 1: was nervous. I kind of just laugh make myself as
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  Speaker 1: non serious as I can be, Anthony said. When I
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  Speaker 1: was younger, I was kind of crazy. I was not
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  Speaker 1: very focused. As I've got older, I've realized that I
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  Speaker 1: can have fun, but there is a time and place
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  Speaker 1: for focus. Anthony always flips the switch when the lights
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  Speaker 1: are brightest. She came a strike away from throwing a
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  Speaker 1: no hitter in a super sectional win over Marist her
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  Speaker 1: junior year. She went on to lead Oswego to its
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  Speaker 1: first state championship. Anthony's innings in the pitching circle were
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  Speaker 1: limited during the regular season this spring, preserving her for
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  Speaker 1: the postseason, and then the Purdue recruit went twenty eight
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  Speaker 1: innings without allowing an earned run during the playoffs. She
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  Speaker 1: also drove in the game winning runs in the sectional final.
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  Speaker 1: Jay comes Alive in the postseason, Oswego coach Annie Scaramuzi said,
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  Speaker 1: we have seen that the last three seasons she is
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  Speaker 1: a competitor out there. She turned it up a notch,
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  Speaker 1: leading Oswego to its third consecutive state trophy and rewriting
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  Speaker 1: the program record book along the way. Anthony is the
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  Speaker 1: Record Newspapers Player of the Year for the second straight season.
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  Speaker 1: Voted a class for a first team All Stater by
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  Speaker 1: the Illinois Coaches Association, Anthony batted point three to five
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  Speaker 1: nine with a point four to two to one on
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  Speaker 1: base percentage and one point one sixty five ops with
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  Speaker 1: forty two hits, eleven doubles, two triples, ten homers, thirty
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  Speaker 1: three RBIs and thirty runs scored. In the circle, she
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  Speaker 1: posted a thirteen to eight record with a two point
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  Speaker 1: three four ERA and one hundred and sixty two strikeouts
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  Speaker 1: over one hundred and forty and two thirds innings. Anthony
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  Speaker 1: set records for career pitching wins, single season pitching wins,
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  Speaker 1: career home runs, career strikeouts, and career RBIs. I told
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  Speaker 1: Jay when our season was over, she would be the
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  Speaker 1: best player thus far to come through our program. Scaramouzy said,
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  Speaker 1: I know we don't have the success we've had without her.
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  Speaker 1: Sustained success this spring did not happen at first. As
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  Speaker 1: we Go, with just three starters returning, started the season
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  Speaker 1: zero four. It was very rough. Anthony said, I missed
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  Speaker 1: my teammates from last year. I bunch they were my
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  Speaker 1: best friends people. I will never forget getting to know
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  Speaker 1: new people playing a sport I love. It's not hard
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  Speaker 1: for me, but it was a change. Scaramousey knew that
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  Speaker 1: Anthony would lead the way in the circle. Every time
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  Speaker 1: Anthony was pitching, she knew As we Go had a
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  Speaker 1: chance to win. She led with her pitching and her hitting,
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  Speaker 1: but also Anthony's happy, go lucky personality that she brings
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  Speaker 1: to the softball field. It's very evident that people around
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  Speaker 1: Jay feed off of her. Scaremouzi said, Jay is the goofiest,
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  Speaker 1: silliest player that I have ever coached. She is so
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  Speaker 1: inzerious and when she is her most inxurious, she plays
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  Speaker 1: the very best. She is always dancing, always having some
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  Speaker 1: joke to say at the most uncalled for times. There
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  Speaker 1: is zero filter. That is Anthony's personality in its unvarnished splendor.
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  Speaker 1: Diagnosed with ADHD when she was seven years old. Seeing
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  Speaker 1: it more end of fifth thith grade, Anthony finds that
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  Speaker 1: if she takes things too seriously, she can't focus as well.
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  Speaker 1: At the same time, she is very routine oriented. She
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  Speaker 1: would rather start a game than finish it. She organizes
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  Speaker 1: the shirts in her closet by color, and her room
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  Speaker 1: is always clean. The balanced, neat and organized side of Jayaln.
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  Speaker 1: I have grown into it. It's not as bad as
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  Speaker 1: when I was younger, Anthony said. I find that if
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  Speaker 1: I make a moment bigger than it is, then it
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  Speaker 1: can't go my way. It's really just muscle memory. At
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  Speaker 1: this point, Scaramuzy said you'd never see Anthony out in
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  Speaker 1: public and thinks she plays softball at such a competitive level.
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  Speaker 1: An awesome and funny person to be around. She lifts
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  Speaker 1: people up that are around her and can't help but
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  Speaker 1: bring that positivity to the softball diamond. I know a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people strike out, give up a home run,
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  Speaker 1: they'll get down on themselves. I'm not the kind of
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  Speaker 1: person to dwell on it, Anthony said. I have a
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  Speaker 1: job to do. They have a job. If I dwell
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  Speaker 1: on every bad thought, it's not going to help me.
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  Speaker 1: It is one ear out the other. As she looks
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  Speaker 1: back on her four year Oswego varsity career, it's hard
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  Speaker 1: for Anthony to put it all into words. Looking back
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  Speaker 1: on it, it's just insane, she said. When we won state,
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  Speaker 1: I was crying. I had goals when I got here,
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  Speaker 1: but not that many. Three trophies, three medals. It's crazy.