There are players who run faster, hit with more power, possess a higher batting average and perhaps even field better than Elizabeth Warwick.
But if you’re looking for one SIU softball player who does all those things in concert like Warwick, good luck with that one.
The argument can be made that no one on the team – and truthfully, few players in the Missouri Valley Conference – do as many things to help their team win on a daily basis as Warwick.
“She’s what makes our team go,” said Salukis coach Jen Sewell. “She’s what makes our lineup go.”
Going into Friday’s Missouri Valley Conference home doubleheader with Valparaiso, Warwick is batting .339 with a homer and 18 RBI. She has a team-high eight doubles and also leads SIU with 17 walks.
Even more pleasing to Warwick is that she’s dramatically cut down on strikeouts, which was one of her goals this year. After whiffing 64 times in 251 at-bats during her first two seasons, Warwick has only five strikeouts in 59 at-bats this year.
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Watching Warwick hit is a little bit like watching a choosy shopper in the produce section of a supermarket, looking for the best eggplant. If the offering isn’t quite right, she’s not afraid to pass it by.
Few hitters anywhere are as unafraid of hitting with two strikes in the count. Hitting is a considered act for Warwick. There’s pop in her bat, but there are also few wild hacks at pitches outside the zone.
“I stick with our hitting philosophy,” she said. “We’re really patient hitters. I’m comfortable with two strikes. It doesn’t bother me. I feel like it gives me an edge mentally. I feel like I’m going to be fine, that I can do it.”
When Matt Carpenter was in his prime with the Cardinals, radio announcer John Rooney referred to him as the “Count of 3 and 2.” The same could be said of Warwick. A pitcher can get ahead of her, but then the game theory battle begins.
Few pitchers can beat Warwick in that one. That helps explain why she’s reached base in 20-of-22 games, including the last 11. Her ability to wear pitchers out and find a way on base not only leads to runs but helps teammates like Jackie Lis, who has seven homers and 23 RBI in 22 games, out.
“She’s the type of kid who stays quiet and keeps grinding her (butt) off,” Lis said. “She’s just going to get the job done and not be too loud or showy about it.”
That was a quality Sewell and former head coach Kerri Blaylock noticed when recruiting Warwick out of Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga. Warwick isn’t the bragging type, preferring instead to let her actions talk for her.
Sewell picked up on another quality that Warwick masks with a smile.
“Put a uniform on her,” Sewell said, “and she turns into a tiger.”
All the ways in which Warwick helps win games were on display this week when the Salukis swept Missouri State. While she went 1-for-5 in the two wins, her contributions went far beyond how she swung the bat.
In Tuesday’s 5-2 victory, there was an RBI double in the third that immediately preceded the first of Lis’ two homers. There was also an outfield assist when she gunned down Tess Weakly as she tried to stretch a single into a double in the third inning with the Bears aiming to add to a 2-0 lead.
On Wednesday, Warwick drew a first inning walk and got Lis an RBI with some clever baserunning. When Lis hit a slow grounder to second, Warwick backed away from Kim DeBold and forced her to make a tag before throwing to first. That gave Lis enough time to beat the throw and turned a double play into a run-scoring fielder’s choice.
One could say Warwick learned such fundamentals before she sat at a kindergarten desk. She took her first swings at age 3 in the backyard with her father. Warwick played baseball until she was 8, then switched to softball.
“It was fun,” she said. “I was the only girl out there for a while.”
You’d never know it from her play this year, but the first part of 2023 has been a struggle. Warwick’s father died over the holidays and she admits it’s been hard. After Wednesday’s game, she mused that it would be nice to call him and go over her at-bats with him.
Warwick credits her teammates and coaches with being there for her after his passing. She also said that softball was the binding agent between her and her father.
“It’s been hard to get back out here,” she said. “This group has been my support. If I fall, they are there to catch me. They let me feel everything I’m feeling; I don’t have to mask anything.”
