Lemont’s Sage Mardjetko Repeats As Gatorade Illinois Softball Player Of The Year

LEMONT, IL — In addition to multiple All-America and regional honors, Lemont High School softball player Sage Mardjetko has been named the 2022-23 Gatorade Illinois Softball Player of the Year, according to a release from the school.

This is the second year in a row she has earned the honor, after helping Lemont's softball team earn its second consecutive state championship.

In addition to being named the Gatorade Illinois Player of the Year, Mardjetko has earned first-team All-America honors from MaxPreps and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association, the school said. She also repeated as the South Suburban Conference-Blue Division Player of the Year, was cited as a first-team Illinois Coaches Association Class 3A all-state honoree for the third straight year, and picked up Suburban Life, Daily Southtown and Joliet Herald News Player of the Year accolades.

Mardjetko finished the championship season with a 23-0 record and a 0.00 ERA and 340 strikeouts in 143.1 innings, according to LHS. She is just the second pitcher in IHSA history (min. 70 innings) to finish a season with a 0.00 ERA, and set a state single-season record for the most innings pitched without allowing an earned run.

Mardjetko averaged a career-best 16.60 strikeouts per seven innings, allowed just 18 hits and three runs (all unearned), and posted a career-best WHIP of 0.27. She tossed a career-high 19 shutouts, which included a streak of 10 straight shutouts to close her career. Her 12 no-hitters were a career best and tie for sixth on the state’s single-season list. She limited opponents to a .041 batting average and posted a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 16.2-to-1. In postseason play, she went 6-0 with a 0.00 ERA, and allowed just four hits while striking out 108 batters in 46.0 innings.

The final outing of her career may have been her best, as she set IHSA Class 3A state finals records with 24 strikeouts and 12.0 innings pitched and threw a no-hitter to beat Antioch, 1-0, sparking Lemont to its second straight IHSA Class 3A State Championship. Mardjetko is the first pitcher in state history to throw no-hitters in multiple state championship games; she also no-hit St. Ignatius in the 2022 IHSA Class 3A State Championship.

While Mardjetko proved herself to be the state’s top pitcher, she also starred at the plate, batting .364 with career highs of five home runs and 17 RBIs. She led Lemont in home runs and posted an OPS of 1.106, according to LHS.

Lemont set a single-season school record for wins in 2023, closing the year with a 35-1 record. The school repeated as the IHSA Class 3A State Champion, and also won its third straight SSC Blue title. It is the first IHSA Class 3A team to finish among the state’s top two teams three straight years.

Over her high school career, Mardjetko went 60-3 with a 0.19 ERA and 928 strikeouts in 409.0 innings (15.88 strikeouts per seven innings), LHS said. Her career ERA ranks eighth in IHSA history.

Mardjetko allowed just two home runs while facing 1,419 batters in her career, and did not surrender a home run as a junior or senior.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, according to a release from LHS. Mardjetko graduated with a 4.30 grade point average, served on the school’s Athletic Council, and earned induction to its chapter of the National Honor Society.

One of the nation’s top recruits, Mardjetko has signed a National Letter of Intent to play at the University of South Carolina.

Lemont’s first Gatorade Illinois Softball Player of the Year was pitcher Suzie Rzegocki ‘07 in 2007, LHS said.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls’ volleyball, boys’ and girls’ cross country, boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ soccer, baseball, softball, and boys’ and girls’ track & field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.