Eighth-Grader Shines for St. Louis Park Varsity Softball

Most high school athletes play one or two years at the varsity level. The best, if lucky, may log three, or even four years of varsity experience.

pitcher Lauren Resnick is the exception to the norm, for if all goes well, Resnick will graduate high school as a five-year varsity softball player.   

Resnick, an eight-grader at , has been one of St. Louis Park’s top pitchers in 2011, posting a team-low 3.86 ERA in 32 and 2/3 innings.

“All things considered, she’s done a very nice job for us,” said St. Louis Park varsity coach Al Wachutka.

Resnick—who played on St. Louis Park’s ninth-grade squad as a seventh-grader—was approached by Wachutka at tryouts, and told if she worked hard enough she could be called up to varsity. A few games into the season, Resnick was brought up, and she has stuck on the roster since.

“It was a bit nerve-wracking at first,” Resnick said. “It’s been kind of a learning process.”

While Resnick said the game is much faster at the varsity level, she credits her almost immediate success to the coaching staff, who she said have helped her learn the game’s finer points.

“The game has slowed down in my mind,” Resnick said. “(The coaches and captains) taught me how to slow it down.”

Socially, Resnick said being three or four years younger than most of her teammates hasn’t been an issue.

“Everyone has been accepting,” Resnick said. “I’ve always felt like I’m a part of the team.”

Wachutka credited Resnick’s overall acclimation to the varsity level—athletically and socially—to her maturity and composure. He added that her youth might benefit her in that respect, as she’s further distanced from her senior year and the emotions attached with the culmination of high school.

“She never gets flustered, and she doesn’t feel like she has to over-perform,” Wachutka said.

As such, Wachutka hasn’t shied away from using Resnick in pressure situations. In fact, Resnick was brought into a bases-loaded situation in her first varsity appearance.

If Resnick’s performance as an eight-grader is at all indicative of what’s to come, St. Louis Park has to be excited about the future of its softball program, which struggled this year, going 5-14 and getting eliminated from the section playoffs earlier in the week.

“It will help me a lot,” Resnick said of her 2011 varsity experience. “I know what to expect now; I know what to do. It will all come more natural and easier now that I’ve seen what it’s like.”