By Joe Vanden Acker
Lawrence Today magazine, Summer 2005
When Lauren Kost, ’05, steps onto the softball diamond, she takes her
cue from Teddy Roosevelt — speaking softly and carrying the equivalent
of a big stick.
The softball team’s star pitcher projects a calm, cool demeanor on
the mound that hides the heart of a lion. Her quiet, unassuming manner masks
the fact that she can rip the heart out of an opponent with a well-placed
fastball or nasty curve.
“I think she said four words when she was a freshman, and three of
them were, ‘Hi,
I’m Lauren,’” Head Coach Kim
Tatro says with a smile.
From quiet beginnings, Kost has blossomed into a star both on the field and
in the classroom. The senior physics major from Carol Stream, Ill., has quietly
carved out a stellar career with the Vikings. Without fanfare, she has done
all that was asked of her and more, and she will go down in the recordbooks
as one of the best to have ever put on the blue and white.
“Her manner is critical to her success. She never gets too high or
too low,” Tatro
says. “She doesn’t let what happens defensively or offensively
rattle her. Often, you will see pitchers throwing in the towel, but that’s
not her mentality.
“I knew she was going to be steady. I didn’t really anticipate
that she was going to have the type of success she’s had. Because she’s
incredibly smart and she does enough to keep people off-balance, that’s
really what has defined her success.”
Kost’s unflappable presence on the mound is something she has always
had and now works to cultivate.
“It’s a way to stay in control,” Kost says. “I don’t
want to put more pressure on myself.”
An All-Midwest Conference selection in 2004 and 2005 and this year’s
North Division Pitcher of the Year, Kost has a career record of 50-27 with
a 1.59 earned-run average. She will finish second to three-time North Division
Player of the Year Sara Schye, ’00, in virtually every career statistical
category in the Lawrence recordbooks. While people like to compare her to
Schye, she has something Schye doesn’t — a no-hitter. She tossed
the no-hitter in 2004 vs. Finlandia University and also has five one-hitters
to her credit.
“I didn’t really think about [having success] when I came to
Lawrence,” she
says. “A lot of the reason why I came here was to play softball. I
didn’t know what I wanted to do in terms of majors, but it worked out
better than I ever thought.”
With possible majors ranging from English to physics, Kost had some choices
to make; her varied interests were the reason she chose Lawrence.
Physics eventually won out.
“It came easily to me, and it’s something I really enjoy,” she
says.
The guidance of physics professors David Cook and John Brandenberger has
been a key ingredient in her success.
“They both have been so amazing in helping me out and encouraging me
and pushing me,” says Kost, who won the 2004 J. Bruce Brackenridge
Prize in Physics, awarded to an outstanding physics major with a strong academic
record and
great promise for continued work in physics.
“All the members of the faculty have been awesome.”
Kost, who owns a 3.66 grade-point average, worked in the area of computational
physics with Professor Cook in the summer after her sophomore year and later
presented the findings to a Pew Undergraduate Research Symposium.
In the summer of 2004, she attended the Research Experience for Undergraduates
Program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, to do research
in atomic physics at the University of Washington.
As much as Kost loves softball, physics takes precedence. She missed a doubleheader
with the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 2004 because of work in
the lab. She would have missed another doubleheader this season because she
was off visiting graduate schools, but bad weather forced a postponement,
and Kost later helped the Vikings sweep that twinbill from the Milwaukee
School of Engineering.
“It’s a trade-off when you have a student like Lauren. It’s
always been about maintaining a healthy balance between academics and athletics
where there’s give and take on both sides,” Tatro says
.
“She epitomizes the kind of student we want to attract to Lawrence.
She gets it done in all areas. Contrary to any stereotypes, she can do it
on the field
and in the classroom.”
Kost is headed to graduate school at the University of Colorado in the area
of atomic physics.
Kost’s catcher is Loni Philbrick-Linzmeyer, ’06, from Green Bay,
who believes the formula for the pitcher’s success is in her attitude
and some unhittable breaking balls.
“Lauren has the ability to stay so even-tempered throughout everything,” Philbrick-Linzmeyer
says. “She’s not the fastest pitcher out there, but nine times
out of ten, I’m confident she will be able to throw anything I call.”
When you really need a strikeout or a big out, what pitch do you call?
“Most often it’s her curveball. She can throw it for a strike
if she needs to,” Philbrick-Linzmeyer says. “For the most part,
her curveball is the killer.”
At the height of the 2005 season, Lawrence lined up for a key Midwest Conference
doubleheader with St. Norbert College. Kost gave up four runs in the first
inning, and the Vikings were staring at an early 4-0 deficit, but then Kost
buckled down and didn’t allow another run until the second inning of
the doubleheader’s second game. Lawrence won the first game 5-4 and
took the nightcap 2-1. Kost threw all 14 innings and won both contests.
“She came back and won the game for us,” Philbrick-Linzmeyer
says with just a tinge of disbelief in her voice. “And then she won
the second game, which was amazing.”
Kost is not so much a thrower as she is a pitcher. While she can’t
blaze fastball after fastball by opponents, she can beat them with alarming
consistency.
“Lauren is very predictable in a good way,” Philbrick-Linzmeyer
says. “As
a catcher, you don’t want to be guessing where your pitcher is throwing
the ball.”
Where Kost is throwing it is somewhere hitters don’t like. She uses
the age-old pitching rules of working the corners, going inside and then
back out, up high and then low.
“I remember when I started pitching lessons back home, the instructor
told me I threw too many strikes and I was too accurate. She told me to throw
strikes that people didn’t want to swing at,” Kost says.
“No one wants to hit that low, outside fastball, so that’s where
I try to put it.”
Tatro, a standout collegiate catcher at St. Norbert College, concurs with
Philbrick-Linzmeyer when they talk about Kost.
“Combine her mentality with her intelligence and her composure,” Tatro
says. “Put those three things together, and that’s what’s
made her a top pitcher.”
And it keeps the other teams swinging and missing.