Notre Dame softball team rides left-handed versatility to Class 3 final four

At one time, Notre Dame left-handed hitters Morgan Duschell, Christina Scherer and Lindsey Elfrink all had one thing in common that fellow left-handed hitting teammate Abby Rollet can now relate.

Rollet, the Bulldogs' left fielder who transferred from St. Vincent this fall before her junior year, began to give up her right-handed-hitting ways at the age of 5 at the instance of her father, Michael.

"My dad always knew left-handers get out of the box one second faster," Rollet said. "That one second can help anytime."

Despite being right-handed in all facets of life, Rollet began the transition, switch hitting for several years before completely becoming a left-handed hitter.

"I can't hit right any more," Rollet said with a laugh before practice earlier this week as the 26-3 Bulldogs prepared for the program's first Class 3 final four appearance since 2010.

Notre Dame players Morgan Duschell, Christina Scherer, Lindsey Elfrink and Abby Rollet pose for a photo before practice Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Glenn Landberg)

Duschell, Scherer and Elfrink, who also throw, eat, write and do just about everything right-handed, can relate to Rollet's right-handed inability at the plate.

"I was terrible, like bottom of the lineup. I struck out every time," said Scherer, a senior center fielder, about hitting before her switch to left-handed around the age of 12. "My Dad, to get me to swing, said he'd paint his head if I swung and hit one."

Duschell, a junior catcher who transferred from Cape Central after her freshman year, remembers trying to hit off former Tigers ace Kadie Orenstein in the summer before her freshman year.

"She was pitching and I was hitting right-handed, and I swung 10 times in a row and didn't even touch the ball," Duschell said with a smile.

As for Elfrink, a junior right fielder, she struggled at the plate on a summer-league team before her freshman year.

As the Bulldogs enter today's semifinal game against St. Joseph Lafayette (22-7) in Springfield, Missouri, Duschell is leading the team with a .495 batting average from her leadoff spot. Scherer's father apparently has painted his head countless times, as the No. 2-hole hitter is second on the team with a .465 average. Lafayette will find no weak link in Elfrink, who is batting .423, and Rollet is finding much wisdom in her dad's foresight, batting .412.

The Bulldogs remaining on the right side of the plate have been doing their fair share, too, with sophomore shortstop Madison Landeros leading that group with a .465 average on a team that has seven regulars batting above .400 and a team batting average of .407.

Notre Dame's Lindsey Elfrink slides into home to score against De Soto in the seventh inning during a Class 3 sectional Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015 at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Glenn Landberg)

Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett is taking his seventh team to the final four in his 13 seasons with the program -- he led the Bulldogs to their only state title in 2009 -- and he calls it "by far" the fastest team he's ever had from top to bottom.

And he enjoys employing fleet-footed left-handers in his lineup to create the utmost havoc.

"This is by far the most [left-handed hitters] we've ever had, as far as being able to stick two in one part of the lineup and being able to stick two in another part," Graviett said.

His aggressive lineup gets rolling with Duschell and Scherer, the team's only two returning starters from last year, then followed by the right-handed sticks of Landeros and No. 4 hitter Maddie Urhahn, who both have 24 RBIs on the season. Landeros leads the team in doubles (11), triples (6), slugging percentage (.737) and OPS (1.246). Urhahn, a senior third baseman, is batting to the tune of .417.

He later employs Elfrink and Rollet, who also has some pop in her bat, displayed by her first home run of the season in the 13-3 quarterfinal rout of Lutheran South on Saturday. Right-handed junior Lily Dohogne has taken advantage of the base runners with a team-high 27 RBIs.

"I think it's huge, when you're able to move the ball and put pressure on teams defensively," Graviett said. "It just seems most of the lefties we get seem to hit in the upper .400s, and the on-base in that .500 range. It's a different element to this game with the shorter bases. Sometimes it's a big game-changer a couple steps closer to first."

Duschell, who ran sprints at Central as a freshman and said she is being actively recruited by coach Paul Unterreiner for Notre Dame track this spring, blazes the way for an offense that averages 8.3 runs per game.

"From home to first she has probably some of the best speed and is probably one of the better all-around handlers of the bat with that," Graviett said, adding that his catcher can cover the 60-foot distance to first in about 3 seconds.

Duschell, who credits Cape Central coach Amy Blattel for her switch to left-handed, gets on base more than half the time, leading the regulars with a .556 on-base percentage. She claims batting left-handed gives her "tons" of advantage.

"I feel like I can control a ball easily, and I get to the base quicker," Duschell said. "I feel like I can see the ball better, I guess, with my right eye."

Scherer gets on base at a .495 clip, and she also can create problems on the base paths. A big reason why she flipped around to the left, which a little league coach suggested, was for her speed.

"At our first practice, we had a little race, and I was the fastest, so he decided to try it on me, and it just stuck," Scherer said.

Like the others, she first started bunting from the left side, slowly transitioning to a slap and then a swing.

"It was completely different, so it took a while to get the hang of batting left-handed," Scherer said. "It just started clicking, honestly."

Elfrink referred to it as a "process" but said she felt more confident with the small-ball approach from the left side, which suited her physique.

"It puts a lot more pressure on people, and once you put pressure on, they tend to make mistakes," Elfrink said. "It helps us out a lot."

Scherer said she knows the pressure a defense can feel by her own reaction when in center field.

"Definitely, whenever you see a lefty coming up, I know out in the outfield, I'm like, 'Oh crap, a lefty,' because I don't know what they're going to do," Scherer said. "Are they going to bunt, slap or just swing away? I think it definitely makes them think, 'What's she going to do?'"

And if any of the converted hitters can keep the opposition guessing, it's Rollet.

"We consider her a triple-threat option," Graviett said. "She can do all three phases of it. You go with what they're capable of doing. Christina Scherer can step in there and drive in runs if she needs to. She can stand in there and hit even though she's up there in the two hole. We ask her to move it a lot, so they're still capable. And that's one thing, when we first started up here we had a lot of girls that were just bunters from the left side, and we've really developed them into more of a triple-threat option, being able to do things that [the defense] just can't take it all away."

Rollet, who says with a smile that "My dad trained me well," will do whatever Graviett wants in a particular situation.

"I can do many things," Rollet said. "I've got a bunt, I've got a hard slap and a soft slap, and then I can hit."

With an approach for contact, one thing the Bulldogs don't do as much as most teams is strike out. Notre Dame can couple that attribute with alertness and aggressiveness to force defenses to field balls cleanly and make quick decisions, which can fluster opponents at times.

"If they sit back and they're used to striking out 15, 16 a game, you put the pressure on their defense, and it's something they're not used to doing," Graviett said. "The more you can do that to those teams, the better you're going to be."

To Graviett, the aggressive offensive approach is becoming more common. Warrenton (26-2), which will be playing Helias Catholic (21-9) in the other semifinal, trumps Notre Dame with its .430 team batting average.

"The game has really changed to me a lot the past few years, and really this is our first appearance in the last five," Graviett said. "I'm use to seeing, it used to be when we went up there in '09, it was really pitching heavy there, and now it's leaning more toward the offensive type thing. Any more, you can have a typical 10-8 state championship game, where it used to be a 1-0, 2-1 game. As far as our class, it looks like there is going to be some runs put up on the board this weekend from all four teams."

While left-handed hitters can cause chaos on offense, Notre Dame senior pitcher Halie Santos won't be seeing anything thrown at her at the final four that she hasn't already seen.

"For us defensively, when we have a left-handed batter coming up, we're not that fazed by it," Santos said. "I think we're prepared for it because we have so many left-handers on the team. We get live off them every day in practice. And being able to throw to a bunch of lefties helps me be ready for it."