Special K: Lincoln-Way Central’s Bella Dimitrijevic continues to add up the strikeouts

After a 3-2 start to the season, the Lincoln-Way Central softball team is sitting at 21-4 at the time of this writing. With hitters like Kendall Pearson (.451 batting average), Josephine Jager (.558 BA, 36 RBIs) and Kayla Doerre (.431 BA, four home runs), it’s no surprise. This is a team that advanced to the sectional championship game last season, so it’s no surprise that they’re continuing to have success.

Of course, it also helps when you have a pitcher averaging two strikeouts an inning.

Bella Dimitrijevic, a junior, has been one of the top pitchers in the area and the state this season. At the time of this writing, she boasted a record of 15-1 with an ERA of 0.77 in 18 appearances. In 90 2/3 innings of work, she’s struck out 192 batters while walking just 10 and allowing 31 hits to 10 earned runs. If you’re wondering about the math, she’s averaging 10.6 strikeouts per game.

While Dimitrijevic has been pitching for LWC since her freshman year and has put up plenty of impressive stats before, this season has seen her take yet another step forward in her development.

“She’s become more comfortable in who she is,” head coach Jeff Tarala said. “She’s always been a great pitcher, but I think she’s just more comfortable in that role. She pitched for us as a freshman and as a freshman, you’re feeling your way and don’t want to step on anyone’s toes. Now, she’s more confident and realizes she’s a big part of this team. She’s more of a leader now than in the past and the girls respect her.”

In addition to her development as a leader and a pitcher, though, she’s also taken a big step forward on offense. She leads the team in home runs with eight and is first on the squad with 39 RBIs while batting .444. Ask her about her approach at the plate, though, she’ll just give you a laugh and explain it rather simply.

“I don’t hit for travel,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m not a hitter ... I just kind of go up there without any expectation and just swing.”

Before the Herald-News even spoke to Dimitrijevic, Tarala correctly predicted how she’d respond to questions about her success at the plate.

“She’d respectfully laugh,” he said. “She thinks her hitting is funny. For her travel team, she just pitches and that’s what she’ll do in college too, but she’s a big part of her offense. If you’d ask her she’d probably say she’s not a good hitter, but she is. She takes big swings and gets big results.”

Dimitrijevic has been pitching since the third grade, but as a freshman, she was asked to be the No. 2 pitcher behind Lyndsey Grein, who is now at Virginia Tech. Dimitrijevic didn’t mind playing second fiddle to Grein, however. On the contrary, she welcomed the opportunity to learn from an ACC pitcher.

“She was really great to me,” Dimitrijevic said. “Even before the season she was reaching out to me and driving me to morning workouts. She was great, took me in, and made me feel so comfortable. We worked together all the time with pitching. We talked about stuff we could improve on and we still talk today. She was great to me as a freshman.”

In two years, though, they’ll be ACC rivals. In September, Dimitrijevic announced her official commitment to play college softball for Florida State. Currently ranked 14th in the country, the Seminoles were NCAA champions in 2018 and were runner-ups last season. For Dimitrijevic, the commitment just felt nice to knock out with so much time left in her career.

“I just really love everything about (Florida State),” she said. “Everyone cares about you a lot there and it’s a top program...I’m really excited because for the past two years, I’ve been focused on getting recruited. Now I feel like I can just relax and focus on high school softball and travel with my teammates. It’s a big weight lifted off my shoulders.”

Both Dimitrijevic and Tarala will tell you it’s not a one-girl show. The entire team has put up impressive showing after impressive showing through the season, including eight consecutive wins and a 9-0 showing in the SouthWest Suburban Conference thus far. But the whole team will also tell you that having Dimitrijevic in the circle always gives them a chance.

After coming up just short in a 1-0 loss in the sectional final to Lockport last year, the Knights have goals of going even further this year. What’s scary for other teams in the state is that the Knights will also have her for another season next year. For now, though, the focus is on 2024 and Dimitrijevic believes this group has what it takes to make it even further than last.

“I think we have a really good team this year,” she said. “I feel like we could make it as far as we can in the playoffs, especially with the seniors. We have some good bats and a good catcher...I’m really excited and I think that we can go all the way.”