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lockportlegend.com sports
the lockport legend | June 13, 2019 | 37
Going Places
Porters ace pitcher prepares for expanded role in college
Randy Whalen
Freelance Reporter
On Thursday, June 6,
recent Lockport Township
graduate Erin Kleffman
was on her way to college
orientation at the University
of Evansville in Indiana.
Even though Kleffman
knew two and a half years
ago that’s where she wanted
to college, the standout
softball pitcher for the Porters
wished she wasn’t going
there at that time.
“I wish I was on my way
to state,” she said of the
IHSA Softball State Finals
that were held on June 7
and 8 at EastSide Centre
in East Peoria. “Not on my
way to orientation.”
The Porters, however,
lost to Joliet West 6-5 on
Friday, May 31 in the sectional
title game. The Tigers
went onto win their
super-sectional game, advance
to the State Finals
and finish third in Class
4A. Lockport wondered
what could have been.
“Nothing was clicking
like it had been,” Kleffman
said of the loss to Joliet
West. “Our fielding wasn’t
there, we were hitting the
ball at people. It was just
everything.”
This past season, Kleffman
gave her everything
in being the Porters ace
pitcher. The team went
29-6 and she had more
than half the wins, going
15-3 in the circle with 89
strikeouts. She was named
the SouthWest Suburban
Conference Blue Division
All-Area team in helping
the team to an undefeated
conference championship,
“She was a workhorse,”
Lockport softball coach
Marissa Chovanec said
of Kleffman. “We really
worked hard this season.
She also contributed in the
role as a leader on-and-off
the field.”
Influenced by her mom,
Sue, who played softball at
Shepard in the ‘80s, Kleffman
started playing softball
early.
“I started when I was 4,”
she said. “I’ve been pitching
since I was 8. I was
in Junior Miss Softball
to start and my dad, Jack,
helped to coach me.”
At Lockport, Kleffman
was on the varsity softball
team for three seasons.
That was not her only
sport, however. She also
excelled at bowling. She
was a three-year varsity
member there too and the
only senior on the Porter
girls bowling team that finished
fifth in the state this
past winter.
On the final ball of her
high school bowling career,
Kleffman fired a
strike and then declared
herself “retired” from
the sport.
“It’s not that I was
tired of bowling,” Kleffman
said. “It was just my
hobby, I just did it for fun.
I like the team aspect of
softball better.”
Given that both bowling
and softball pitching requires
one to perform with
an underhand motion, did
that correlate at all?
“No, but a lot of people
have asked me if that
messed me up,” Kleffman
said of the motion for
bowling compared to that
of softball. “But no. I just
went from one sport to the
other. I never combined
the two and it never affected
me.”
Kleffman never threw a
300 in bowling, She has,
however, fired a no-hitter
in softball. In fact, she had
two this past season. The
first one was in a 2-0 victory
over Joliet West with
five strikeouts on April 6
the title game of a WJOL
Tournament. The second
was a 16-0 win in four innings
with 11 strikeouts on
May 21 over Thornwood
in the semifinals of the
Lockport Regional.
“It’s hard to throw a
300,” Kleffman said. “You
just have to stay mentally
focused the whole time. In
softball, other people can
do things to affect it. So I
actually think a no-hitter is
harder to accomplish.”
Even though she wished
her orientation for college
was later, Kleffman is
ready to move to the next
step. She has known for a
long time that the University
of Evansville in Indiana
was the place for her.
“I committed there in
January of my sophomore
year,” she said of her early
commitment in 2017.
“For me, I went to a lot of
camps, a lot of schools. I
like that it was a smaller
school. I’m going to major
in economics and the
coaches there prioritize
education. They make sure
you get good grades and
keep that balance.”
Kleffman plays for the
Chicago Bulls/Sox Youth
Academy Softball team
and will do so again this
summer. She also bats and
plays some first base there,
which she might also do in
college.
“I have more of a possibility
of playing sooner,”
Kleffman said of going to
the University of Evansville
in Indiana. “I will be
pitching, hitting and maybe
playing some at first.
I’m looking forward to it.”
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Erin Kleffman played on the LTHS varsity softball team for three seasons and is now
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