Hope Lestician is the middle child on a Lawrence High softball team that includes big sister Haley as an assistant coach, and little sister Heather as a freshman on the varsity.
The siblings have had to endure some high-profile adversity in their lives, but always used their favorite lifeline to deal with it.
“We’re pretty close, we’ve been through a lot together and softball helps a lot,” Hope said. “It takes our minds off everything else going on in our lives, our own problems. The three of us could be fighting one day but we have a game the next day and we go out and play.
“We actually consider each other the only people that fully understand one another. No one else really knows how hard some things in our life were, and what we’ve been through and how it’s changed us as people.”
One thing that hasn’t changed, is that softball remains the shelter in the storm.
“When I’m on the field, I don’t think about anything else,” Lestician said. “I don’t know how anybody else could think about anything. I’m so locked in and I just think about the next play or what I’d do if the ball is hit to me, or how am I supposed to help my team out in my next at-bat. I love softball, it’s such a mind blocker, it really helps me play the sport.”
Cardinals head coach Dana Williams can see that trait in all three.
“They all have a very similar attitude where the game is just a lot of fun for them,” the veteran mentor said. “You can see how serious some kids get and it can almost stress them out to the point of hindering their performance.
“I think they all tackle it in a much different light. They truly enjoy the game and have fun. Obviously we all want to win at the end of the day but there’s something to be said for just playing the game just to have a good time. I really see that with Hope.”
Just looking at her batting average will show how much fun Lestician is having this season.
After hitting just .167 as a fulltime player last year, Lestician has blossomed since adding slapping to her arsenal. Through Lawrence’s 4-4 start the junior shortstop was second on the team to Emma Dobkin in hitting with a .536 average. The leadoff hitter led the team in runs scored with 13.
She is the ultimate spark plug.
“She’s our energy,” Williams said. “She started really working on her slap, her drag bunt, just to figure out a way to get her on base. Once she’s on she’s very dangerous, which is really good for us.
“A big thing about Hope is her energy is incredible. She’s so positive. Everybody needs a Hope on their team. She’s awesome.”
Lestician is following in the footsteps of Haley, a former Cardinals standout who completed a successful career at Division II Lock Haven University last year. She returned to help Williams coach this season.
It was Haley who quickly understood what Hope needed to do.
“She told me that with my speed and being a lefty that I should pick up slapping,” Lestician said. “We worked on it before the season. I came in the season ready to slap and that’s what I’ve been doing.”
As a young player, several coaches tried getting her to slap “but I guess I was never really good at it so I never did it in games. This year my coach gave me a shot and it’s really worked out for us.”
Lestician’s speed came from understanding the “routes of the game and how to run the bases.” She is aided by the fact she plays soccer and is on the swim team “so I’m in pretty good shape.”
Hope followed Haley into the Hamilton Hurricanes T-ball league at age 4 and eventually played recreation softball in Lawrence until her team became a township travel team – the Lawrence Storm. That group “kind of crashed” after several years and Lestician moved on to a Ewing travel team.
In high school, she got just five at-bats as a freshman and then struggled through her sophomore year offensively.
“Last year I didn’t necessarily get too down, I always try to stay as up as I can,” Lestician said. “I’ve always been taught that by my mother (Nicole). At some points I did get a little upset because I put so many hours into the sport and I wasn’t performing the way I wanted to.
“But that didn’t stop me. I got right back at it in the off-season. I pushed myself harder than I ever have because I want to play in college. Even though I did have three practices a week for travel and winter workouts, I put in extra hours on my own. I was taking it a lot more seriously than I ever have. It really paid off because here I am.”
Here she is indeed.
Lestician indicated things would be better on opening day when she went 3-for-4 with three runs scored in a win over Westhampton Tech. After taking the collar against Steinert, she went on a hitting streak that had reached six through Apr. 18.
“She definitely gets us going,” Williams said. “The way our lineup runs, you feel if she can get on we have some really big hitters right after her. Freshman Zoey Hartman is very consistent, our freshman catcher Maddie Spateri is a power hitter and Dobs bats fourth. So if Hope gets on there’s a good chance we can get her around.”
Dobkin is the team’s pitcher and started the season on fire offensively, hitting .708 through the first four games.
“She’s a huge piece to all this,” Williams said. “Her bat is incredible. She’ll strike out half the lineup when she’s pitching then come in and hit a double. What more can you ask for?”
Lestician doesn’t ask for more.
“Dobkin is very powerful,” she said. “I definitely love her.”
Just as Lestician is loved, or at least admired, by her teammates. Williams recalled a game last year when Hope left in the middle of a game to go see Haley’s Senior Day game in college. The remainder of the team began to wonder where the energy was in the dugout, and Williams reminded them that Lestician wasn’t there.
“Even the girls realize that ‘Wow, she really does bring an added element that’s so special,’” the coach said.
Lestician has long been recognized as a leader. She won a middle school leadership award and is in Lawrence’s PEER leadership group and National Honor Society.
“I take my leadership roles pretty seriously,” she said. “I think that comes a lot with how my mom raised me. She always told me to be a leader and stick up for myself, because that’s just how she was.”
Her vocal energy is not just in the dugout but on the field as well, which is important for a middle infielder.
“She’s made some big plays this season on balls that could be hits but what I like most out there is her chatter,” Williams said. “She’s just talking on every single pitch, telling everybody where to go, who is gonna have the cut. She’s like a coach on the field.”
Shortstop is a relatively new spot for Lestician. She started as a pitcher in rec and for the Lawrence Storm, saying “Nobody had the mentality to walk somebody and then not get over it, but I didn’t really care.”
She began playing shortstop and second base and for Ewing played the outfield and shortstop. Last year for Lawrence she played third base and moved to short this year due to graduation losses. It’s her first season as a fulltime shortstop.
“I could play anywhere,” she said, “but I love shortstop so much. It’s definitely my favorite position. I love being able to communicate with my team and I love having the range to field balls. I played third last year and felt a little trapped because you’re right by the foul line. I love going all over the place.”
She also loves having one sister as a coach and another as a teammate. Although Haley works with the entire team at practice, she will take time on the weekend to work strictly with Hope and Heather.
“She has always been my biggest role model; I’ve always looked up to her,” Lestician said. “I used to do a lot of alone time because my sister did a lot of traveling. I would call for tips, since she’s been around the game. And this off-season and this season she’s really become a great part of my softball life.”
And then there is Heather, who is slowly learning the ways of varsity.
“”She’s still figuring her way around the team,” Hope said. “I try to look out for her as much as I can. I have two years under my belt so I give her tips. I try to teach her not to let a lot of things weigh on her. She doesn’t play a lot but I let her know that everyone starts somewhere and she has to keep fighting for a spot.”
Lestician paid her dues and still keeps fighting, be it at the plate or out at shortstop. And since it’s on the softball field, it’s the kind of fight she absolutely loves.
Lawrence High School softball sisters Heather, Haley and Hope Lestician. (Photo by Dana Williams.),
