Unfazed Columbia recruit Alaina Nolan closes in on career strikeout record for St. Edward. ‘Focus on winning.’

Her very own “Empire State of Mind” may be beckoning St. Edward’s Alaina Nelson, but the senior pitcher has some unfinished business to take care of first in Elgin.

Foremost for Nelson, a softball recruit for Columbia in New York, likely would be leading the Green Wave to a second straight regional title and advancing further than last year’s sectional semifinal.

Before that, however, Nelson should end up becoming the program’s all-time strikeout leader, although she insists that aspect is entirely in the back of her mind.

“I’m pretty close to it, but I don’t go out looking for a record,” Nelson said with a shrug. “I just go out and pitch as hard as I can to get a win. I just focus on winning.

“If I can gather a few strikeouts, and I do, all that other stuff will come.”

Nolan kept it up Wednesday, throwing a two-hitter with nine strikeouts in host St. Edward’s 16-0 Chicagoland Christian Conference win over Wheaton Academy that was shortened to four innings at the Elgin Sports Complex.

In her fourth season as the team’s ace, Nolan led a nine-hit attack for the Green Wave (8-5, 6-2). She finished with three hits, including a double, and added four runs, a walk and three RBIs.

It boosted her season batting average to .361 with 10 RBIs.

Junior shortstop Layne Dawson added two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs for St. Edward, which benefitted from nine walks issued by two pitchers for Wheaton Academy (1-7, 1-6).

“I think Alaina’s pitching is pretty much the same,” St. Edward coach Jerry Kublank said. “I think she’s probably a little faster. Every year I believe she’s been a little faster.

“How much? I don’t know, maybe 10%, it’s possible.”

In February, Nolan posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that she had hit a personal-best 66 mph during one of her pitching lessons with Eliot Narotsky in Willowbrook.

“I’ve gone to him since I was 6 or 7 years old,” said Nolan, who grunts much like a hard server in tennis on each pitch she throws. “He’s taught a lot of girls that have gone to D-I programs and is the most knowledgeable person I could be around. I never strayed from the process and he helped me with that.