Lake Shore pitcher wraps up prep career with MVP award By Jon Malavolti While Erika Lozon has graduated from St. Clair Shores Lake Shore, she’ll probably pop up at a few games next year, at least early on. Her coach, Cris Belanger, has gotten so used to writing her name on the lineup card, it’ll be easy to mistakenly add her after being such a regular member of the varsity squad the past four seasons. And then, there will be all those batters she struck out over the years — 658 in all, a record under Belanger — that will eventually find themselves relieved that Lozon will no longer be stepping into the circle for the Shorians. “You always feel comfortable knowing you have a returning pitcher, and for the past four years, it has been a true blessing to have her on the team,” Belanger said. It’s because of all that hard work and success that defined Lozon’s career at Lake Shore that the pitcher was honored with the MVP award for the Macomb Area Conference White Division. “It’s pretty exciting,” Lozon said about receiving the honor. She admitted she was a little surprised at first to find out she won, because usually MVP honors in the MAC go to the top players on division-winning teams. Lake Shore took fourth in the MAC White this past season, so winning the award displays how much respect coaches in the division had for her. Lozon attributed her success to her hard work and longtime dedication to pitching, as well as, of course, her teammates. “It’s easier to play knowing I had the backup behind me,” she said, referring to her confidence in her teammates. With all due respect to the rest of the Shorians’ collective defensive skills, they weren’t always needed at times when Lozon took to the circle. She finished this season with an ERA of 0.94, 252 strikeouts and 23 walks in 217 innings of work. Offensively, she had a batting average of .386 and 18 RBIs. For her career, Lozon went 62-39 with a 1.26 ERA over 746.4 innings in 116 games, as well as a batting average of .340 and 55 RBIs. “She is an extremely hard worker, and it has been wonderful having her on the team the last four years,” Belanger said. “She will be missed. “I will miss her determination and true drive to make every out and every play to the best of her ability,” her coach continued. “I am glad she is going to have a chance to play in college. She is a leader and a motivator to her teammates — just a great overall player and a true go-getter.” Lozon said she’s going to miss playing prep softball, but is excited to play at the next level, as she will suit up for the Macomb Community College Monarchs. “It’s going to be different not going to school and then right after going out to practice. It’s going to be really different. I’ll miss it a lot. “But it’s really exciting knowing that I can go to college and play softball.” Check next week’s edition of the St. Clair Shores Sentinel for information on other local softball players who received postseason honors, including All-Conference and All-State. You can reach Sports Writer Jon Malavolti at jmalavolti@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1040. |
