By SCOTT NOVAK
Dowagiac Daily News

There is no doubt who the offensive leader of the surging Dowagiac softball team is.
Senior Torie Lowe is having a year that most players dream about.

Lowe is making a bid to begin the first four-time All-Wolverine Conference softball player for the Chieftains.

Her statistics should most certainly also make her a candidate for All-State next month.
The senior catcher entered this week hitting .587 with an amazing slugging percentage of 1.040 and an on-base percentage of .648.

Lowe has had 16 games this season where she has hit better than .500 and has a trio of five RBI games.

She hit three home runs in one game and four on the day against Edwardsburg last month.

She followed that up with a home run the next game against Three Rivers and has six for the season.

“Against Edwardsburg after I hit the first one I tried to have the mindset that I wanted to have that same swing and it kind of worked out my next couple of at-bats,” she said.

She also had 12 doubles, two triples, 12 stolen bases and 34 RBIs.

She is currently tied with Kim Luthringer, Brittney Reist and Jenna Stuppy for home runs and should finish the season with the school’s best batting average.

Wendy Casey is the current leader at .525.

“Torie is one of those players that as a coach you wish you had nine of,” Dowagiac coach Mike Behnke said. “She plays hard all the time and never has an excuse for anything. She may not be the most vocal but she leads by example and how she plays the game on the field.

“I believe the rest of the girls on the team have learned a lot from how Torie has played the game the last four years. What makes Torie even better is that she is probably a better person than she is a softball player,” he added.

Lowe said she wanted to make her season a memorable one.

“I wanted to improve this year. I wanted it to be a better year because it was my senior year,” she said. “Teamwise, I wanted to win conference and I wanted to win districts.”
Lowe credits her father for her hitting.

“We don’t do much during the season, but this winter on days I didn’t have basketball games we would try to get downstairs to hit in the basement,” she said. “A couple of times a week, just get a few quality swings in, not hit for hours.”

Lowe noted that she takes pride in her defense more than her hitting. In fact, after the Edwardsburg game, all she wanted to do was talk about the girl she threw out from her knees.