Lindbergh freshman Marlee Steiner peeled off her batting gloves, packed up her first baseman’s mitt and slipped her bat into the side holster of her softball bag, satisfied with her team’s performance in a 12-1 victory over Parkway North.
A two-minute click-clack up a paved hillside led to a side entrance of the Lindbergh High gymnasium – but the door was locked.
“I was like, ‘I need this door to be open right now,’” Steiner said.
The door opened, and Steiner quickly entered the locker room to exchange her cleats for sneakers, her pants for shorts and her No. 11 jersey for No. 14. She strode onto the volleyball court and even had a chance to take a few practice serves before Lindbergh’s match against Lafayette.
“Sometimes I do get to warm up, and sometimes I come in half a set or a set into the match, but I’m still kind of warm from softball so I’ll jump right in,” Steiner said.
The afternoon of September 21 was one of several instances this season that Steiner has played in both a varsity softball game and a varsity volleyball game for Lindbergh on the same day.
“I really wanted to do both sports. I’m so glad it worked out,” Steiner said.
In softball, the 6-foot-2 freshman is a first baseman and pitcher. She sits in the middle of a powerful Flyers’ batting order with a .404 average, one homerun and 16 RBI. As a pitcher, she has a 5-2 record with a 2.04 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 37 innings.
Steiner is also a central figure in the Lindbergh volleyball rotation as a powerful middle hitter who has 47 kills and is tied for the team lead with 29 blocks.
“At one point she was actually leading both teams in hitting. That was really kind of cool,” Lindbergh softball coach Darin Scott said.
When Steiner expressed her desire to play both softball and volleyball this fall, Scott and Flyers’ volleyball coach Atom Zuniga organized a schedule that allowed her to try out for both teams. She became one of two freshmen to make the varsity softball team and the only freshman on a volleyball team teeming with upperclassmen.
“We’re very lucky to be in this situation,” Scott said. “To have an athlete of her caliber who is able to play two varsity sports as a freshman is pretty awesome.”
Prior to their seasons, Scott and Zuniga sat down and inspected their team schedules to identify when a softball and volleyball game occurred on the same day at the same time.
“We had a Marlee draft,” Scott said. “We looked at when we had conflicts, and we picked who needed her more that game.”
On September 7, Steiner went 2-for-3 with two RBI in a 3-0 victory at Parkway West, then hopped in the car with her mother Laura Steiner and traveled 20 miles to Pacific High School where she joined the volleyball team mid-match and produced two kills, two blocks and two assists.
“She loves it, and she hates when she misses an entire game,” Laura Steiner said. “She’s so happy to be able to do both, and we’re so fortunate that the coaches are willing to work with her.”
Laura Steiner believes that her daughter’s overall athletic ability has improved by playing both sports in the same season.
“She is getting a lot of workout on her legs. Being a pitcher takes a lot of leg work to get that push, and being a middle (hitter) in volleyball, she’s constantly up and down, blocking and hitting,” Laura Steiner said.
Friday, September 15 was one of the rare days when Lindbergh was not scheduled to play either a softball game or volleyball match. It provided an opportunity for Steiner to finally take a break from athletic activity.
“I tried to get her to take the day off, and she said, “Nope, I’m going to volleyball practice, I haven’t been for a while.’” Laura Steiner said.
Both Marlee and Laura Steiner sing the praises of coaches Scott and Zuniga, who have been in complete support of the two-sport experiment from day one.
“We like to encourage multi-sport athletes. I’ve always been an advocate for it, and when it happens to be in the same season, you have to put your money where your mouth is,” Scott said.
Zuniga added, “I ultimately want what’s better for her and her athletic career, and I know that her playing another sport is simply going to make her a better athlete.”
After Steiner made both the varsity softball and volleyball rosters, she tried to manage her expectations for how the season might unfold.
“I’m really surprised that it’s going this well. At first, I thought, ‘This might not work out as well as I hope it will,’ but it’s actually been better than I thought it would be,” she said.
Steiner is hopeful to play both sports in college since volleyball occurs in the fall and softball in the spring at the collegiate level.
But if she had to choose just one?
“I can’t choose. I love them both,” she said.
And for that, Scott and Zuniga are grateful.
“It’s not for everybody I’m guessing, but she’s a pretty special athlete,” Scott said.