Norwin grad Alex Dillner ends softball playing career with bang, now turns attention to teaching, coaching

In the final at-bat of her softball playing career, Saint Vincent’s Alex Dillner, as she had done so many times before, hit a line drive toward the left side. But Geneva shortstop Madison Forsythe made a diving grab of the hot shot to retire Dillner.

“I was so upset that this was how I’m going out,” said the Norwin grad, “a girl lays out and catches a line drive that I hit. I was so upset, but, great play on her part.”

The play, really, summed up what Dillner accomplished as a hitter during her time with the Bearcats: She was so good that it sometimes took a spectacular play to get her out.

In three seasons at SVC, Dillner hit .404 with 10 homers, 61 RBIs and a slugging percentage of .607. This past spring, she had arguably her best output: .398 batting average, eight homers (tied for the lead in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference), 49 hits (eighth in the PAC) and a slugging percentage of .659 (eighth). She hit safely in 29 of her 37 starts, including 14 multiple-hit games.

She also was solid on defense, committing only one error in 32 chances in left field. She credits her dependable glove to the chemistry she had with center fielder Leah Yoder, a fellow Norwin alumnae who has been Dillner’s teammate for a decade.

“We practically read each other’s minds,” Dillner said. “It made it so easy to play next to her, and our chemistry transferred to the rest of the team.”

It all added up to first-team all-conference recognition for the junior.

But there will be no senior season for Dillner. Next year, she will be doing her student teaching in Hempfield Area School District — fifth and sixth grade students — and her schedule won’t allow for the demands of collegiate softball.

“Bittersweet is a great word to use,” Dillner said. “It’s honestly surreal. I can’t believe the time has come. I’ve been playing softball since I was 8 or 9 years old. Everything I have done in my life from age 8 to age 20 has revolved around softball.

“It already is a huge adjustment for me. … I don’t know what life is going to be like without softball. It’s going to be weird for me. It’s a lot to handle.”

Her departure won’t be easy for the Bearcats either. In her three seasons, Saint Vincent went 59-40-1 overall and 29-23 in the PAC.

SVC coach Nicole Karr lauded Dillner not only for the contributions she makes in the scorebook but also her value as a leader.

“I keep telling her if there’s any way you can make it work, we’d love to have you back another year,” said Karr, who just completed her 18th year as coach of the Bearcats. “Her leadership on this team the last couple of years is what has made us do so well, and that’s what’s going to be missed.”

Dillner’s bat certainly will be missed. In 2022, she hit an eye-popping .447 (46 for 103) to rank fifth in the PAC and drove in 28 runs (tied for seventh). Even as a freshman, Dillner hit .317, but, despite that promising start, Karr knew Dillner had more to give.

“Freshman year, she definitely came in thinking too much,” the coach said, “and I was just like, ‘Hey, don’t think. Just go out there and hit like you know how to do.’ That seemed to help relax her and have her swing be that much better.”

That led to her breakout sophomore season and spilled over into her junior performance. And while Dillner’s batting average “dipped” to .398, her home run total skyrocketed. She had hit only two over her previous two seasons combined before launching eight this spring.

Dillner said the difference was her attention to fitness.

“I started power lifting,” she said. “I just started taking my workouts seriously, and I also started taking my nutrition seriously. I wanted to be as strong as I possibly could, and I just wanted to be the best athlete I could be.”

One of those home runs was particularly memorable. It came toward the end of a week that saw the Bearcats sweep two-game series from Franciscan, La Roche and Bethany — part of a nine-game overall winning streak.

But to digress: Dillner might have had her last hurrah as a player, but she will continue in the game as a coach. For the past four seasons, she has coached travel softball. Her current team is the USSSA Pride Western PA 09 squad for 13- and 14-year-olds (and one of her fellow coaches is the former Ally Vrcek, a Franklin Regional grad who also played softball at Saint Vincent).

Four of her players came to the opening game against Bethany, and they arrived at the field just in time to see “Coach Dillner” drive a solo home run over the center-field fence.

“All I heard was them in the outfield going absolutely crazy,” Dillner said, still unable to contain her joy. “They couldn’t believe that they had just watched their coach hit an over-the-fence home run.

“They came up to me and said, ‘I want to do what you do! I’m going to do that! I’m going to work hard!’ ”

Reactions like that are what softens the blow of Dillner’s exit from the playing field. She still can stay involved from the dugout and enjoys nothing more than teaching the sport that she loves to the next generation of players.

“Softball, it’s my favorite sport, and I just want everyone to love softball as much as I do,” she said. “What I like to transfer to my girls is, when you go out on the field, if you take charge in anything that you’re doing … if you act upon it with confidence, you can’t go wrong.”