Sister of Olympic speedskater leading Whitnall
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Whitnall High School's Carolyn Dudek throws a pitch as Eisenhower's Bailey Meyer looks in at the pitch from second base May 6. Photo By Mary Catanese
Everyone who has an older sibling knows the challenges that go with it.
Whether that's for better or worse, comparisons to big brother or sister are likely inevitable.
For 16-year-old Whitnall pitcher Carolyn Dudek, those comparisons are more frequent than most. That's because her sister is Alyson Dudek, bronze-medal winner in the women's speedskating 3,000-meter relay in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
"There is a little bit (of extra pressure) because everyone goes 'Oh, is your sister here?'" Dudek said. "I'm trying to do really well. I just try to push as hard as I can. I don't really try to compare myself to her, but it's kind of hard sometimes."
Adding to the family name
Carolyn actually started to make a name for herself even before Olympic fever swept across the country and made her last name all the more recognizable.
Last year, as a freshman, Carolyn was an instant starter at Whitnall and notched four no-hitters en route to the team's fourth-place finish in the defunct Woodland Conference South Division.
"(Being a freshman on the varsity), it kind of was difficult, but I knew most of the girls on the team and they really kept me up and kept encouraging me," Carolyn Dudek said. "It was nice, but it was definitely difficult because no one else was a starting pitcher on varsity. By the end of the year, I was really close with the girls, though, so it was really nice."
Peer pressure
Being a starting varsity freshman is difficult enough, but being a freshman pitcher in the Woodland is a whole different story, and it hasn't gotten any easier this spring.
With other talented arms such as New Berlin Eisenhower senior Tori Kilps and Greenfield senior and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay recruit Shannon Butts to name a few, Dudek isn't even the best pitcher in her conference despite her already impressive resume.
Dudek said she pays attention to what other teams and pitchers are doing, but doesn't let the comparisons get to her.
"Actually, I do notice it," Dudek said. "When (the opposing pitcher) is up to bat, I want to be faster than her and strike her out, but when I'm up there facing her I just act like she's any other girl."
Character, with results
That type of character shone through in the Falcons 3-0 win over Greendale this past Thursday as Dudek outdueled fellow sophomore Andrea Waldera in a true pitchers match.
Although Waldera struck out seven, Dudek had the last laugh, throwing a two-hitter while offensively grabbing two hits, an RBI and a run.
"The last two games she pitched really, really well," first-year Whitnall head coach Gary Caliva said after the win over Greendale. "Today was a two-hitter; the last one I think was a three-hitter."
Dudek and the Falcons added a split of league games last week. The sophomore struck out seven batters in a 17-4 win at Wauwatosa West on May 4. Amy Ford belted a home run for one of her three hits and Hannah Schmidt was 3-for-5 with two runs.
Whitnall also lost, 12-1, to visiting New Berlin Eisenhower two days later, but Dudek said the Falcons have been adjusting nicely to their new coach and hope to do better than their loss in the first round of the playoffs last year.
"It's going really good," Dudek said. "He (Caliva) has definitely changed us and our attitudes is really pushing us really well."
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