Frankie Izard transfers from Lake Land College to play D-1 softball at Louisiana-Lafayette
By FRED KRONER
Stories like Frankie Izard’s come along about once a century. Maybe twice.
They are the heart-warming tales that give credence to the theory that anything can happen and it’s never too late to get a start in a sport.
Izard played one year of high school softball, as a senior in 2018.
Now, two years later, she is heading to a Division I program (Louisiana Lafayette) that was ranked among the top 10 nationally in the final 2020 USA Today poll, and she has three years of eligibility remaining.
In truth, though Izard only played one year of softball at St. Joseph-Ogden – where she earned seven state medals in track – it was a sport she had participated in during the summer months for years with elite travel teams.
“I played junior high softball for the school, but when I got to high school, I had to decide and I decided to do track until my senior year,” Izard said. “I knew I could play travel ball in the summer.
“I loved both sports and still do to this day.”
What changed as a high school senior was the need to look to her future.
“I had to make a decision about what I wanted to play in college,” Izard said. “I figured I should get one year of school ball under my belt.”
An outfielder, she made an impact on the final SJ-O high school team coached by Randy Wolken. Izard earned second-team All-Area recognition from The News-Gazette in 2018.
“She was hurt (hamstring injury) for about the first quarter of the season and that restricted her some after that,” Wolken said.
He never doubted that she would contribute to the Spartans.
“She hit good pitching as well as anybody,” Wolken said. “She had a lot of potential.”
During the first portion of her freshman year at SJ-O, Wolken tried to convince Izard that she had a future in softball.
“She had played high-caliber summer ball and I thought her best ticket (to a college program) was softball,” Wolken said. “I thought she had the skills to play in college.”
Once Izard picked track, Wolken backed off, but willingly welcomed her when she opted for softball as a senior.
Before she had played a game for SJ-O, Izard had already committed to Lake Land College, in Mattoon.
“I knew I wanted to play for Coach (Nic) Nelson,” she said. “He had watched me and I’d gone to his camp when I was 12.”
Though she had no high school statistics at the point she gave her verbal commitment, Nelson knew everything he needed about Izard.
“The first thing is, she has speed,” Nelson said. “Speed never goes into a slump and speed keeps her in the game.
“I tell people that pitching is hard to find, but that kind of speed is even harder. You’ll take it every time.”
He wasn’t disappointed.
In Izard’s inaugural season of junior college competition in 2019, she batted .512 (131 for 256) and led all NJCAA players in hits and at-bats while striking out just twice in 271 plate appearances.
Her hit total and at-bats as a freshman were also Lake Land single-season records.
For a team that was 50-19, she stole 42 bases and totaled 12 triples, earning honorable mention status on the Fastpitch News’ All-American team. She was the Region 24 Player of the Year.
“She has an incredible work ethic,” Nelson said. “She understands the game and works hard at getting better.”
But Izard’s focus is not just on herself.
“She cares a lot about her teammates,” Nelson said. “I’ll miss her leadership.”
Izard and Lake Land played about one-third of their 2020 season. The Lakers were 21-4 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced all spring sports at all universities to cancel their remaining schedules.
“We had 70 games scheduled,” said Nelson, who was in his 11th year as the Lake Land head coach. “I tell people I’ve coached 10.3 seasons.”
During his tenure, 68 of his players have received scholarships to play at four-year universities.
The pandemic did more than play havoc with the schedules.
“Our history says, ‘If you play for us, here is what will happen (as far as college offers),’” Nelson said. “Because seniors got their year (of eligibility) back, that was thrown out the window this year.
“It really affected junior college transfer kids. A lot of schools we thought would be interested, weren’t. In a normal year, there would have been 20 to 25 schools looking at her.”
Instead, Izard had Division I offers from Louisiana-Lafayette (which was ranked eighth nationally this year) and Eastern Illinois University.
Wolken wasn’t surprised that Louisiana coach Gerry Glasco was interested in Izard.
“He had recruited some of our kids when he was at Georgia and Texas A&M,” Wolken said.
Izard is the first Spartan to sign to play for Glasco.
“Ever since Glasco has been at Louisiana, it has been my dream school,” Izard said. “I met him a few years back and saw the hitting style that he does.
“I love the way he coaches and can’t wait to learn from him and get better.”
As a bonus, all junior college spring-sport athletes were granted an extra year of eligibility. Izard will have three years to play at the Division I level.
“She is graduating this year (from Lake Land) and this is like hitting the lottery,” Nelson said. “I said you’ll get a year of grad school paid for.”
While she acknowledged that the situation went well for her, Izard also recognizes that’s not the case across the board.
“It worked out in my favor,” Izard said, “but I’m very sad because we had a great team and it would have helped a lot of people (to be seen) if we’d made it to nationals.”
Izard, who has maintained a 3.8 grade-point average at Lake Land will finish her on-line courses with the school this week. She plans on majoring in kinesiology at Louisiana.
Izard’s goal was to play Division I softball, but when she signed her letter of intent on May 1, she exceeded her expectations.
“I didn’t expect to go this far,” she said, “nowhere like Louisiana.
“I was very lucky. The coronavirus put a hold on the recruiting process. They had some (senior) players who left, and he offered me.”
Louisiana, which has an enrollment of approximately 14,000 students, has been ranked in the final NCAA softball poll 13 consecutive seasons. The team was 18-6 when this year’s season was halted.
In addition to studying, Izard is working out daily at home, trying to stay sharp.
“There’s nothing like the actual game, but I practice every day, multiple times,” she said, “and I hope that will help me out.”
She has the facilities she needs right on her parents’ property.
“Dad has a setup in our barn with a couple of hitting cages and a pitching machine,” Izard said. “I can hit as long as I want.
“I hit once or twice a day and lift weights for an hour or two every day.”
From Wolken’s view, it is a success story with a capital ‘S.’
“It’s amazing,” he said. “One year of high school ball and basically one year of junior college. It’s quite a story.”
With Izard’s departure from Lake Land, Nelson said he will miss more than the former SJ-O athlete.
“She has a great family that is always supportive,” Nelson said.
