Alyssa Acton and Katharine Short to play softball at Danville Area Community College
By FRED KRONER
When Maureen Short made her college decision to play softball, she picked Spoon River.
When Audrey Short made her college decision to play softball, she selected Spoon River.
When it came time for current St. Joseph-Ogden senior Katharine Short to make her college decision to play softball, she … could have chosen Spoon River.
She has been to the campus to visit her sisters. She knows her way around the Canton community, and, Spoon River had made a scholarship offer.
But …Katharine Short couldn’t bring herself to make that decision.
“With both of my sisters playing softball at Spoon River College, I knew that it was not my first choice by any means because I wanted to go on my own path and not follow my sister’s footsteps,” Katharine Short said.
She didn’t have to look far from home to find a school that fit her needs.
“I wanted to stay somewhat closer to home, but still be able to move away and have my own path,” Katharine Short said.
A catcher, she committed to Danville Area Community College.
Short remembers when she got her start in softball.
“I was about 5 years old,” she said. “It was with the St. Joseph softball program and, ironically, Alyssa (Acton) was on my team.”
The irony is that Short and Acton are in the same grade and have been teammates at St. Joseph-Ogden. They will remain in the same dugout into the foreseeable future.
A first baseman who does some pitching, Acton is also headed to DACC.
Once there, they will join two other former high school teammates, who are currently freshmen at DACC, outfielder Kennedy Hudson and utility player Kelsey Martlage.
It was not a package deal that resulted in Acton and Short picking the same college, but Acton acknowledged, “it’s nice to have a teammate and friend to go to college with.”
Added Short: “I don’t think Alyssa was a factor in my decision to go to DACC, but it was definitely a bonus.”
Acton remembers making her debut in the sport with the youth St. Joseph softball program. The experience helped shape the player she has become.
“At first, I was not very good,” Acton said. “When I started softball, I knew I wasn’t the best and there were a lot of other girls who were a lot better.
“When I saw girls who were much better than me, I knew I needed to work to become better. I knew I wanted to compete, so I joined my first travel ball team, which was the Aces.”
Both Acton and Short established their goals of playing softball in college years ago.
For Katharine Short, she saw what was possible after following the career of her sister, Maureen, a pitcher who graduated from SJ-O in 2016.
“I honestly set the goal of going to play softball in college at the very beginning of my softball career when I actually was able to understand how far softball could take me and where it could get me,” Katharine Short said. “When my oldest sister Maureen was starting to talk to Spoon River about playing softball at the juco level, that’s really when it hit me that I wanted to play college softball.”
Likewise, Acton was influenced by the prowess of older players.
“I grew up watching college softball on TV,” Acton said. “As I started to get older, I would attend camps at my high school and really looked up to the high school girls.
“I then started to get more serious with my work ethic and career, knowing that if I worked hard I could become better and play in college. I started doing hitting lessons and pitching lessons at a young age and have stuck with them since.”
Therein lies a major factor in how Acton and Short wound up choosing DACC.
When Matt Cervantes and his wife (former UI softball third baseman Kelley Wedel, Class of 2012) are not coaching the DACC Jaguars, they operate a multi-sport training facility in Tilton, T3 Sports Academy.
“I had started working at T3 with hitting lessons the beginning of my junior year and got to get to know Coach Matt, Kelley, and (Kylee) Bott better through going to group lessons,” Katharine Short said. “I’ve known Coach Matt and Kelley for a while through my parents or just simply being another person in the softball world.
“It was kind of a mutual contact because we had always mentioned something about it during lessons but I think Coach Matt basically told me that he wanted to get me on campus for a visit and then it just took off from there. I realized that those were the people that I knew wanted me to succeed, not just play softball for them, but they wanted me as a person to succeed in my softball life and to grow as a person.”
Acton, too, is familiar with her future collegiate coaches and liked what she learned.
“I started doing hitting lessons with Kelley Cervantes when I was 12,” Acton said. “At the time, I knew she was coaching at DACC. When we started doing hitting lessons, DACC definitely filled the list of where I wanted to go.
“We did a lot of in-person talking at hitting lessons when I was a junior and talked about my career.”
She continued to explore other options and attended camps at Eastern Illinois University, Illinois State University, the University of Illinois, Millkin University and Illinois-Springfield as well as at DACC.
“I wanted to keep my choices open and see what each program was like and how the coaches were,” Acton said. “After continuing hitting lessons with Coach (Kelley) Cervantes, I met Matt Cervantes who is the head coach at DACC.
“I created such a great bond with Coach Kelley and got a chance to create a great bond with Coach Matt. They treated me like one of their own and each lesson I grew a stronger bond with each of them.”
The distance between St. Joseph and Danville (less than 30 miles) was both a bonus as well as a potential detriment.
“I wanted to be closer to home, but to still be able to move out and experience college life,” Acton said. “With DACC only being 25 minutes away from my hometown it grew to be No. 1 on my list. I kept emailing other schools, including DACC, but something told me DACC is where I wanted to go. I went on a visit and it felt just right.
“I feel if I was going really far, it would be a struggle to adjust. I am very close to each and every one of my family members. I have a lot of family members who live in Vermillion County. With my parents’ schedules, it works out for them to be able to come watch me play, which they wouldn’t get to if I were farther away.”
Katharine Short wound up taking just one college visit, to DACC. There was just one obstacle in her way during the decision-making process.
“(The closeness between the communities) was actually something that me and my dad had talked about a lot when I was making my decision,” she said. “We had thought that it would almost be too close, and we would be getting dinner a lot together and I wouldn’t necessarily be able to grow on my own and do things that normal college students would if they were to be two hours away.”
In the final analysis, Short will be independent and on her own, yet not that far away from her father, Tim, and oldest sister and brother-in-law (Maureen and Nate Hoffman), who live In Gifford. She considered that a win-win.
“I think that it will be good for me to be away from my family, but still be close enough to where if something were to happen or if I do just want to have dinner with them, it’s not too far,” Katharine Short said. “I am for sure closest with my oldest sister and brother-in-law and I wouldn’t be able to function without hanging out or going to dinner with them at least once a month.
“My dad and I have definitely grown in our relationship with it just being the two of us in the house. I think it’s going to be hard living on my own, but I also know that if I ever need anything, I’m 30 minutes away from everyone and they would all be there in a heartbeat. With my sister (Audrey) being two hours away, we have both grown to be able to text or snapchat each other and try to do a weekend together.”
Audrey Short, an outfielder, is a sophomore at Spoon River. She graduated from SJ-O in 2021.
That Acton and Katharine Short have the chance to play collegiately is no surprise to their high school coach, Larry Sparks. He has not only worked with them throughout high school at SJ-O, but also for two years while they were in junior high.
“They were part of that group of (current) seniors that came in as freshmen and were slated to contribute,” Sparks said.
Acton and Short will be entering their third year as varsity regulars with the Spartans. They missed their freshmen season when all spring sports were canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19. This year’s pre-season practice officially starts on Monday (Feb. 27).
Acton added an element of power to her game in 2022. Sixteen of her 39 hits landed for extra bases. She socked three home runs and knocked in 31 runs, while batting .390. She also had an 8-2 pitching record (for a 25-9-1 team) to go with a 1.76 earned run average.
“Over her two (varsity) seasons, she has hit as well as anybody,” Sparks said. “She’ll come back this season better.
“She works hard, has a good personality, and has always had a good glove (at first base). She’s more mobile this year.”
Unbeknownst to her at the time, Katharine Short played much of her junior season with an illness that curtailed her effectiveness.
“I played the whole season with mono and had jaundice at the same time,” Short said. “We had no idea that I had mono because I felt completely fine except for the fact that I was yellow because of my jaundice.”
She not only made an impact for the Spartans, but made significant progress as the season developed.
“She is a stalwart defensive catcher and is one of the best around,” Sparks said. “Last year, about halfway through the season, she started showing something offensively.
“I told her if she had put in as much work (in the past) on her offense as her defense, she probably would have been swinging a bat sooner.”
The two current Spartans are joining a DACC program that has flourished under the leadership of the Cervantes family.
The school won one game in Matt Cervantes’ first year, when he had a roster of nine total players, but last year compiled a 45-15 record and placed seventh in the NJCAA Division II national tournament.
“What Matt and Kelley have going at DACC is a good thing,” Sparks said. “It rivals that at Parkland (which is a perennial national contender). They play top competition; they best they can find.”
The SJ-O coach believes his players can play beyond their years at DACC.
“I’d say they’ll have similar success (at DACC) as they’ve had at St. Joe,” Sparks said, “and maybe will have an opportunity to continue at a four-year school.”
Sparks is glad he’ll have a roster this spring that will feature six seniors, including a veteran group in the infield.
Besides Short behind the plate and Acton at first base, senior second baseman Shayne Immke (a Heartland College recruit), senior shortstop Peyton Jones (also a Heartland College recruit) and junior third baseman Addy Martinie forms a unit Sparks would match with any.
“I’d say they are the best infield in the state,” Sparks said.
Though Acton and Short tried multiple sports, they each settled on softball as their primary interest.
“Softball has always been my favorite sport even while playing other sports (basketball, volleyball, track and field, soccer and dance),” Acton said. “When I was younger, it was always a goal for me to participate in some sport in college. This goal developed in seventh grade when I was playing three different sports, and never changed throughout the years.”
Katharine Short, who has a background in basketball, volleyball and track and field, has a similar story.
“My family has always been a softball family, and it was just in our paths,” she said. “I’m sure if I wanted to play any other sport, it would be loved, just not as much as softball.
“Softball appealed to me because my whole family runs on softball. The community in softball is so amazing. It’s the people that make the game fun. I think that being able to play with my friends and growing the relationship with their families is what it’s about for me.
“I love being able to succeed in the actual game, but win or lose, it’s about the kind of friendships I build with everyone there. It’s always fun to be able to compete within the game and be able to be a good role model for younger players.”
It was her desire to not totally follow in her sisters’ footsteps that led Katharine Short to becoming a catcher.
“Both of my sisters were pitchers, and I was about to be a pitcher, but I wanted to be different in that aspect too,” she said. “I chose catching because then I could catch both of my sisters.”
Though she wanted to forge her own way, there was one aspect where Katharine Short was perfectly content to emulate her older sisters.
“I felt excited to be on the high school field that both my sisters had played on, and so many other players that I looked up to when I was younger,” she said. “I wanted to play like them and keep SJO softball with the same reputation and same work ethic.”
Ironically, through three years in high school, Short and Acton have had just one year to play on their home Randy Wolken Field.
“It hasn’t been what I expected, with my freshman season getting canceled because of COVID-19 and junior year we were not able to play on our home field due to a pipe bursting,” Acton said. “Even through it, those two years we have had two 20-plus win seasons.
“When you are a girl who has grown up in St. Joe and plays softball, you know the history of the SJ-O softball program. There are high expectations and there is pressure to win.”
Acton’s fondness for softball stems from more than the action on the field.
“When it comes to softball, I find the friendships and the competition appealing,” she said. “I love being a part of the action during the game and love how it is a fast-moving game.”
She looks forward to growing with the sport.
“When I evaluate myself and what I do best and what I need to work on, I would say I do best at being a teammate and having everyone’s backs, and that I’m coachable,” Acton said. “I can always improve myself being a teammate and work on having faster feet on the field. I can always see myself improving in every aspect. Improving is a part of the game, and I continue to take reps.
“Once I reach college, there will be many ways I can improve, from the advice from all my coaches, plus my teammates,” Acton added. “I won’t only become a better athlete, but I will also become an overall better person and teammate. I am going to learn a lot of new skills from the coaches.”
She looks forward to more than just the softball games at DACC, though her goal is to be on the field with the Jaguars.
“I see myself bringing great energy and positive vibes to my college team,” Acton said. “I want to be a teammate that people can come to and rely on when needed.
“I want to pick people up and overall be a team player. My coaches have told me about covering more area at first and working on my speed. I anticipate competing for the first base position and hopefully continuing to work hard on my hitting to find myself in the lineup.”
Short and Acton plan to take different career paths in the future.
Short is looking at a profession as a conservation officer or in a related field. She plans to major in either criminal justice or environmental science.
As for Acton, she will major in occupational therapy.
“In 10 years, I hope to have a full-time job as an occupational therapist, and to be married,” Acton said.
As for the more immediate future, Short can’t wait to get to the next level.
“I am so excited to go to DACC and I think it will be a really good team that I will be able to consider family by the time I’m done there,” Katharine Short said. “I have already talked to some of the other girls that are in my class going to DACC and we have gotten along really well.
“I have been working on my hitting with the coaches and I know there are so many things to still improve on, but hopefully I get to work around the field a little more and find new places to play. I think that in college I will be able to grow as a person and a leader. I know that there is so much to improve on in softball as it is a mental game, and I for sure need to work on things with my mechanics.”
While there is room for improvement, there’s one aspect where Short can only hope to duplicate what she has been doing.
“I always perform 110 percent, no matter what kind of situation it is,” she said.
