fred@mahometnews.com

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.

The post Frankie Izard transfers from Lake Land College to play D-1 softball at Louisiana-Lafayette first appeared on SJO Daily.

fred@mahometnews.com

The final installment in our series on all-decade athletic teams (fall, winter) concludes today with the release of the elite spring-sport athletes.

Before we get to the particular sports, we will recognize two athletes. The designation is for Male and Female Athlete of the Decade.

In a sense, the winners picked themselves for their high level of involvement and achievement in sports during the school year.

St. Joseph-Ogden had nine boys and four girls who were chosen for all-decade teams in two sports.

The Female Athlete of the Decade is Chelsea Blaase, who was a two-sport state champion. She won titles in both cross-country and in track and field, in the 3,200-meter race.

Other SJ-O girls who were all-decade in two sports were Hanna Atwood, Hannah Dukeman and Josey Fruhling.

The Male Athlete of the Decade is Wesley Kibler, a state champion in wrestling and an All-Area first-team selection in football.

Other SJ-O boys who were all-decade choices in two sports were Andy Bensyl, Ty Brown, Jack Cook, Zeke Elkins, Austin Hedrick, Griffin Meeker, Jake Pence and Justin Phillips.

Before turning our attention to the spring-sport all-decade teams, two points should be remembered. The selections are based entirely on what the athlete did during high school. Subsequent college accolades were not taken into account.

Also, a great number of athletes from the school received All-Area first- or second-team honors during their time in high school and that recognition was the foundation for compiling the all-decade lists.

ST. JOSEPH-OGDEN BASEBALL

NAME                  POS.  GRAD YR.

Cole Berry            P          2015
Ty Brown             OF        2016
Austin Cain           P          2018
Colton Carr           P          2016
Mason Coon           OF 2017
Chase Gadau        C         2015
Colton Hale          P          2017
Hunter Hart          P         2014
Blake Hoveln     INF       2012
Brock Immke        P         2014
Dalton Parker      P          2016

Player of the Decade – Dalton Parker, who had an earned run average of 0.25 as a senior, 0.31 as a junior and 0.45 as a sophomore. He had a streak of 46 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings as a junior. He was the winning pitcher in eight games as a senior, 10 as a junior and four as a sophomore and totaled 289 strikeouts during those three seasons.

 ST. JOSEPH-OGDEN SOFTBALL

NAME                  POS.          GRAD YR.

Hannah Bowen       INF         2011
Stephanie Canfield   OF         2012
Andrea Coursey    SS         2017
Bailey Dowling        SS               2020
Hannah Dukeman      C               2020
Elizabeth Everingham  P 2012
Mickaela Fleming       C               2013
Emmy Graver         INF                 2018
Abby Immke         INF                 2012
Kenzie Pence         OF                 2018
Mady Poulter        INF                2015

Player of the Decade – Bailey Dowling, who has had batting averages of .650 as a freshman, .657 as a sophomore and .674 as a junior. She hasn’t hit less than 21 home runs in any high school season and owns the all-time IHSA state record with 65 career home runs. She has driven in 181 career runs.

 ST. JOSEPH-OGDEN BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD

NAME                     EVENTS GRAD YR.

Alex Arteaga       Hurdles        2012
Riley Baker          Hurdles        2018
Chas Cox          Mid-Distance 2012
Zeke Elkins        Mid-Distance 2012
Sam Gilly             Weights       2012
Thomas Jean          PV             2011
Cole Johnson       Sprints        2013
Matt Knipfer          PV             2016
Gabe Lyons       Mid-Distance   2016
Ethan Mizer          PV              2016
Cole Nachowicz  Hurdles      2016
Justin Phillips      Distance     2017
Eric Rydell              HJ              2013
Landon Vowels  Mid-Distance  2012

Athlete of the Decade – Zeke Elkins, who won three individual medals at state and a total of seven medals overall, including participation on relays.

ST. JOSEPH-OGDEN GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD

NAME                  EVENTS     GRAD YR.

Hanna Atwood     PV              2016
Rachel Ballard    Sprints        2012
Hailey Birt           Sprints        2020
Chelsea Blaase   Distance    2012
Parker Francisco Hurdles      2017
Kristen Hamer    Sprints       2015
Atleigh Hamilton Jumps        2021
Frankie Izard       Sprints       2018
Danie Kelso         Sprints       2020
Zea Maroon       Hurdles       2018
Abbey Mizer       Sprints       2018
Aleesia Reeves    Sprints     2017
Rylee Sjuts            Sprints     2019
Maclayne Taylor Sprints      2019

Athlete of the Decade – Atleigh Hamilton, who won two Class 1A long jump state titles and was also a member of two relay units which captured state title. She was the school’s only two-time individual state titlist for the decade.

The post Kroner’s Picks: St. Joseph-Ogden All-Decade Team (Spring), Blaase and Kibler named Athletes of the Decade first appeared on SJO Daily.