WISCONSIN DELLS — A number of area softball standouts had one final chance to perform last Tuesday at the 2017 Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association (WFSCA) All-Star Games at Woodside Sports Complex in Wisconsin Dells.
Belmont outfielder/pitcher Paige Nolan, Iowa–Grant pitcher Maranda McCarthy and Benton/Shullsburg catcher McKailah Strang helped lead the Division 4/5 White All-Star team to a 2–0 record, while Potosi outfielder Brook McKillip, Darlington shortstop Callie Norton and Black Hawk second baseman Sammy Lovelace went 1–1 on the day with the Division 4/5 Blue All-Star team
Platteville’s KD Hoyer played all over the field, playing catcher, second base, third base, left field and right field for the Division 2/3 Blue team.
Hoyer’s team lost both its games Tuesday, but the event was for a cause close to her heart, Special Olympics of Wisconsin, and she was one of the top individual fundraisers for the entire event.
There were 199 senior All-Stars who took part in this year’s event, chosen from all 5 divisions. Divisions 2 and 3 were combined to make six teams (72 girls) and Divisions 4 and 5 were also combined to form five teams, and there were six Division 1 teams.
Each player had to raise $300 in donations for Special Olympic of Wisconsin to be eligible to play. Hoyer was part of the $1,000 club, raising a grand total of $1,080. Only 15 of the 199 All-Stars were part of this elite club.
Hoyer plans to major in Special Education at Waldorf University in Forrest City, Iowa, where she will also continue her softball career this fall.
The D4/5 Blue All-Stars defeated the D4/5 Red team by a score of 9–2 to open the day, but were then edged by the White All-Stars, 7–6, in their second game to finish with a 1–1 record.
The D4/5 White finished a perfect 2–0 at the event thanks to a 13–5 win over the Black D4/5 team on Tuesday afternoon.
Nolan pitched three innings in the White’s win over the Blue and went 6-for-9 at the plate with a pair of doubles. Strang caught all 14 innings for the White and had four hits in nine at-bats during the twinbill. McCarthy earned the win in the circle in game two and batted 4-for-8 on the day for Cambridge head coach Dean Freeland’s D4/5 White team, along with Highland’s Karen McMannes, Southwestern’s Katie Fritz and Amber Brand, Juda/Albany’s Alexis Goecks and Sara Jordan, and Mineral Point’s Destinee Kruser.
McKillip and Lovelace each went 3-for-9 on the day for McDonell Central head coach Chelsea Rosenow’s D4/5 Blue squad. Norton went 4-for-9 at the plate for the Blue team, and made a key catch in left field with the bases loaded to help lead her team to victory over the Red.
