Sports : Vikette Softball team gives formal salute to five seniors

At the end of each sports season, it is traditional for Vinton-Shellsburg programs to honor the senior members of their teams. Thursday night, the Vikette softball team gave a formal salute to five seniors whose accomplishments as a group are as historic as they are remarkable.

When Ashley Boyer, Sydney Etten, Paige Kreutner, Jena Relf and Kaley Womochil finally put away their bats and gloves for the last time, sometime later this month, they will leave behind a legacy of accomplishment that will be a new standard for each senior class to reach for.

Each member of this “Fab Five” is a five-year letterwinner. They were all key parts of the 2008 WaMaC Western Division championship team, as well the group that reached the 3A Regional finals that same year. They have been part of over 100 wins, the best five-year win total in the 36-year history of the program.

As eighth-graders, they played in junior varsity games, lugged water jugs, kept the scorebook, pinch-ran, ate a lot of sunflower seeds and chewed a lot of bubble gum. But after that, they were all key components of an incredible run.

Boyer and Relf split left field as freshmen, but by their sophomore years Boyer had moved behind the plate as the Vikette catcher. She has held that position for the last three years, and over the last two she has shepherded a young pitching staff toward being one of the best in the West. At the plate, Boyer has been one of the team’s top run producers with both her bat and her fleet feet. She has been the quiet leader of this team.

With Boyer behind the plate, Relf took over left field, following in the footsteps of her sister Jessica, who held the position for four years. Her steady play has made the Vikettes a strong defensive team over the past four years and her bat has chipped in a lot of big hits. And after this season, for the first time in nearly a decade, when Coach Bari Parrott writes up his line-up card, the name “Relf” won’t be in left field. Talk about a legacy.

As a freshman, Etten was the Vikettes’ top pinch-runner. She was Liz Hill’s permanent courtesy runner in ’08 and scored a lot of runs, as the now-Mount Mercy standout reached base a great deal. Etten’s dash home on a ground out in the Regional semifinals against Knoxville gave the Vikettes a 1-0 victory, and a berth against Carlisle in the Regional finals. Since her sophomore year, Etten has held down right field, and her aggressiveness and cannon arm have anchored that side of the field.

Womochil has had a variety of jobs in her career; pinch-runner, relief pitcher, even second baseman. She was looking at more of the same in 2009, when suddenly the Vikettes found themselves in need of a first baseman. Womochil stepped in as a sophomore and after some early learning hiccups, she became a wizard around the bag. And with her bat, her strength has proven to be a big run-producer. Earlier this season she blasted a grand-slam homer in a win over Oelwein.

But if any one story defines this group, it might be Kreutner’s . As a freshman, she became a surprise starter at shortstop. She held her own there, led the team in sacrifices and was a solid number two hitter. In this constellation of young stars, hers seemed to burn brightest.

Then came Christmas break of 2008-09. A basketball scrimmage collision left Kreutner with a badly broken left arm. Surgery left her with a 12-inch steel rod in her arm and shelved her until just before the season began. She played sparingly that year and struggled at the plate. As a junior, Kreutner moved to centerfield, but just five games into the season she again broke her left arm. She would again miss most of the season.

Coming into her senior year, Kreutner’s role on the team seemed up in the air. But Parrott stuck her back in centerfield and put her at the top of the line-up. During spring league games, this career singles and doubles hitter blasted a pair of home runs. After two lost seasons, Kreutner’s bat came to life. Throughout the season she has hovered in the .350 to .400-range in batting average, stolen bases and worked a lot of walks. She’s also hit home runs. A lot of them.

In Thursday’s win over Tri-County, Kreutner homered; her sixth of the season. With three games left in the regular season, she stands in second-place all-time for home runs in a single season. She is just one blast behind Hall-Of-Famer Dawn Curtis’ 1996 total of seven for a season. But record or not, her story, along with the stories of her classmates, are truly tributes.

For five years, the Fab Five and their teammates have been in the weight room in the fall and the batting cages in the winter and spring. They have worked and practiced and dreamed together. They have won together and lost together and supported each other through five years of incredible highs and gut-wrenching lows. They haven’t been just teammates, they have been best friends; kindred souls with one dream.

Back in that 2008 Regional finals loss to Carlisle, the Vikettes took the third-rated Wildcats into the 10th-inning in a scoreless draw behind Liz Hill’s no-hitter. The Vikettes had just three hits in the game. Kreutner had one of them, a sixth-inning single. She would end up on third with two outs, just 60 feet from the State tournament, but was left stranded. An inning later, Relf pinch-ran for Sarah Hill after the catcher’s double. Again she’d get to third with two outs. And, again, she’d stay there, when the Vikettes couldn’t get her home. Stranded, 60 feet from Fort Dodge.

Carlisle would score three runs in the 10th and dream ended there. But now it’s three years later, and the Vikettes are still dreaming of going that final 60 feet. Could they? Sure. Will they? Stay tuned. If they do, it will be these five ladies who lead them there.

But whatever happens in the next few weeks, nothing will dim the legacy of the Fab Five. They will be part of Vikette softball lore for a long time to come. And they can all look back on that with pride, as they look ahead to life.

And from those of us who got to watch it all, thank you ladies. It’s been a great ride.