In the spring of 1992, on the way back from a tournament in Florida, Missouri Southern State University softball coaches and players sensed something special in the works. The Lions had won eight of nine games, continuing a trend of the previous two seasons in which they had shown remarkable success after jumping up to… Read more »
News
Sport: Softball
Dr. E. L. Niedermeyer
Dr. E.L. Niedermayer served as a team physician for Tarkio College for over 30 years. In addition to being part of the MSHOF class of 1983, he was also inducted into the Tarkio College Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1967, the Tarkio City Council voted to rename North City Park to Niedermeyer Memorial… Read more »
Norwood High School 1991 State Championship Softball Team
In the fall of 1991, you could say the Norwood High School Lady Pirates hit preseason softball practices motivated to do a lot of damage. You see, they had won a string of conference championships but had not advanced beyond the district tournament. In other words, it was time to change the narrative, and write… Read more »
Kelly Odneal
He grew up on the family farm in north central Missouri, learning the value of hard work, and it was the kind of work that Kelly Odneal could have done. That is, if he hadn’t loved sports so much – or, as a teen, fell under the guidance of the man who became his mentor,… Read more »
Ed Osiek
Edward Henry Osiek played football, basketball, baseball, and track at St. Charles High School from 1932 to 1936. After high school, he played minor-league baseball from 1936 to 1938. Osiek began his career as a sporting goods salesman in 1940 in his father’s business, Economy Sporting Goods, in St Charles. He later worked in sales… Read more »
Springfield-Greene County Park Board
In 2003, just three years after earning the Gold Medal for best public parks system in the country, the phone rang into the offices of the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. On the other end of the line was a representative from none other than Sports Illustrated. It still leaves officials shaking their heads in disbelief.… Read more »
2000 & 2001 Pleasant Hill High School Softball State Championship Teams
In October 2001, in the 21st inning of the Class 3 state championship softball game, after teammate Samantha Fleeman already had pitched every inning and struck out 44, Emily Fladten stood at second base for Pleasant Hill. And then Devon Francy delivered a base hit. “And I remember knowing exactly what to do, as second… Read more »
Putnam County High School Softball Era 1988-2007
When the 1988 softball team of Putnam County High School took the field for its home-opener, there wasn’t a softball field at all. Instead, it was built for baseball – albeit with no outfield fence, poor lighting and limited bleachers. In fact, it had been that way since the program’s founding in 1980. However, the… Read more »
Angie Resa
In 1940, noted American author Thomas Wolfe posthumously published the classic novel You Can’t Go Home Again, a book about an author who writes a novel which frequently makes unflattering references about his hometown and its citizens. The central character, George Webber, becomes an outcast in his own town and is driven from his home.… Read more »
Lana Richmond
Long before her team would ever secure the first of 884 wins, long before the conference championships and the NCAA Tournament appearances, Lana Richmond had one demand. As coach of the Southeast Missouri State softball program, academics would be priority No. 1, as it would create the foundation to all other successes. And now look.… Read more »
Dr. Richard Seagrave
Dr. Rick Seagrave earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan before heading south to work on his doctorate at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. It was at UTMB that Dr. Seagrave did his residency in Orthopedics. Always interested in sports, Rick moved to Los Angeles, where he completed a fellowship… Read more »
Cindy Shook
Whenever Cindy Shook drives by the Branson RecPlex – a 40-acre sports complex on the city’s north side – she cannot help but beam. It’s here were hundreds of youth baseball and softball teams from all across the country play in tournaments, and where locals use the basketball gyms and more. “It fills me with… Read more »
Reba Sims
Reba came to Missouri State University in 1969 as head coach of the women’s basketball, softball and field hockey teams and, in addition, was a full time instructor in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation Department. Her various teams won several Missouri Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women state tournaments in each sport. Under Sims,… Read more »
1974 Southwest Missouri State University National Championship Softball Team
Led by Coach Kay Hunter, the Southwest Missouri State softball team steamrolled through the nation during the fall of 1974. The team went 19-4, and posted a 4-0 record in the Missouri AIAW Championship. It then went on to compete in the national meet in Omaha, Nebraska, where it won five straight games to claim… Read more »
Wendy Spratt
Coaching college softball was not in Wendy Spratt’s 20-year plan. Or in any plan for that matter. No, Spratt had much bigger ideas about her career. But as John Lennon once sang, “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.” Originally Spratt, the longtime Columbia College softball head coach, wanted to… Read more »
St. Elizabeth High School Softball Program
When folks look at a road map of the Show-Me State and scan their eyes over mid-Missouri, they may spot the town of St. Elizabeth and move on. However, if they’re looking at a state sports map? Well, you certainly couldn’t miss it. From this rural community about 45 minutes south of Jefferson City –… Read more »