Success has followed the St. Jo Frontier Casino Players fastpitch softball team for quite some time, but the 2002 season was extra special for the squad. The Players won the 2002 International Softball Congress World Championship in Kitchener-Waterloo, Iowa. The team, which hails from St. Joseph, Missouri, became the first team from Missouri to win… Read more »
News
Sport: Softball
Kevin Stubblefield
On a farm outside of Stoutland in mid-Missouri, he practiced jump shots on a goal in the barnyard and, in the summer, day-dreamed of being a big-leaguer by picking up rocks and swinging a wiffle ball bat. See the tree line to the left at the bottom of the hill? That was the outfield wall… Read more »
David Sturm
In 1976, his dreams of becoming a big-league baseball umpire were pulled away, as a pro umpire evaluator questioned his commitment to the profession. Call it a tough day for David Sturm. After all, years before, his doctor said he would have been legally blind if not for a pair of thick eyeglasses. And, if… Read more »
Rhesa Sumrell
Rhesa Sumrell says softball wasn’t even the sport she enjoyed most as a young person. She was a multi-sport athlete growing up “My trajectory into the game of softball was more of a logistical business situation,” she said. “I wouldn’t say it was my favorite sport, but it became the sport that I spent most of… Read more »
Webb City High School Softball Program
Just beyond the backstop of the softball field stands a press box with lists of team accomplishments. One sign screams “State Champions 2004 32-0” while others celebrate the 2007 state title and numerous other seasons. And to think that, gulp, it almost never happened at all for the Webb City High School Softball Program. The… Read more »
Linda Wells
She grew up on a dirt road outside of Pacific, a rural community just west of St. Louis, and played just about every sport imaginable. So when Linda Wells was about to enter high school, a neighbor walked over to the house and asked her dad if she might be interested in playing in the… Read more »
1984-1999 Era Westran High School Softball
In his classic play Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare wrote, “Some are born great… others have greatness thrust upon them.” But over the years, part of the quote has fallen by the wayside. The complete quote reads, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, others have greatness thrust upon them.” Achieving greatness was the norm for… Read more »
1993-1997 Era Wheaton High School Softball
The Wheaton softball team’s success during the 1990s actually began a decade earlier. The Bulldogs were one of the top Class 1A-2A teams in Missouri during the 80s, reaching the state final four on four different occasions (1980, 1982, 1985, 1986). While those teams didn’t quite reach the goal of becoming state champions, they left… Read more »
Nora Cagwin Whitcomb
The interest from NCAA Division I softball programs came in in the mid-1990s to a suburban Kansas City pitcher, and some folks probably assumed that she would choose one from the soon-to-be Big 12 or Big 10 Conferences. Instead, Nora Cagwin Whitcomb threw everybody a curveball – with pinpoint placement. You see, her heart fell… Read more »
Tammy Williams
Tammy Williams was a bit confused when she first arrived in Evanston, Ill., from Missouri, and visited the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago for the first time. “My college roommate, Jessica Rigas, always laughs that I didn’t understand why they would ever have cows in the zoo in Chicago,” Williams said. Hailing from tiny Osceola,… Read more »
2022 Class – Wynn Awards
CLASS of 2022 Neely Burkhart — Joplin High School/Missouri Southern State University) Teri Steer Cantwell — Olympic shot putter and former University of Missouri track & field assistant coach Julie O’Dell Griffith — Logan-Rogersville High School/Evangel University Chelsea Dirks-Ham — Missouri State University Amanda Hoenes — Branson High School/United States Marines Corps/Colorado State University Kim… Read more »
2018 Class – Wynn Awards
CLASS OF 2018 Shelley Seider Davis (Rich Hill High School/Pittsburg State University) Brianne McGuirk Madura (Missouri State University) Lorin Opfer –– Glendale High School Alix Opfer — Glendale High School Kasey Opfer — Glendale High School Brenda Hayes Raynor (Branson High School/Missouri State University) Trudi Spain (Missouri State University) Dana Ozbun Stillwagon (Doniphan High School/Southwest… Read more »
Larry Zirbel
Larry Zirbel was born in Paris Township, Kenosha County, Wisconsin on June 13, 1921. Spent his boyhood in Algoma, Wisconsin, and graduated from Algoma High School in June 1939. He was a World War II veteran, serving from 1942 to 1945. He received his BS degree from Northwest Missouri State in 1950 and his M.Ed.… Read more »