All-star softball teams display talent

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BY KEN HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star

Sure, the Husker recruits were wearing red and the Creighton recruits were sporting blue.

Colors didn’t matter because the 800 fans only got to see good softball, said Red team coach Mike Witt of Northwest High School.

The two Coaches All-Star teams split a doubleheader, the Red winning 2-1 and the Blue 4-1 Wednesday night at Haymarket Park.

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Danielle Mowinkel of Logan View pitched for the Red team during the Nebraska Coaches Association all-star games at Haymarket Park on Wednesday, winning the first game and taking the loss in the second. (Heidi Hoffman)

Danielle Mowinkel of Logan View pitched for the Red team during the Nebraska Coaches Association all-star games at Haymarket Park on Wednesday, winning the first game and taking the loss in the second. (Heidi Hoffman)

“There might have been enough talent here to play in the Big 12 Conference,” said Blue All-Star coach Dennis Dodge of Beatrice. “Well, that might be a stretch, but we started everybody and played everybody in the two games and had no drop-off in ability in the field.”

“This was so much fun to watch this kind of talent all on the field at the same time,” Witt said.

“The fans had to feel blessed to see this combination of talented players.”

The Red team flexed its muscle first, when Melanie Patrick of Hastings singled and scored on a two-out triple by Erica McCoy of Bellevue West in the bottom of the seventh inning of the first game. Madison Drake of Lincoln Southwest led the Blue team with a pair of singles.

“That two-out rally in the first game was something to see because this whole team was so excited to get something going in the seventh inning,” said Witt. “And when Erica (McCoy) hit the ball, I thought it was going out of the park.”

The Blue team earned a share of the fun in the second game as Beatrice graduate Casie Baete-Jobman, who is headed to NU, collected three hits, scored a run and drove in another.

Husker recruit Jamie Gay of Beatrice singled and scored in the third inning and singled in a run on a bunt in the sixth inning for the victorious Blue team.

Danielle Mowinkel of Logan View, who earned the win in the first game, took the loss in the second. Nicole Sempek of Columbus Lakeview earned the win in the second game.

“I think the only disappointment was that our team wanted Ashley Hagemann and their team wanted to face her,” said Dodge. Hagemann, the Journal Star Player of the Year and a Husker recruit, was sidelined after hand surgery before the games.

“We had a lot of big leaders and Ashley (Hagemann of Elkhorn) was one of them, along with Jamie Gay,” Dodge said. “It was a lot of fun for everybody.”

Witt added, “I’d like to keep them all together and start my own college team.”

Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.