By Chris Bennett
It is not often that a team with an overall record of 7-15 and only one win in conference play can consider a season a success, let alone one in which it made history.
Count the Elkhorn Area High School softball team among those few.
The Elks gathered Sunday at Camp Pottawatomie Hills on Pleasant Lake in East Troy and celebrated the 2014 season. Coach Jacob Shueller named the team’s award winners.
Sophomore Bailey LeDonne earned the Most Improved Player Award. Lilly Remington earned the Captain Award and Vicky Bray earned the Lady Elk Award.
Elkhorn’s season ended May 17 with a 10-0 loss to Beloit Turner in a WIAA Division 2 regional final game at Turner High School.
Elkhorn advanced to the regional final after defeating Big Foot 7-6 in eight innings May 22 in a WIAA Division 2 regional semifinal game at Toynton Field in Walworth. It marked the Elks’ first postseason victory since the 2000 season.
“I think as big a step as I could have expected,” said Schueller when asked how far the program moved forward this season.
Schueller, who just completed his second season as the Elks’ head coach, said he was wrong.
“It takes more than that,” Schueller said. “It takes a community to change the culture of a softball team. That happened.”
LeDonne is an excellent example. Her offseason work with Schueller helped her become a force on offense.
“If you would have told me that teams would pitch around her and start her off with change-ups, and that teams we haven’t played would be wary of her power based off conversations with other coaches, I never would have guessed that,” Schueller said.
Schueller did not name captains before the season, and awarded the Captain Award based on who filled the team’s leadership role during the season.
“She showed the most leadership and fulfilled the role of Captain the best,” Schueller said of Remington. “She was very vocal and had a positive attitude to the game, no matter what the situation. She was always up, cheering and hustling.”
Schueller said each sport puts its own twist on the Elk Award.
“I look at it as being of high character and a good teammate,” Schueller said. “All the little things not in the stats, and her performance on the field.”
Schueller said Bray did not play much this season, but did not diminish her contribution to the team’s fortunes.
“She never once complained, and always did what was asked of her,” Schueller said. “Basically, every good team has a Vicky Bray on it.”
Catcher Meghan Etten earned Honorable Mention All-Southern Lakes Conference honors, the only Elks player to do so.
