Q-C Alumni watch

Font Size:

By Eric Page | Monday, May 12, 2008 |

Two years ago, Jen Larsen and Kara Nelson were teammates on a Moline High School softball team that went 40-0 and won the Illinois Class AA state championship.

Last week, they were honored together as members of a different team — the Missouri Valley Conference all-conference first team.

“It’s awesome, every part of it,” said Nelson, a sophomore third baseman at Illinois State. “It’s so cool that we’re both all-conference. The only thing that would be better is if we were on the same team and doing it. But it’s awesome that we were both first-team this year, because we both take pride in representing the Quad-City area and how competitive softball can be around here.”

Larsen, a pitcher/infielder, is a sophomore at Northern Iowa. It was her first all-conference honor, while Nelson was on the first team for the second straight year. Last year, as a freshman, she was the MVC Player of the Year and was named first-team All-America after helping the Redbirds to an NCAA Regional berth.

The two were together, back home in Moline on Monday when reached on their cell phones. They are friendly rivals, keeping in touch during the season and keeping track of how the other is doing. They both said it is a bit awkward when they face each other on the diamond — awkward, but fun.

“It’s weird pitching against her,” Larsen said. “Kara doesn’t really have any weaknesses. I really don’t know what to pitch her.”

“It’s different,” Nelson added. “It’s not like when you face any other pitcher, because I’ve played with her so long and know how she generally throws to batters. … It’s fun. It’s weird to be in the batter’s box and look out there and see her.”

Last spring, Nelson hit the first home run of her college career off of Larsen in an Illinois State victory over UNI. This season, the Redbirds took two of three from the Panthers on their way to a 28-20 record and second-place MVC finish. UNI went 20-28 and finished second-to-last in the league.

“We played really well. We lost a lot of close games,” said Larsen, who went 6-13 with a 3.34 ERA. “I can’t count how many we lost by one run when we were right there the whole game and then something went wrong.”

Larsen also ranked third on the team with a .317 batting average and led UNI with seven home runs. She is the first Panther to be named first-team all-conference since 2003.

Nelson led the MVC with a .401 average — the second straight season she has batted over .400. She had four home runs and 25 RBIs and stole nine bases for the Redbirds, who lost to Missouri State in the conference tournament semis and missed out on a second straight NCAA berth.

MORE ALUMNI NEWS

Baseball

Evan Cooling (Wilton), a junior at St. Ambrose, went 8-2 with a 5.01 ERA in 11 appearances for the Bees this season. In 41 1/3 innings, Cooling, a left-hander, struck out 32 batters while allowing opponents to hit .287. In Thursday’s NAIA Super Regional win over top-seeded St. Francis, Cooling went 6 2/3 innings to get the win. The Bees took second in the Super Regional and finished their season 34-12.

Track and field

Darrin Decker (Moline), a sophomore at Augustana, reached the NCAA provision qualifying mark in the hammer throw at the University of Chicago’s Penultimate Open on Saturday. His throw of 175 feet, 3½ inches was good for second place in the event.

If you know of a former Q-C area high school athlete who has moved on to the collegiate ranks, contact Eric Page at (563) 383-2277 or epage@qctimes.com.