Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College softball players named All-Conference

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The inaugural season of the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College women’s fastpitch softball team is in the books. After a fifth-place league finish, the Thunder coaching staff learned Monday that two players have received All-Conference awards.

“Stacie Miller was named to the North Division All-Conference First Team and Leanne Gittings made the North Division All-Conference Second Team,” said coach Kerry Rodd. “They both deserve the recognition of being among the elite players in the league.

Miller and Gittings were 1-2 in the league in batting average and helped lead an offense that was one of the most dangerous in the league.

“Those two really were our offensive catalysts,” Rodd remarked. “Leanne gave us a lead-off hitter with a great combination of speed and power and Miller never has a bad at-bat.”

Miller’s lofty batting average of .653 is among the top in the nation. She also added 22 RBIs, three home runs, 13 doubles and nine stolen bases.

Gittings was equally spectacular with a .577 average, 20 RBIs, two homers, nine doubles, three triples and 13 stolen bases.

“The great thing is that both players have confirmed that they will be back next season for us,” Rodd said. “We ended up just two games out of a state playoff berth, so to have both coming back is a big step toward making us an upper-tier program.”

Not only will Gittings and Miller be back for a second season, they will be joined by a strong group of returning players overall and an impressive second recruiting class.

“We expect the return of at least seven of our players from last season,” commented Rodd. “We are also very excited because we are bringing in a strong group of recruits and we think we’ll be a deeper and stronger team next year.”

The Thunder finished the season at 6-10, but lost half their schedule due to the harsh weather conditions.

“We were in the running for a state playoff spot until the very last week of the season and that is a very good accomplishment,” mentioned Rodd. “We need to get better in a few areas and we are addressing those issues, but we believe we have a solid base for next year to build on.”

Rodd was joined on the coaching staff by Joel Korby and Tyler Korby and the three have been busy trying to identify potential players for the future.

“It’s interesting that we are now looking all the way down into the ninth- and 10th-graders identifying future athletes,” said Rodd. “We are at games almost every day in the area trying to make sure our local girls know there is an option for them to play college ball right here.”

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