TERRE HAUTE —
Eighty Wabash Valley natives are playing collegiate softball and baseball this spring, while another 11 serve as college coaches.
Of those athletes, 48 play baseball and 32 play softball.
Highlight performers so far include Terre Haute South grad Koby Kraemer, who leads Indiana State in hitting; Owen Valley’s Craig Roberts, who leads Indiana-Southeast in hitting; Northview’s Emily Phillips, who paces Olney Central in hitting; Riverton Parke’s Megan Vincent, the second-leading hitter for Wabash Valley College; and Terre Haute North grad Kelsey Rosselli, who paces St. Mary-of-the-Woods in hitting.
The collegiate baseball coaches are all former Division I performers:
• Shakamak grad Tyler Rehmel, an assistant at his junior college alma mater of Lincoln Trail, who played at Eastern Kentucky.
• Casey-Westfield’s D.J. Throneburg, in his first year as pitching coach at Butler, who pitched at Charleston Southern.
• A pair of former left-handed pitchers from Terre Haute North in Scott Lawson (Georgia) and Max Hutson (Wichita State), who are assistant coaches at Rose-Hulman and Indiana State, respectively.
The softball coaches also bring a lot of experience to their teams:
• Casey-Westfield’s Sandy Montgomery is in her 23rd season as head coach at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and has surpassed the 800 mark in career wins. She led SIU-E to the Division II national title in 2007, and has guided the team into making the transition to Division I this year.
• Terre Haute North grad Megan Ciolli, a former Miss Softball and Notre Dame standout, is in her third year as an assistant at Northern Illinois.
• Lincoln Trail is guided by two area natives, head coach Ashley Gordon of Hutsonville and assistant Jamie Lytle of Robinson.
• Riverton Parke grad Ashley Loomis-Organ is an assistant coach at her collegiate alma mater.
• South Vermillion grad Brian Shearer is in his eighth season as head coach at Rose-Hulman.
• Casey native Mark Brayfield is the newest of the members of this group, in his first season coaching the Illinois College softball team. A former standout pitcher himself, Brayfield started the softball program at Robert Morris University in 2003 and led RMU to the USCAA national title three years later. He posted a record of 62-12 in three years as head coach at Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin High School, leading the Lady Cyclones to a super-sectional appearance in 2008. In 2010, Brayfield served as an assistant coach/pitching coach at the University of Illinois Springfield.
Brayfield attended Lincoln Trail College and was a member of the school’s baseball team (one year) and tennis team (two years). He was a pitcher for the 10-time ASA national champion Clearwater (Fla.) Bombers and was a member of the Springfield (Ill.) Brandt’s team that won a state championship in 1984.
Brayfield is employed as a registered nurse in cardiology at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, and he is currently pursuing a degree in sports management at California University in Pennsylvania.
• More familiar names – Several other familiar names popped up in scouring the World Wide Web for information.
Former Terre Haute resident Bill Galloway, who won more than 900 games as head softball coach at Louisiana Tech and Texas A&M, is still active as an assistant coach at East Texas Baptist University. He was a standout shortstop on the fastpitch softball scene and played locally for a couple of summers with the Gran-Ma Joy’s team.
Shortly after retiring following a 20-year run as head coach at Louisiana Tech, Coach Galloway joined the ETBU staff in 2003 as a part-time assistant coach. He continued to work with the program’s pitchers and in general off and on through the 2007 season.
Other names of note include former Indiana State baseball assistant Matt Kennedy, head coach at Parkland College; former Indiana State pitching coach Ken Westray, assistant coach at the University of Illinois; and former Casey-Westfield Coach Katie O’Connell, an assistant softball coach at her alma mater of Illinois.
Joey Bennett is a former Tribune-Star sports reporter and copy editor who now teaches at Northview High School in Brazil. He can be reached at tribstarcollegereport@yahoo.com.
College Report
COLLEGE REPORT: Eighty Valley natives playing college softball, baseball
- College Report
-
-
College report: Bloomfield runner to join IUPUI track, cross country teams
Bloomfield track/cross country standout Julie Riggins will be joining the developing IUPUI program next fall as one of six incoming recruits.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Roberts takes coaching position at UNC-Greensboro
Terre Haute native Mike Roberts is continuing his climb up the college basketball coaching ladder, recently departing Rice for a spot as the associate head coach at North Carolina-Greensboro.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Valley grads playing role for No. 13 Vincennes
A few springtime odds and ends:
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Shouse making his mark for Danville Community College
Derek Shouse definitely flew under the radar in his one season of playing for the Terre Haute South boys basketball team last winter.
Not highly recruited, he made his way to Danville Area Community College as a walk-on with the hopes he could find his way onto the court at some point. -
COLLEGE REPORT: Bullock finds sunny home to continue tennis career
Most college athletes progress along similar paths to get to their final destinations athletically, but Terre Haute South grad Taylor Bullock’s route to the Eckerd College women’s tennis team was a little different than most.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: TH South QB entertains Division I offers
Danny Etling’s trek to being a big-time college quarterback took a huge step this week when the Terre Haute South junior picked up a scholarship offer from Purdue, according to 247sports.com.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Seibert stepping up her game
Terre Haute South grad Haley Seibert has seen the usual ups and downs of her freshman basketball season at Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne and is making the most of her opportunities this season.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Vikings Waters, Barton excited about college basketball
West Vigo grad Lauren Dailey helped the Lady Vikings basketball program to a lot of success at the end of the 1990s, and went on to play for Eastern Illinois from 2001-2004.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Some odds and ends from College Report mailbag
Here are some odds and ends from Santa’s mailbag:
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Hayne makes immediate impact at Lindsey Wilson College
Coming from a long line of volleyball players, including standout sisters Madison (Hayne) Minnick and Casey Hayne, it shouldn’t have been surprising that Terre Haute South grad Taylor Hayne made a big impact as a freshman this fall for the Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) College squad.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Witt wraps up great season for Grand Valley State
It’s 337 miles from Shakamak High School to Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich., if you’re thinking of taking a long jog.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: North senior O’Leary signs with Loyola (Chicago)
Two standout senior basketball players were among several Wabash Valley athletes who made previous college sports commitments official this week, with others expected to make their commitments official soon.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: A battle of Witt’s: Shakamak grad has championship aspirations at Grand Valley State
It’s 337 miles from Shakamak High School to Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich., if you’re thinking of taking a long jog.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Potter named to all-conference team after freshman season
There are many clear differences between high school tennis and collegiate tennis.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Younger Weatherford following in brother’s footsteps
“Weatherford punts well for central Illinois college” is an example of a frequent newspaper headline around eight years ago when Terre Haute North grad Steve Weatherford was booming long punts for the Illinois Fighting Illini.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: West Vigo grad Coombs excels for Wallace State volleyball
Wallace State volleyball may not come to mind when you think of college athletic dominance, unless you happen to follow Alabama Community College Conference volleyball.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Engle coaching at DePauw, younger Weatherford punting for Eastern Illinois
Pigskins are now flying through the muggy, late summer air and several Wabash Valley grads are continuing their careers at the next level as either players or coaches.
-
JOEY BENNETT: ISU baseball assistant headed to Iowa JUCO
Following a standout baseball career at Terre Haute North, Max Hutson took his talents to one of the nation’s most prestigious collegiate programs at Wichita State.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Terre Haute North’s O’Leary drawing Division I offers
Interest has picked up tremendously lately for Terre Haute North senior-to-be Matt O’Leary, as the 6-7, 200-pounder now has eight college basketball scholarship offers and six at the Division I level after a strong July AAU season for the Indiana Elite One squad.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Sullivan's Trimble to run for IPFW
Summertime comings and goings:
• Sullivan standout to IPFW — Sullivan grad Olivia Trimble will be taking her track and field talents to the Division I level at Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne next spring.
Trimble comes to IPFW with personal-bests of 13.1 in the 100-meter dash, 27.5 in the 200-meter dash, 1:04 in the 400-meter dash, and a long jump personal best of 15-5. -
COLLEGE REPORT: Some final notes on the spring season
Cleaning out the end-of-year college sports mailbag:
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Eberle to play for ISU, Fulkerson going to Rose for baseball
Michael Eberle and Parker Fulkerson are both Terre Haute North grads who were key hitters in the middle of the lineup for last summer’s Wayne Newton Post 346 state championship American Legion baseball team.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Vicars pitches Alcorn to top seed
Terre Haute South grad Cole Vicars was the fifth leading hitter for Alcorn State’s baseball team last spring, but this year he has found more success on the pitching mound in leading the Braves to the top seed in the Eastern Division for the upcoming Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Three North volleyball players to play at next level
Terre Haute North’s volleyball program has made tremendous strides over the past few years, and the college ranks are starting to notice.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Eighty Valley natives playing college softball, baseball
Eighty Wabash Valley natives are playing collegiate softball and baseball this spring, while another 11 serve as college coaches.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: North grad’s college softball career off to strong start
The transition from high school softball to college softball has been a smooth one for Terre Haute North grad Bethany Sullivan.
-
College Report: Akers’ D-1 dream comes true, heading to nearby EIU
Austin Akers hoped to land a Division I scholarship two years ago following a standout high school career at Northview, but that goal wasn’t achieved at that time.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: Molly Martin ends college career with run in NCAA Division III Tournament
The stellar college basketball career of Terre Haute North grad Molly Martin came to an end March 4, as Hanover College’s women’s team dropped a 76-62 decision to the University of Chicago in the opening round of the NCAA Division III national tournament at Grand Rapids, Mich.
-
COLLEGE REPORT: SV'S Craigmyle to play football at Division II Harding
Harding University knows exactly what it wants in terms of football players to fit Coach Ronnie Huckeba’s system.
South Vermillion’s James Craigmyle knew exactly what he was looking for in a college. -
COLLEGE REPORT: WRC diamond standouts make college plans
Three Wabash River Conference diamond standouts have decided where they will continue their careers collegiately after graduating this spring.
- More College Report Headlines
-
College report: Bloomfield runner to join IUPUI track, cross country teams




