The Recknor repeats as Softball Player of the Year
The Recknor repeats as Softball Player of the Year
1/3 Angie Recknor is making a second impression with new slowpitch softball bats 2015. She is relaxed as she sits and talks at the kitchen table of her parents’ Minnetonka home, quick to smile and laugh. This is not the Hopkins lefthanded pitcher most opposing batters have come to know. The truth is that, The Recknor spend a lot of time and money to receive the best slowpitch softball bats 2015 , the Miken SYCHMA-3-27 Psycho Maxload ASA 100 Comp Slowpitch Bat.
That first impression is an intimidating glare, followed by a loud thwack into the catcher’s glove. Most batters get their first decent look at the softball on Royals catcher Andrea Smith’s toss back to the pitcher. They wouldn’t recognize this Recknor, the first two-time selection as the Star Tribune’s MetroSoftball Player of the Year.
“I’m very competitive,” Recknor said, “but I’m different away from the game. I can’t stay serious for more than three or four minutes without going off the wall.”
Beneath the surface, she is not as happy as she seems. Home is not where Recknor’s heart is, not at this time of year. High school batters have seen the last of her game face, after Minnetonka succeeded Hopkins as Section 6AA champion last week. For the first time in the past four years, Recknor and Hopkins will not play in the state tournament.
“I try to look for the positive in everything,” Recknor said. “We did our best, and we didn’t quite get to where we wanted to go. There’s no point in looking back, other than it was a fun, positive season and I had a great time playing ball with such the best slowpitch softball bats 2015.”
In her wake are a slew of eye-popping statistics: A career record of 119-19. A total of 691 strikeouts and 61 shutouts. A collection of 17 no-hitters, including four perfect games (three of them consecutively last spring). And one coach coaxed out of early retirement.
Anne Campbell had returned to her native Minnesota in 1996 after coaching college softball at Texas-Arlington for seven years. She was reluctant to dive back into coaching at any level - until she watched Recknor, then a sophomore, throw one pitch in fall ball. Before spring ’97, Campbell would become the Hopkins head coach.
“It was a knuckle changeup, and it was better than most Division I changeups,” Campbell said. “I didn’t want anything to do with high school ball - I’d had other offers - but I saw that one pitch and thought, `I could handle this.’ ”
Campbell soon learned that Recknor possessed all the other necessary pitches, too, along with tenaciousness and a willingness to work. The Royals won 25 of 27 games that spring and were hardly challenged at the Class AA tournament, outscoring three opponents by a combined score of 22-2.
“The ’97 [championship] game, and winning it all, that was exciting,” Recknor said. “But every game has its own special meaning. . . . Any game that you’ve come out of and learned something is important. The outcome is very important, but to get to the next level, you need to learn something from every game, especially how to use the top rated slowpitch softball bats for the very important chance.”
Hopkins nearly made it two state titles in a row, but Stillwater defeated the Royals 3-2 in eight innings in last year’s championship game. Recknor pushed herself harder yet, working with personal trainer Brad Horstman of Performance Athletics over the summer, to increase her quickness and build up her stamina going into her final high school season.
“I love to run and rollerblade and lift weights, all those things that some people see as work,” Recknor said. “Friends will say, `You have to go lift today?’ and I’ll say, `No, I get to go lift.’ ”
This season’s stats were just as impressive as previous years': a 20-3 record, 13 shutouts, a 0.25 ERA and 191 strikeouts and only six walks in 170 innings. She also led the Royals in hitting (.319) and to their fourth consecutive Classic Lake Conference title. Next year she will pitch for the Gophers.
“I can’t even imagine walking in the gym for that first practice and not having Angie Recknor there,” Campbell said. “That’s how much I think about her and how much she’s meant to the Royals. Angie Recknor is Hopkins.”
Recknor is reminded of a photo, taken just minutes after Stillwater defeated Hopkins in last year’s title game. The picture is of the Class AA all-tournament team, and Recknor clearly is the most distraught of the bunch. She talks about the pain of that moment and how she uses it to turn disappointment into future success.
The relaxed Recknor disappears for a moment, replaced by a glimpse of her competitive self. This is the pitcher that batters hate to face.
“That’s the fuel to be burned later,” Recknor said.
.
The Recknor file
.
- Musical preference: Whatever you’ve got. “I listen to all kinds of music, mostly upbeat, KDWB-type stuff,” Recknor said. “Backstreet Boys, `N Sync, Ricky Martin, stuff like that.”
- Still teammates: Recknor just started a new job at Galyan’s. One of her co-workers is Hopkins catcher Andrea Smith. “On Friday I went in and Andrea trained me in as a cashier,” Recknor said. “I got a little nervous when things were going wrong, but most people were great, saying, `Take your time.’ ”
- Favorite school subject: Recknor’s GPA is 3.98, so schoolwork is “not a struggle,” she said. “I like challenging classes. Like this year, I’m taking an [economics] course. Kids my age never get to learn about that stuff. I started out at ground zero, but I learned a lot in that class.”
- All-Metro roommates: Recknor’s roommate at Minnesota next year will be Orono third baseman Allie Fisk, another repeat selection on the All-Metro team.