Republic softball player Rachael Michaelis has signed to play at Crowder College next year. Michaelis gave the Lady Tigers flexibility with her ability to play multiple positions, and her bat helped anchor the lineup of a Republic team that compiled a 17-10 record last season.
Michaelis becomes the latest part of a pipeline from Republic’s softball program to Crowder. She’ll join last year’s Republic signee Payton Appleberry in Neosho.
“Crowder is a baseball/softball school and I’ve always wanted to go there. Jamie Holmes, Summer Rose, Payton — a bunch of girls from Republic — they’re all really good, and they get to go play softball there, and they all love it. I know I’ll love it there and it seems like a really good place for me to be.”
Republic coach Lee Dishman says he’s glad to have had the opportunity to coach Michaelis in his first season at Republic, but he wishes she could stick around.
“I would take her for three more if I could,” he says. “She’s a product of hard work with talent. Rachael is the first one to show up usually, last one to leave…she’ll do anything you ask from her. Not only a great athlete, but a great person.
“I moved her to a different position this year, but she did well and she did what we asked her to do,” says Dishman.
Mike Thorne, who coached Michaelis for three years before retiring after the 2011 season, says he’s known that Michaelis has what it takes to move to the next level.
“If you can hit the ball, coaches will find a spot for you. We moved her all around the infield and she did a good job everywhere we put her,” Thorne says. “When you play with heart, you’re going to do good, and Rachael always plays with heart.”
Crowder coach Lori Videmschek says Michaelis didn’t have an especially good game the first time she saw Michaelis play, but there were other things that stood out.
“When I go recruiting, as a coach when you go out and look at kids, you see how they work hard on and off the field. How they treat their coaches, how they treat their teammates, how they treat their parents,” Videmschek says. “And when I watched her, she gave 100% to that. Not only for the love of the game, but for the love of her teammates, her coaches, and her parents. I want kids in my program that will do that.”