Times-Citizen  Saturday, August 23, 2008  Sports Page

Ellsworth enlists new softball coach

Mary Thompson brings impressive resume to Panther job.
By Tony Baranowski - Sports Editor Iowa Falls

Ellsworth athletics director Jack Denholm announced this week that Mary Thompson has been hired to fill the softball coaching vacancy left when Scott O'Brien stepped down from the position following this spring's 14-30 season.

"We're excited to have Mary take over the program because she's got a lot of softball knowledge," said Denholm.  "Scott did a great job for us and we're happy with what he did, but we're ready to move forward now and Mary seems ready to take the ball and run with it."

Thompson brings with her a wealth of both playing and coaching experience, as well as ties to the top levels of the sport around the country.  Her most recent coaching experience includes stints at DM Hoover in 2004 and Ankeny HS in 2005.  She then founded the Iowa Softball Club (I-Club), where she is a private instructor working out of Waukee at All Star Strike Zone, performing group and individual lessons in both pitching and hitting.

"I think Ellsworth has been very competitive in the past and with the price of college tuition going up and up, I think we're going to draw a lot of really good local talent," said Thompson.  "A lot of the Division III schools in the area are grabbing up a lot of kids that might consider Ellsworth because they could stay two years here and then go on to a bigger four year school."

The I-Club also has three 18U teams and one 14/16U team and helps place players on college rosters throughout the country.

"The I-Club should be a good feeding source into the college," said Thompson.  "We not only take the 18 and under kids and put them on showcase teams, we also do a fall league with 12 and unders and 14 and unders to get their skills improved to play competitively instead of recreationally."

An Iowa native, Thompson attended Lincoln High School in Des Moines, where she was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.  She was a four-time all-conference and all-state pitcher.  She still holds the state record for least amount of hits allowed in one season.

More importantly, though, Thompson understands the benefits of playing at the junior college level.  She played at Central Arizona Community College in 1984 under now U.S. Olympic coach Mike Candrea, helping to pitch them to a national championship.  Thompson went on to receive a full-ride scholarship to the University of Oklahoma, where she won All-Big 8 honors.

"That's kind of my goal; I want to help kids do what I did.  I want to make this a feeding source to a lot of the college coaches I know across the country," she said.

Thompson, who has a 17-year old daughter entering her senior year of high school, will commute from her home in Des Moines this year but Denholm said he hoped to bring the coach on as a full-time employee by next year.

"Since I played college ball I've always wanted to coach college ball, but I've been a single mother raising my daughter for the last 17 years," said Thompson.  "This job gave me a chance to get into the college ranks and was only an hour or so away from home.  I plan to get involved with the community and hopefully work with some youth coaches who want some more skills.  We want to build a reputation for Ellsworth.  I'm excited about it."