Spring? Summer? Doesn’t matter, it’s still sports season
As many sports wind down, players like Texas pitcher Teagan Kavan still give Iowans a local connection
Ah, that May/June transition. That gorgeous time of the year when it seems that things are winding down for the sports in which Iowans most participate, but nah. You just need to know where to look.
The high school softball girls are just warming up (an advantage of playing in the summer instead of the spring), with games starting earlier this week and winding up with the state tournament July 21-25 in Fort Dodge.
But before it’s time to check out the high school players, there’s an Iowan making her presence known at the Women’s College World Series.
Texas sophomore Teagan Kavan is from West Des Moines and attended Dowling Catholic High School. She flies a little under the Iowa Radar because she didn’t play high school softball; because of Iowa’s summer season, Kavan opted to play travel ball with Iowa Premier Fastpitch. Considering how it’s all unfurled for her, it’s kind of hard to criticize that choice except to say it’s a bummer more locals didn’t get a chance to see her.
They can likely see her this afternoon (Saturday), though, when the Longhorns play four-time defending champ Oklahoma at 2 p.m. on ABC. Kavan helped the Longhorns advance with a complete-game two-hit shutout against Florida on Thursday. It’s a double-elimination tournament, so no matter what happens the Longhorns will play again.
For more about Kavan, USA Today gives us the quintessential question headline by asking, “Who is Teagan Kavan?” So now you know, if you didn’t already. (Though I have to admit I’m a fan of her teammate Joley Mitchell, nicknamed “Rose Bud,” who slammed two home runs in the game against Florida. Not for athletic reasons; my middle name is Rose and when I had my confirmation in high school, I joked I was going to take “Bud” as my confirmation name so I could be Jane Rose Bud Burns. Though I wasn’t so mischievous as to follow through on that, my best friend’s mom somehow was horrified I’d actually go through with it.)
And even though Kavan didn’t play for the Maroons, she has earned her Dowling bona fides: She played JV basketball when Caitlin Clark was in high school and even got rides to summer ball from the basketball superstar because they lived in the same neighborhood.
Update: Kavan pitched the Longhorns to a victory over Oklahoma on Saturday, after learning her grandmother had died that morning. Kavan had often mentioned her grandmother, Anna “Jo” Lukehart of Des Moines, during ESPN broadcasts. Jo Lukehart had coached her daughters’ teams and was a scorekeeper at Des Moines Lincoln softball games years ago. And on Monday, Kavan picked up the save as Texas defeated Tennessee to move into the best-of-three championship series that begins Wednesday against either Texas Tech or Oklahoma.
Then there are the pro softball players – really
Athletes Unlimited in past years has had a mix-and-match approach to its women’s sports teams. Athletes join the league, but teams switch up during their short seasons for basketball, volleyball and softball.
This year is different. The Athletes Unlimited Softball League is going to a traditional team format with four teams that will all be based in Rosemont, Ill., playing each other throughout the season. They’re not geographically based yet, but that is a future plan.
Besides the Chicago area, however, AUSL will travel for three-game tournaments throughout the country. The Bandits, Blaze, Talons and Volts won’t be coming to Iowa but they will be in Omaha July 11-13 at Connie Claussen Field on the Nebraska-Omaha campus.
That’s not even the biggest news for AUSL. This week, Major League Baseball invested a reported 20% stake in the league, by far the most significant step in the long stop-and-start history of women’s professional softball.
And then there’s tennis
So there’s no Iowan to watch in the French Open but there is almost an Iowan on the clay courts of Roland Garros.
Madison Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion, will try to nab another Grand Slam title at around 8:30 Saturday morning when she plays Sofia Kenin. The match is on TNT, which is covering the tournament for the first time this year.
Keys was born in Rock Island, Ill., so being from the Quad Cities is about as Iowan as you can get without actually living here. She lived in Rock Island until she was 10, when she and her family moved to Florida so she could train at the Evert Tennis Academy. Like with softball player Kavan, that’s worked out pretty well, too.
Keys maintains ties with the area, and on her birthday this year, Feb. 17, her hometown of Rock Island declared it Madison Keys Day. (They couldn’t give her a key to the city? Too obvious?)
And in Iowa, Keys was part of the group of four pros helping the All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club just outside of Charles City (you read that right) celebrate the facility’s 20th anniversary with a clinic and exhibition play in 2022.
I’ve always wanted to go to Wimbledon; who knew I only had to go to Charles City? Just two words for that: road trip.
The All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club’s 2022 exhibition matches can be seen YouTube.
Update: Keys beat Kenin on Saturday and followed that up with a win Monday against Hailey Baptiste. Keys will play fellow American Coco Gauff in a quarterfinal match on Wednesday.
Jane Burns is a former sports and features writer for the Des Moines Register, as well as other publications and websites. She’s a past winner of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s Mel Greenberg Award for her coverage of women’s basketball. Over the course of her career she’s covered pretty much everything, which is why her as-yet-to-be-written memoir will be called “Cheese and Basketball: Stories From a Reporter Who Has Covered Everything.”
Most definitely, go to Charles City to play on the grass tennis court (as I did — poorly, I confess — two summers ago). The owner, Mark, has created a real gem! He’s a great guy.