Marengo, Huntley players join state’s best Super 60

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For three local softball players, Sunday marked their final high school softball game.

For another, it marked a learning experience she had not anticipated.

Marengo seniors Danielle Simons, Amanda Hart and Kaleigh Velasquez played their final game together during the annual Super 60 All-Star Game in East Peoria, while Huntley senior catcher Jenna Mychko, who has one high school game remaining, maneuvered her way through left field.

“It’s funny because you’d think, ‘OK, here are the 60 best softball players in the state,’ but I was out there asking the center fielder how I was supposed to play left field,” said Mychko, who played two innings in the outfield on Sunday. “ ... [But] it was definitely really cool. I knew a lot of the players from travel ball, and to be out there with so many good players was a feeling you just can’t describe.”

Simons and batterymate Velasquez started the game, which was slated to be the first of three, but became the only game the girls played because of bad weather. Hart started at second
base.

Mychko took over catching later in the game, she said. The girls’ team – the White team – lost, 4-1, to the Blue team.

The teams are comprised of the 60 best softball players in the state, as nominated and selected by a panel of coaches.

Marengo coach Dwain Nance was the White team’s skipper for the second consecutive year – an opportunity he relished nearly as much as his players.

“It’s a fun time, just to get a group of girls together that are really good,” Nance said. “You don’t have to teach them fundamentals or anything, they just warm up and go play the game.”