Earlier this week, Ankeny Fanatic announced the first of three teams that comprise the all-time Ankeny softball team–the 12 players on the third team.
Today, we are announcing the second team. The first team will be unveiled by the end of the week.
Holly Voss, a standout pitcher and outfielder at Ankeny about three decades ago, is one of the second-team selections. She played on the Hawkettes’ state championship team in 1991.
“There are the obvious things I could comment on relating to being a Hawkette on the field, and winning a state championship is one of them,” Voss said. “However, there are other things/memories from practices and in preparation for playing that seem to be what I look back on in my head from time to time. I remember strengthening my swing on the old tire mounted to a post. The tire was cut on one side to allow resistance but also for the bat to pass through.
“Another memory is all the singing on the bus rides!” she added.
Here, then, is the next installment of the Ankeny Fanatic all-time Ankeny softball team:
SECOND TEAM
Allison Doocy, P: She was a two-time all-stater who compiled a career record of 55-26 at Ankeny from 2013-16. As a sophomore in 2014, she posted a 15-9 mark with a 2.00 ERA and 154 strikeouts in the first season after the split into two high schools. In 2015, she went 19-11 with a 1.56 ERA and 267 strikeouts, which broke the school record from the 43-foot distance. She helped the Hawkettes to a seventh-place finish at the state tournament and set a Class 5A record with 34 strikeouts in the three games. She had 14 of those strikeouts in a 3-1 loss to Valley in eight innings in the quarterfinals, which set another record for an extra-inning game. She tossed 11 shutouts, including a three-hitter to beat Linn-Mar, 9-0, in the seventh-place game. She threw a no-hitter against Fort Dodge during the regular season. She also batted .317 with 14 doubles and 28 RBIs. She was named to the all-state second team. “My favorite memory was the regional final game,” Doocy said. “We had to go to Iowa City West, and they were a tough but exciting matchup. We ended up winning a close game against them to advance to the state tournament. We had the opportunity to spend the week in Fort Dodge and enjoy a bunch of team-bonding activities! We didn’t have any seniors on our roster that year, so it was motivating to continue working hard in the offseason to build a solid foundation for the upcoming season!” Doocy didn’t know it at the time, but the victory came at the expense of one of her future teammates, Taylor Libby. “This was at the time that I wasn’t committed to play at Iowa and thought my career was going to be over within the next year,” she said. “Fast forward a few weeks and I decided to commit to Iowa. It turns out that my freshman year roommate was the catcher for Iowa City West, and it was a game we were able to laugh about later on!” As a senior at Ankeny, Doocy went 20-5 with a 0.89 ERA and 286 strikeouts, which broke her own school record. She also set the career mark for strikeouts with 712. She was a first-team all-state pick. “Doocy could carry a team,” said Ankeny coach Dave Bingham. “She showed us that her sophomore year. She had that riseball that hitters just couldn’t take but they couldn’t hit it. There were times when (then-assistant coach) Brett (Delaney) and I would just look at each other and enjoy the ride. She was incredible.” Doocy went on to become a standout at Iowa, where she completed her career last spring and ranks eighth all-time at the school in pitching appearances (134), sixth in strikeouts (730) and is tied for eighth in complete games (75). She went 11-5 with four shutouts in her final season, including a no-hitter against Rutgers on May 2. She earned second-team all-region honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Shelly Navara, P: She compiled a career record of 80-6 for a .930 winning percentage, second only to Deb Schneider in Ankeny’s history. She went 21-0 to help lead the Hawkettes to a state title in the 1984 fall season, allowing only eight runs and 57 hits. She was the winning pitcher in Ankeny’s 2-1 victory over Boone in the title game and also played a key role at the plate, where her bunt in the seventh inning led to a wild throw that allowed Maria Mollison to score the winning run. She was named to the all-tournament team. The Hawkettes finished with a 23-1 record–and 15 of the 23 wins were shutouts. In the summer of 1985, Navara posted a 33-1 mark and earned first-team all-state honors as Ankeny extended its winning streak to 47 games before falling to Des Moines Lincoln, 3-0, in a regional final. The Railsplitters avenged three earlier one-run losses. “She threw really hard and had good control of all of her pitches,” said longtime Ankeny coach Dick Rasmussen. “She was a dandy.” Navara went on to play for Northwest Missouri State.
Shelley Riley, P: Along with outfielder Cindy Moulton, she was one of the first players in the Rasmussen era to earn all-state honors, landing a spot on the second team in 1976. She helped Ankeny to a 13th-place finish in its first trip to the state tournament in 1975, then played a key role as the Hawkettes earned a fifth-place finish in 1976 to bring home the first trophy in school history. Ankeny finished with a 37-3 record and dropped only two games during the regular season–both of them 1-0 decisions to Urbandale and North Polk. Riley earned her 100th career victory in a 10-0 win over conference foe Grinnell. The Hawkettes dropped a 2-0 decision to eventual runner-up Clear Creek in the quarterfinals of the state tournament before bouncing back with wins over Melvin, 2-1, and Charles City, 2-0. She finished with a career record of 115-44. “It took Riley a little while to get going,” Rasmussen said. “At first she struggled to go any farther than the fifth inning, but once she figured out how to do that, she was really good. She became a really good pitcher and put the ball where it needed to be.”
Amy Farmer, C: She teamed up with Jenny Voss to form one of the state’s best batteries during Rasmussen’s final seasons, helping Ankeny to a pair of state titles. After batting .297 as a freshman in 1993, she batted .273 and drove in 22 runs as the Hawkettes captured the state title in 1994. As a junior, she batted .318 with 16 doubles and 24 RBIs as Ankeny earned a sixth-place finish. She was a third-team all-state pick. In 1996, she capped off her career by leading the Hawkettes to another crown. She was named the captain of the Class 3A all-tournament team after knocking in the winning run in all three games. She went 5-for-10 and had five RBIs in the tournament, breaking two Class 3A records and tying three other marks. She batted .343 with three home runs and 16 doubles, and she set a single-season school record with 38 RBIs. She was selected to the all-state first team. “I was so proud of Amy. She was probably the best catcher I ever had,” Rasmussen said. “I never saw a play she couldn’t make. She was strong and had a great arm, and she had good footwork. She just knew how to play the game.” Farmer went on to play at Missouri, where she was a four-year starter for the Tigers. In 2003, she was inducted into the IGHSAU Softball Hall of Fame. Three years later, she was ranked 22nd on the list of Ankeny’s greatest athletes. Farmer then became the Hawkettes’ coach in 2008, taking over a program that had struggled to a 50-99 mark over the previous three seasons. Her first team went just 15-25, but she then guided Ankeny to winning records in each of the next four seasons, finishing with a mark of 134-71. The Hawkettes placed second in Class 4A in 2011 before winning the Class 5A title in Farmer’s final season.
Cherie Andersen, 1B: Like Schneider, she was a 1980 graduate and a starter on five championship teams, including an historic run of four straight titles from 1977-79. She was remarkably consistent, batting .356 for Ankeny’s first title team in the 1977 fall campaign, then posting averages of .339, .369 and .346 for the 1978-80 summer championship squads. She finished her career with a school-record 46 doubles. She was a three-time all-stater, landing a spot on the fourth team as a sophomore, the second team as a junior and the first team as a senior. “Cherie worked hard at it and had a lot of confidence in herself,” Rasmussen said. “She knew she could make the plays that needed to be made. She was just a wonderful girl to coach. She believed in me and she believed in herself and her teammates.” She went on to play softball at Iowa on scholarship for two years. In 1981, she tied an Iowa school record with eight at-bats in a single game. Andersen was the last Ankeny player to be inducted into the IGHSAU Softball Hall of Fame. She was enshrined in 2004. Also a standout forward in basketball, she started on two state championship teams in that sport and received honorable mention earlier on Ankeny Fanatic’s all-time Ankeny girls’ basketball team. She was ranked 20th on the list of Ankeny’s greatest athletes.
Michelle Junod, 2B: She was a four-year starter and a two-time all-stater at Ankeny in the mid-1990s. As a sophomore in 1994, she batted .279 with 22 RBIs while striking out only two times in 129 at-bats as the Hawkettes claimed the state title. She drove in the game’s only run in Ankeny’s first two victories at the state tournament, then singled and scored the winning run in the title game against Des Moines East. She was named to the all-tournament team and earned third-team all-state honors. As a junior, she batted .248 with 11 doubles and 22 RBIs. She extended her hitting streak at the state tournament to six games while helping the Hawkettes to a sixth-place finish and was a repeat pick to the all-tournament team. In 1996, she batted .324 with one homer and 33 RBIs as Ankeny captured another crown. She was named to the all-state first team. “Michelle knew how to play second base,” Rasmussen said. “She made things happen out there. It didn’t matter what I asked her to do. She did it, and she did it well.” Junod went on to play at Iowa State, where she led the Cyclones in hitting in both 1998 (.289) and 2000 (.294). She ended her Iowa State career with a .282 batting average, including 113 hits, 41 runs, one home run and 29 RBIs. Junod earned at-large second-team all-Big 12 honors as a sophomore and later became an assistant coach for the Cyclones.
Peyton Daugherty, SS: She was a four-time all-stater who emerged as a potential star at Ankeny in 2014, when she batted .358 as an eighth grader. In 2015, she helped the Hawkettes to a seventh-place finish in Class 5A. Ankeny advanced to the state tournament with a 3-1 win at No. 4 Iowa City West in a regional final. “I would have to say that making state my freshman year was one of my favorite memories!” Daugherty said. “We upset Iowa City West on their home field, and it was one of the best feelings. The whole ride home was so much fun, and the state tournament was also an unforgettable experience!” Daugherty batted .507 and set a pair of school records with 75 hits and 31 steals. As a sophomore, she batted .471 and had 30 steals. In 2017, she batted .619 with 19 RBIs and smashed her own school records with 86 hits and 53 steals. She led the state in both hits and batting average. As a senior, she batted .536 with 19 RBIs and 40 steals. She scored 63 runs, which tied another school record, and was named to the all-state first team for the third time. She currently holds Ankeny career records for most hits (320), most stolen bases (159) and most runs scored (220). “The first time I saw Peyton was in rec softball with (my daughter) Gabi, and you could just see that she was a natural athlete,” Bingham said. “She was an awesome listener. She technically figured out a few things that really carried her to greatness. What an honor to coach her.” Daugherty is now a junior at South Dakota State, where she moved to the outfield and has started 129 games over the last three seasons. She batted .374 in 2021 as the Jackrabbits posted a 43-8 record and advanced to the NCAA Division I tournament. She was named to the all-Summit League second team.
Kris Cox, 3B: She was a two-time all-stater who could play multiple positions in the infield in the late 1980s. After Ankeny got off to a 1-7 start in 1988, Rasmussen was forced to make some lineup changes. Cox, a returning starter at second base, moved to third early in the season. “Coach Rasmussen thought I could contribute more to the team at third base,” Cox said at the time. “I just did what had to be done to help the team.” Ankeny went on to place sixth in the state tournament and finished with a 20-20 record. The Hawkettes posted a 9-0 win over Orient-Macksburg in the opening round before falling to West Delaware, 1-0, in the quarterfinals. Ankeny then defeated George-Little Rock, 4-0, in a consolation game before losing to Garnavillo, 3-0, in the fifth-place game. Cox was a second-team all-state pick. As a senior in 1989, she helped the Hawkettes to a 25-9 mark. She was selected to the all-state fourth team. “She was one of those kids who buckled down and worked hard,” Rasmussen said. “She was a good one.” Cox went on to become a star at Drake, where she sits atop the career hits leader board with 221. She also owns the mark for career at-bats with 663 and leads the triples category with 12. She hit 11 doubles during three different seasons for the Bulldogs and was named to the Missouri Valley Conference all-tournament team, the MVC all-conference team, the MVC Scholar-Athlete team and was an Academic all-American. She was later named to the all-MVC all-time softball team. Cox went on to become a coach and spent five years at Central Florida Community College, where she posted a career record of 104-171 from 2003-07.
Lisa Elwell, OF: She helped Ankeny to a runner-up finish in the 1984 summer tournament by scoring seven runs in four games, tied for the record in the 16-team tournament. She homered in the first inning to ignite the Hawkettes to an 8-0 victory over Cardinal in the opening round. She then scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a walk-off single by Rhonda Jones to give Ankeny a 1-0 win over Springville in the quarterfinals. The Hawkettes posted a 4-3 triumph over defending champion Cedar Rapids Jefferson in the semifinals before falling to Davenport West, 3-2, in eight innings in the final. As a senior in 1985, Elwell scored 26 runs for a team that finished with a 38-1 record. She was named to the all-state second team. “Lisa could run really well,” Rasmussen said. “And she could always get a jump on the ball in the outfield.” Elwell went on to play for Creighton.
Jackie Johnson, OF: She joined teammate Mary Yori as the first two-time all-staters in Ankeny’s history. As a sophomore in 1975, she helped the Hawkettes to a 13th-place finish in their first state tournament appearance. That team tied a tournament record by scoring nine runs in one inning. As a junior, she batted .305 as Ankeny won the Adel and Saydel tournaments en route to a 37-3 record. She was named to the all-tournament team after helping the Hawkettes to a fifth-place finish. She was a fifth-team all-state pick. In 1977, Johnson batted .337 as Ankeny posted a 25-8 mark. She was named to the all-state second team. “Jackie was tough,” Rasmussen said. “She was an ornery little gal that really went after things. I remember when we played Perry one time without Mary Yori and they beat us like 13-0 or something, and they kind of laughed at us. And then we played them again later that season with Mary and we beat them, and Jackie said, ‘Coach, can we laugh at them when we go through the line?’ And I said, ‘No, we aren’t going to do that.’ But she just wanted to return the favor.”
Shannon Kalousek, OF: She was a three-year starter who played a pivotal role on the 1991 state championship team, when she batted .238 and led the squad with 23 steals as a junior. She made a diving catch in the bottom of the seventh inning of a scoreless regional semifinal against Des Moines East, preventing the No. 2 Scarlets from walking off with a win that would have ended Ankeny’s season. “She could really go get those balls,” Rasmussen said. “She had all the characteristics you would want in an outfielder.” The Hawkettes eventually posted a 1-0 victory in nine innings that avenged three losses to East, including a 3-0 decision in the sectional final. Kalousek later hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to drive in the go-ahead run in Ankeny’s 5-3 win over Charles City in the semifinals. “One of the highlights was beating Lincoln,” Kalousek said at the time. “It was our Senior Night and we beat them, 1-0, in extra innings. After we won, we gained confidence that we could compete with the metro teams.” As a senior, she batted .336 with 17 RBIs while leading the team with 32 runs scored and 25 steals. She helped the Hawkettes to a 34-10 record and was named to the all-state first team.
Holly Voss, U: She was a four-year starter who helped Ankeny to a state title in 1991. She posted a career record of 38-14 as a pitcher, but she did most of her damage at the plate, where she hit seven home runs as a senior in 1993. As a sophomore, she doubled to drive in the game’s only run as Ankeny upset No. 2 Des Moines East, 1-0, in nine innings in a regional semifinal. She also knocked in the go-ahead run in the regional final against No. 4 Ottumwa, and the Hawkettes went on to win the crown. In 1992, she became the team’s top pitcher and went 23-10. She tossed a one-hitter in a 6-0 win over Saydel in sectional play and struck out a career-high 17 batters, setting a school record that was broken a year later by her sister, Jenny. “Playing with my sister ranks as one of my top memories and always will!” said Voss. “Not many get to experience that, and I am so thankful it happened.” She batted .318 with five triples, 10 doubles and 30 RBIs, and she homered twice in a win over Avoha. She was a fourth-team all-state pick. As a senior, she pitched her first no-hitter in a 3-0 win over Mason City. She batted .329 with 28 RBIs and led the CIML National Conference in home runs as the Hawkettes posted a 30-10 record. She was selected to the all-state second team. “Holly could play anywhere,” Rasmussen said. “But when she pitched and wanted to get you out, watch out. She’d come after you.” Voss said she remembers many of the team’s practices as much as the games. “I’ll never forget coach Ras lining us up for sliding practice in the outfield grass,” she said. “I look back and think about wearing those metal cleats and getting that done as an accomplishment, even though one year I did fall victim to a sprained ankle because of it. And I also remember Sue (Rasmussen) bringing ice cold watermelon and a shaker of salt for us to eat after practice.” Voss was a role model for Jenny, who blossomed into a star as well. “You literally could have put Holly in any position on the field and she would have done whatever it took to be stellar at that position,” Jenny said. “Her athleticism, strength, and grit never ceased to amaze me.” Voss went on to play at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, where she helped the Lady Mavericks to four consecutive top-five finishes in the NCAA Division II Nationals. In 1997, she was the North Central Conference Most Valuable Player and a third-team all-American. She holds the UNO school record for career RBIs with 158. She was 34th on the list of Ankeny’s greatest athletes.
