Sophomore shortstop Breeze Bentz helped the Ankeny Christian Academy softball team to a 22-4 record in its third season as a varsity program. She was named to the Class 1A all-state second team and to the Class 1A South Central all-district team by the Iowa Girls’ Coaches Association.
Bentz led Class 1A with a .648 batting average, and she led Class 1A and ranked third in the entire state with a .710 on-base percentage. She led ACA with five homers and three triples despite playing in just 18 of the 26 games, and she also had 24 RBIs.
Here is some inside info on Bentz:
Congratulations on an outstanding season. What was the highlight for you?
Thank you! A highlight of the season for me was hitting for the cycle in our game against Lamoni.
You were joined on the all-state second team by your sister Brette, who transferred to ACA from Ankeny for her senior season and compiled a 13-4 record in the circle with a 2.56 ERA and 98 strikeouts. Did you enjoy playing with your sister, and how big of a role did she play in the team’s success?
I’m so glad I got the opportunity to play with my sister before she heads off to college. Brette was a key player in our team’s success as she’s a true utility player–she pitches, catches, is a strong hitter and can fill any hole in the field.
Your team will have to replace just four seniors, but two of them are Brette and Sicily Crosby–who shared the pitching duties this season. Do you have some other pitchers waiting in the wings?
Yes, we have some younger pitchers coming up that got some time at JV this year.
Did you attend any games at the state tournament or watch any of them online?
Both. I watched a lot of games while playing at nationals in Indiana for club, and I attended the much anticipated 5A title game to cheer on friends at both Ankeny Centennial and Waukee Northwest. It was great to see softball have such a big following with a packed stadium when I was there.
Clarksville ended up winning the Class 1A state title after eliminating Fort Dodge St. Edmond, which came out of the regional bracket that your team played in. Were you rooting for any of the teams to win state, or did it not matter to you?
I was cheering for Remsen St. Mary’s and for St. Eds to go all the way. I have cousins at RSM and my sister and I have played with the Myers sisters from St. Eds in club ball. Rihanna Myers and her whole family are good friends of ours and I was excited to see how well she did, and even more excited to see her make the all-tournament team as a freshman.
The state tournament was played this year under a double-elimination format for the first time. In Class 1A, the No. 8 seed–Edgewood-Colesburg–went undefeated to reach the final, including a pair of wins over top-seeded Exira-EHK-Audubon. But the Vikings then lost in the final to Clarksville, which won the title despite having one loss earlier in the week. What do you think of the new format?
I think it’s tough for many small schools that aren’t very deep in pitching, so I’m not sure the double-elimination format was a benefit for 1A/2A given a lot of schools ended up playing each other several times in one day. If there were a true loser’s bracket where everyone worked their way back up to the championship, that would make more sense. However, I like the idea as a whole as it makes it more like a traditional tournament/WCWS style.
You played both school ball and club ball throughout the summer. What was the hardest part about doing that?
I’m so thankful to have both a school and travel ball club that supported me in doing both with Iowa’s summer school ball schedule, but it is definitely not easy. I was able to play 18 of our 26 school games and five of my seven travel ball tournaments. The toughest thing was feeling like I was missing out on the experience or letting my teammates/coaches down in one or the other.
How is your recruiting going?
Really good! I’ve been to many different camps and competed in some of the highest level club tournaments, which my team has gathered a large following of college coaches from!
As a junior-to-be, I think Sept. 1 is the date when college coaches will be able to start contacting you. Do you expect things to really pick up then?
Yes, these last couple of months have been full of preparation for Sept. 1. I’m excited to see what the future holds!
You are also an all-state player for the ACA volleyball team, which posted a 28-14 record last season. Do you have some high expectations for the upcoming season?
Absolutely. I’m really excited for our volleyball season and have shifted a lot of my focus now on that. We have an incredible group of varsity returners and some younger players that have played high level club ball coming up into high school. We start right away at the Central College camp on Monday and then we will go strong through November.
Will you take a break from softball, or will you continue to play in some events this fall?
My family just took a vacation during dead week which was a great time to reset. Now my focus is on volleyball, continuing to practice softball, and attending final college softball camps before Sept. 1. My club team will play in some tournaments in late fall, and I’ll join them in Georgia and Florida.