Casey Stangel knows what she wants.
Unlike most, though, she’ll work as hard as it takes to get it—in her case she aspires for softball greatness and nothing will stop her from getting it–be it 5 am training and lifting sessions, hitting and pitching workouts in the rain, or skipping the big weekend party.
The party pooper
In fact, the MaxPreps National Player of the Year from Lake City, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho admits she has never even been to a party.
Yes, you read that correctly… never. She attended her senior year Homecoming Dance and prom, but parties don’t fit into her softball-driven schedule. Not that there’s anything wrong with socializing, it’s just that on Saturday’s she’s probably training, lifting, pitching or hitting.
“I’ve seen what they look like in movies,” she laughs, “but I couldn’t tell you how that goes.”
Stangel admits she lives, breathes and eats softball. When not playing, she says, she’s thinking about softball.
“I’ve been like that all my life,” she explains. “As a kid I wanted to be different than everyone else. I wanted to be the best at something and that passion became softball.”
That work ethic and drive led her to being a three-time Gatorade State Player of the Year as she led Lake City to the last two Class 5A state titles.
A 5-foot-10 lefty pitcher and hitter, her numbers this past spring were off the charts.
The Timberwolves went 28-0 and Stangel’s pitching record was… 28-0. She struck out 208 batters in 143 innings and had a 0.73 ERA.
She was equally as dominant on offense, maybe more so—as a senior this past spring she batted .640 with 16 home runs, 20 doubles and 65 RBI with a scary good 1.393 slugging percentage.
The most amazing stat may be this: she scored 54 runs herself and as a pitcher she only allowed 15 all season long.
Casey’s goals:
Those accomplishments didn’t just happen, though; they came because Casey always has a plan.
“She’ll go to bed at night,” explains her father, Chris Stangel, who himself played in the San Francisco Giants minor league system from 1984-1987, “and she’ll know what her regiment will be the next day.”
Many post goals on their bedroom wall or bathroom mirror, but Casey, who has signed with Missouri, has everyone beat.
Here “mirror list” contains some lofty goals she’s shooting for:
1. freshman SEC honors
2. SEC All-Conference multiple times
3. national champions
4. SEC Pitcher of the Year
5. All-American
6. Academic All-American
7. hardest worker on team
8. show up first, last to leave
9. great teammate
10. always bring positive energy to field every day
Lose the training wheels
Her father says this drive has always been there. He tells the story of when Casey was five years old and approached him after he came home from doing the graveyard shift (7 pm to 7 am) of police work.
“We had just bought Casey her first bike and she was barely five years old, but she had a problem. ‘I love my bike,’ she told me and her mom, ‘but big girls don’t have training wheels.’”
“I said I was really tired and I’d take them off after I got some sleep, but she was stubborn and just stared at me for a long time. ‘Big girls don’t use training wheels,’ she said again and asked if she could take them off.”
“I said, ‘Sure’ thinking she wouldn’t do anything about it, but it wasn’t long before we heard her laughing and screaming outside. She was in the courtyard laughing and riding her bike, crashing and bloodying her knee, crying and then laughing again as she did it all again. By the time I went back to work that night, she was riding without training wheels.”
“Later, I went into the garage and there was a big mess, all my tools and the wheels in a big pile, but she wanted it and got it done.”
It didn’t hurt that Casey was blessed with athletic DNA. Not only was her father a pro baseball pitcher, her mother, Debi, played soccer at UCLA and an older brother played college baseball.
Chris was a coach and ran a baseball academy in the Bay Area when Casey was young. She followed her dad everywhere and it wasn’t long until she caught the playing bug.
“Casey never wanted to stay home,” remembers her father. “She’d come with me and swing bats in the dugout or shag balls. It mesmerized her. As a little girl she would crawl into my lap when I was watching a game on TV and ask why batters would swing at certain pitches.”
“She’s been my best friend like that and always at the ball yard. We’re like peas and carrots together.”
Coaches like the boys
Chris remembers when his daughter told him how sad she was that she couldn’t play baseball. She asked him if he’d help coach her in softball and drive her like he drove his own players.
“She’d say, ‘I want you to coach me the same way you coach the boys,’” he recalls. “I took that advice and we’re both grateful for that because her drive helped her make who she became.”
Casey says she’s as regimented when it comes to school, though you’d never know it since she compiled a 3.66 GPA and was student council secretary and treasurer.
Currently, she’s at Missouri taking summer classes and even hosting recruits and on July 27 will fly to California to rejoin her club team, Explosion, to play in the PGF National Championship.
Playing with Casey on Explosion is her best friend, Vanessa Shippy, who’s been a workout partner dating back to junior high. Shippy will play at Oklahoma State and the two friends are looking forward to playing together one last time before heading off to college fulltime.
“We’ve been on the same path and have spent every day together for years,” states Casey. “It’s been great to have someone who loves the sport like I do and is going the same direction (college).”
Also when she looks down the bench in her Explosion dugout she’ll see her father, who not only assists with Explosion, but is also a volunteer coach and the field coordinator for Lake City High. His access to the school allowed Casey and Vanessa to workout before school and stay after.
Early in, later out
Being from Idaho, the girls and their father/coach have been driven by an interesting philosophy.
“We’d go do workouts on Christmas, New Year’s, literally every day of the year,” explains Chris. “The girls love to do the training—strength conditioning, agility drills, hitting, footwork, fielding—and are loyal to the game.”
“But we also realize that to be the best, you’re comparing yourself to the kids in California. On Saturdays at 6 am we’re at the facility because all the California kids are asleep and we have to be working more than them. We have that mindset to get up earlier and stay later—to get in that extra two hours—because we know in California those kids went home two hours before.”
The sacrifices, all parties agree, have been worth it. The accomplishments, honors, championships—all are evidence that the hard work has produced results.
Ask Casey, though, what her most proud accomplishment is and she doesn’t mention anything that’s come between the lines… she reflects back on her senior banquet at Lake City.
“ Hearing how people say they appreciated how serious and passionate I was about the game and that I was someone they respected, that means the most to be because it’s about the things I feel are important.”
“It shows people see that and know that the work I put into it is worth it. Awards are special, but the cool thing is learning that others know how much I love this game.”
Even if it means missing a few Saturday night parties here or there.