2024 Female Player: Miranda Fudge Anderson

Born to love softball or rather born with it in my blood. I grew up watching my brothers (Jesse and Justin) play fastpitch and Mom (Wendy Fudge - Player inductee 2010) slo-pitch with Dad (Jess Fudge) coaching them all as well as Umpiring USSSA for many years.

I was around 8 years old when I started playing fastpitch travel ball with "Mean Machine." That is when my softball journey really began. I continued Youth fastpitch travel ball prior to college at Lewis University. Following my freshman year playing fastpitch for Lewis I started playing slo-pitch with Lith Club (1998). Playing some infield but mainly Left Field. I can remember my parents telling me that I should probably start in a lower class, as Lith Club was a B team, and I was coming off playing College Ball and hadn't really played slo-pitch before. Naturally, I didn't listen and took it as a challenge! I played fastpitch for Lewis during my 4 years there but played Slo-Pitch during the summers.

I recall going to the USSSA Class A World Series in South Carolina that same year in 1998, and it was an amazing experience to play in that tournament and watch some of the best talented female players around the country. It definitely sparked my fire to keep on playing.

I went on to play with Blackhawk Athletic Club, Add A Bath/DeMarini, Kaisers Pizza/DeMarini, Settimi Fetters, and currently with DeMarini/Blackhawk Athletic Club/S2N. I've have had some great coaches who helped me be successful in my softball career, including my parents (Wendy and Jess), Kurt Bergstrom, Tod Hoffman, and Tim Fetters. I've been awarded around 12 All-Tournament Team awards and 2 Offensive MVPs in two National Tournaments.

Softball also introduced me to my husband, the love of my life, Drew Anderson. Who also loves this sport as much as me! I've been married to Drew Anderson for 15 years and we have two beautiful children, Brayden (13) and Grace (8). We are hoping to pass the torch to both our children, as they are playing ball now.

Thank you to all my Family, Friends, Coaches, and Teammates for your patience, guidance, and support. Without you all I would not have been the ball player I was. I am very grateful for the opportunity to meet such great people! Also, thank you to USSSA IL HOF Committee without you all this isn't possible.

2024 Female Player: Jennifer Glonke Stewart

Jennifer Glonke Stewart grew up in Palatine, Illinois, with parents, Jim and Nancy, and older brother, Jim. Her family was filled with talented athletes and hard workers. From a young age, Stewart watched her grandfather, father, and uncles compete in 16" softball tournaments and her brother play park district baseball. She learned how to keeps core from her mom and grandma while cheering from the sidelines. At the bus stop Stewart's mom played catch with her, her brother, and their schoolmates. It seemed inevitable that Stewart would be a softball player. She played multiple sports as a child and joined the park district fastpitch program as soon as it was available. Her high school career culminated in a trip down state for softball, after which she successfully walked on to Northwestern University's Division I softball team. Four years later she graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering and assumed her years of competitive softball were behind her. Little did she know that a new opportunity was about to surface.

A year or two after graduation, a family friend asked Stewart to play on a local slowpitch league team. There she met women who also played on USSSA tournament teams and was invited to fill in with Mood Swings (MS) softball. The rest was history. From 2007-2011, Stewart was a part of the MS program, led by Vicky Richards, and earned state and regional accolades. When that program folded, she was recruited by Made to Order (MTO) softball under Hugo Donado, Steve Gill, and Daryl Bones. The players and coaches of MTO had built a legacy. Stewart was honored to be a part of an Illinois USSSA Hall of Honor-worthy program. She played for MTO for nearly a decade, eventually competing at the B and A levels and participating in Conference USSSA. Highlights of Stewart's tenure with MTO include taking third place in the B World and a spot on the All-World tournament team in 2018, top five finishes in the A World in 2016 and 2020, and two appearances in the Women's Major World Series in 2019 and 2020.

While she temporarily hung up her cleats after the 2020 season, Stewart wasn't quite done with the Conference circuit. In the summer of 2022, friends who had competed against her for years asked her to play one more season of USSSA ball with them on Xtreme/ASP/Athlon/Anarchy. The Xtreme team included several Minnesota state hall of famers and was coached by the owner of ASP/Athlon, Brandon Roberts. In what turned out to be a record-breaking season, Xtreme won the first ever women's AA World Series, and Stewart was once again named to the All-World Tournament Team. The team were also runners up in the A World, finished seventh in USSSA conference standings, were the highest seeded A team in the 2022 Women's Major World Series, and survived Hurricane Ian.

Stewart had the opportunity to share the field with many Illinois USSSA slo-pitch Hall of Fame members throughout her softball career. She was a part of co-ed teams, including Fleming's Tap, Happy Endings, Bubba's Excavating, Turn Up the Heat, and Landmark Landscaping; competed in state, national, and world co-ed tournaments; and earned multiple Joliet City Tournament championships. Playing next to Jim Walsh, Jim Cushing, Scotty Klein, and Jim "Tank" Kersten helped Stewart learn more about the game, not to mention the endless entertainment it brought. Softball also brought Stewart and her husband, Curt, together. Mutual friends introduced them at a tournament in 2012 and, while they never played on the same USSSA team, Stewart gives Curt credit for encouraging her to be a better competitor. Both Curt and Tank spent countless hours pitching her batting practice, refining her approach, and launching balls for her to track down in the field. She would not have had the confidence or the success she did without these two. Stewart is appreciative of those who paved the way for women's softball in Illinois and to those who continue to promote the sport today. She is honored to join the ranks of this talented group of players, coaches, sponsors, and umpires in the Illinois USSSA Slow Pitch Hall of Fame. She is happily enjoying her "retirement” from the game, traveling with Curt to his tournaments, and cheering for all of those who continue to play softball around the country.