2018 Male Player: Scott Opels
/Scott Opels
Scott Opels softball career started while he was playing with his two cousins, Jeff and Rick Wulbecker. It was there he started to learn the game of softball and the importance of teamwork and being a great teammate. These things would stay with him for his whole career.
Opels was lucky enough to play on some very talented teams in his career: Sports Page, The Page, Y Not Inn, HRI, Ken’s Beverage, KA Softball, Creative Design and KBI. While on these teams, Opels got to play with some great teammates, who became lifelong friends. He was also able to play against some for the best players, not only in Illinois, but the entire country.
Opels’s career was a two-part act. He started as a second baseman and then moved to shortstop to try to fill the shoes of Timmy Hart. Then, when he moved to play with HRI, he became a pitcher for the rest of his career.
Being a physical education teacher and coach, Opels understands the importance of the people in charge of running teams. He feels very lucky to have been able to play for: Harvey Foster, Greg Marek, Brian Nielsen, Keith Taylor, Alex Wanless, Ken Adams, Don Loid, Dave Catalani and Massimo Piazzolla.
Besides the games and tournaments, Opels recalls all the work that went into getting ready to play, whether it was batting practice in Joliet before a league game, meeting Pete Mulligan after to work at some open field to hit, hitting whiffle balls with Jim Kersten and Shane Nelson or talking his wife Janet into pitching to him or hitting him ground balls. All these things were done to be ready to play his best in tournaments.
Opels probably batted in the neighborhood of .650 for his career and may be one of the few softball players who can remember every home run he has ever hit.
Some of Opels’s favorite game memories are: winning his first State Tournament in O’Fallon beating HRI and being named MVP, finishing second in the Class B World with KA Softball and being named Defensive MVP and finally winning the 40 & Over Worlds with Ken’s Beverage. He was named to the All-Tournament team.