HARLAN -- Whether she was beating the boys in Run, Punt & Pass contests as a youngster, or setting home run records for the varsity softball team, Chelsea Cave's life through age 18 has always had sports as a common theme.
The 2009 Harlan Community graduate competed and was a standout in volleyball, basketball and softball throughout her high school career. She would have been a four-year starter in soccer as well, but gave that up after two years when an earlier start to the softball season caused the two sports to overlap considerably.
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After batting just .196 as a sophomore with five home runs, Cave raised her average to .356 in 2008 with seven homers. This past summer she fared even better, tying Amy Velthoff's single-season school record with eight home runs, adding 15 doubles and batting .382 - all team-highs for the 26-10 Cyclones.
Already the school's career home run leader a year ago, Cave left that record to stand at an even 20.
Today, the daughter of Charlie Cave and Marcie Cave, Harlan, is rewarded for her efforts as the 2009 Harlan Newspapers' All-Area Softball Player of the Year.
In addition to the stats already noted, the Cyclone left fielder/first baseman led HCHS in on-base percentage (.457), slugging (.765), walks (11) and runs-batted-in (29) as the full-time clean-up hitter.
And she had a blast doing it. Of all her athletic pursuits, softball has always been Cave's favorite.
"I just like the atmosphere and I love summer," she said. "My teammates have always been really good friends of mine, so it's just a lot of fun to play.
"I love playing sports. It's probably my favorite hobby. You get to show your competitiveness."
Toughness, too. When Cave suffered a serious dislocated ankle injury during the second volleyball match of the season last fall, she tackled a tough physical therapy rehab program and was nearly ready to return by the end of the season. She showed up ready to roll on the first day of basketball practice and earned second-team All-Conference plaudits in addition to being selected for the Academic All-State team.
Then it was straight into softball mode. Although practices didn't start until May, Cave spent the spring season working in the cage. The extra pre-season work is one of the reasons she was able to nearly double her batting average between 2007 and 2009 while maintaining her power swing.
"I've really been working in the off-season on my swing," she said. "During the spring season after I wasn't out for soccer anymore, I'd always go up to the batting cage in the weight room and I'd hit a lot after school, and I think that really helped me. I tried to work on my mentality as a batter to always have confidence with my swing."
Once practices and the season began, Cave also relied on her coaches for hitting advice. Lisa Connell has been the Cyclone head coach throughout Cave's career, and the varsity assistants during that stretch have been Sue Fowler and Kent Klinkefus.
"My coaches helped me a lot with my swing. If I had little problems they immediately noticed and would tell me, and I'd take that advice to heart," she said.
"They've all been great. (Coach Fowler) actually coached my mom in high school, so she was really more like a friend than a coach. Mrs. Connell has always been a great motivator, and she helped me change little things in my swing that made a really big difference. Mr. Klinkefus is just a great motivator; a great all-around coach. He's good to have around, just positive energy all the time."
Chelsea also received helpful advice over the years from her mom, Marcie, who played two years of college softball at Iowa Lakes Community College.
"She really pushed me to play softball and be good at it," Cave said. "She pushed me to the next level and kind of challenged me, so that helped a lot."
Before she was a softball standout, Cave held her own competing against the local boys in Run, Punt & Pass contests around the ages of 10-12. She downplays the amount of winning she did, but had a great time taking part.
"I competed in a couple of local (contests) and I think I made it to one district," she noted. "It was a lot of fun. I liked football. I grew up with my brothers and my dad playing football, so it kind of grew on me."
In the very beginning of Cave's softball career, the same could not be said. She played Tee Ball in kindergarten, but "didn't like it very much," and didn't go out for it the next season. Too easy, apparently, because once the batting tee was out of the equation, Cave returned to the diamond to stay.
"When I could start playing actual softball where they pitched to us, that's when I started playing and I really loved it," she said. "It's been my favorite sport since then."
Cave isn't sure if she always hit the ball farther than her teammates or if the power she showcased in high school was just a product of maturity and hitting the weights. She never tried to hit home runs; like most good power hitters, the homers were just a result of good bat speed and hitting the ball on the sweet spot of the bat.
But when she connected for a long ball, she usually knew it right away. "Typically, you can feel it come off the bat. It's a solid hit and you just know," she said. "I don't know what got into me in high school. (The power) just happened, I guess."
Including her eighth-grade year, when she saw six at-bats at the varsity level, Cave was a part of four conference championship teams at HCHS and two state qualifiers in 2006 and 2007. She played her way into a starting role in '06 when the Cyclones were Class 3-A state runners-up, and the following year she played full-time on a team that placed third at state.
That sophomore season remains one of Cave's favorite memories.
"That was the year I started hitting some home runs and got some good at-bats, so I tried to work off that," she said. "When we made it to state, that was really great because that was when I started from the beginning of the year and I felt like I really contributed. It just felt good to make it there and see our accomplishment."
Unfortunately, the Cyclones did not make it back to Fort Dodge the last two years, falling in the regional semifinals to Carroll (2008) and Creston (2009). This year's regional loss was particularly frustrating as HCHS led 2-0 with three outs to go before losing to the Panthers, 6-2.
Cave says the final loss will always sting, but she will also try to remember the season as a whole and not have regrets.
"It's going to be remembered as my last game, but really, there's nothing we could have done," she said. "What happens, happens - and I probably won't remember that loss as much as I will the season we had. We would always pick each other up after games, and we'll move on.
"I really enjoyed this season, and my high school career."
In addition to her busy sports slate, Cave hit the books at HCHS as well, carrying a 3.96 grade-point-average while participating in Key Club, Business Professionals of America, Best Buddies and National Honor Society.
She will continue her education at Drake University this fall after qualifying for a two-year pre-pharmacy program. She then plans to attend a four-year pharmacy school.
Cave won't be playing any varsity sports at Drake, but she is quick to mention that she plans to stay active.
"I'm not just going to quit playing sports," she said. "I'm going to play a bunch of intramurals and maybe some club sports and try some new things. The competitiveness won't be as tough as it was in high school, but I think everyone needs a little break sometimes, and it's just good to play for fun."
When Cave returns to Harlan in the summer, she will be anxious to check out the 2010 Cyclone softball team. One of her proudest individual sports accomplishments at HCHS is the career home run record of 20, but she's not so sure it will stand up for all that long. Someday, she hopes to be able to pass the torch.
"I know we've got some really good young talent coming up, so I'm kind of anxious to see if they can challenge that (record) a little bit," she said. "I hope someone will break it."
Cave's Career Climb
Harlan Community softball senior Chelsea Cave was a model of steady improvement during her Cyclone career. In addition to putting up big numbers offensively, Cave played solid defense at first base, left field and right field. She played in the State Softball Tournament twice and was part of four Hawkeye 10 championship teams in five years.
Below is a list of Cave's year-by-year offensive statistics.
Grade (Year) Avg. AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO
8th Grade (2005) .167 6 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0
Freshman (2006) .186 70 6 13 6 1 0 0 8 23
Sophomore (2007) .196 112 17 22 17 2 2 5 8 26
Junior (2008) .356 118 30 42 30 7 1 7 12 18
Senior (2009) .382 102 27 39 29 15 0 8* 11 13
Career Totals .287 408 81 117 84 25 3 20* 39 80
Cave's 8 home runs in 2009 tied the single-season school record first set by Amy Velthoff in 2005 . . . Cave's 20 career home runs is also a school record.
All-Area Softball Players of the Year
2009 Chelsea Cave, HCHS
2008 Brooke Schaben, HCHS
2007 Katie Goetzinger, HCHS
2006 Katie Goetzinger, HCHS
2005 Tami Chapman, I-K-M
2004 Margo Muhlbauer, I-K-M
2003 Bre McQueen, HCHS
2002 Allison Stracke, HCHS
2001 Stacy Theulen, HCHS
2000 Jenny Gross, Walnut
1999 Arynn Rasmussen, I-K-M
1998 Jill Kenkel, HCHS
1997 Kristin Olson, HCHS
1996 Amy Christensen, I-K-M
1995 Maria Frankl, I-K-M
1994 Toshia Klinkefus, HCHS
1993 Tammy Larsen, Walnut
1992 Ande Rasmussen, I-K-M
1991 Jenny Bruck, HCHS
1990 Tonya Goeser, HCHS
1989 Jennifer Peters, HCHS
1988 Nancy Frieze, Tri-Center
1987 Kathy Meier, I-K-M
1986 Kim Jacobsen, EH-K
1985 Beth Gawley, I-K-M
1984 Wendy Kay, Tri-Center
