Sports : Alumni softball game reunites former Vikings, aids future VS program

Vikette alumni gathered together to play softball again on Friday.

The black team

The gold team

Lindsay Noren pitched for the gold team.

Natalie (Nesbitt) Edwards hits the ball during the VS Alumni softball game.

Ashley Strong, Class of 2012.

Trisha Bunten Merchant catches the ball at home plate as Brittany Robertson scores.

Mindy Burke pitched for the black team.

Kara Roehr fields a ball at shortstop..

and another..

... and throws to first.

Jenna Relf hauls in a fly ball as Mandy Smith backs up the play.

3B Sarah Ries Erickson watches as CF Emily Sandor cathes a pop fly.

V-S Alumni Softball: Paige Kreutner & Mandy Smith avoid a collision as Paige catches a fly ball.

Eye on the ball: Coach Emily Pohlmann Grimm connects.

Alumni softball: Sarah (Ries) Erickson, in the shirt she wore as a VS player in 1995, at third base.

Emily Sandor hits the ball..

and catches it in center field for the gold team.

Sarah (Ries) Erickson, even more than 18 years after her last softball game as a Vinton-Shellsburg Vikette, knew exactly where to look for her uniform.

Erickson, a 1995 graduate, wore her old gold jersey with the number 16 during the first-ever, first-annual V-S alumni softball game Friday evening.

"I knew exactly which tub it was in," she said during the game on Friday.

Twenty players, representing years as early as 1988 and as late as 2012, signed up for the game. V-S assistant coach Emily (Pohlmann) Grimm of the Class of 2004, organized the event.

Grimm drew names from a hat, after arranging them in chronological order, in order to create teams as close in age as possible.

The gold team included:

Tricia Floyd, 1988

Sarah (Ries) Erickson, 1995

Heather (Wygle) Parker, 2004

Emily (Pohlmann) Grimm, 2004

Emily Sandor, 2007

Kristin Bramow, 2010

Brittany Robertson, 2010

Ashley Boyer, 2011

Lindsay Noren, 2012,

Ashley Strong, 2012

Black Team members included:

Tonya (Clark) Stephens, 1994

Carrie (Millard) Ebel, 1995

Mindy (Burke) (Druschel, 1995

Trisha (Bunten) Merchant, 2004

Natalie (Nesbitt) Edwards, 2004

Kara Roehr, 2009

Mandy Smith, 2009

Katie Henderson, 2010

Jena Relf, 2011

Paige Kreutner, 2011

The game was close early on, but the gold team eventually won 13-8. Grimm said the game would take place again next year, but no date has yet been set. Proceeds from gate admission will benefit the VS softball program.