It’s impossible to miss Angelique Elemen’s impact on the Fort Lewis College softball program. The Skyhawks’ lone senior this season, she has embraced every aspect of a changing program, and has become the face of it.
In Elemen’s four seasons, she has seen a coaching change, a two-and-a-half year renovation to her home field that she never played on until the final game of her junior season, and endured a few surgeries. But, by the time she stepped off of Aspen Field for the last time Saturday after 4-0 and 1-0 losses Dixie State, she held five school records.
The losses officially kept the Skyhawks (16-36, 11-28) out of Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament contention. After the losses, the team honored their senior with a postgame ceremony.
Elemen will leave FLC with the school records for most hits (229), runs batted in (181), home runs (55), doubles (48) and total bases (443). A slugger from her early days at FLC, Elemen still never thought she would be in the record books after it was all said and done.
“It’s definitely surreal and it doesn’t feel like I’m done,” Elemen said. “Softball has given me so many opportunities, and to be on this field for the last time, it’s hard, for sure. I give props to all my teammates for supporting me. ... I didn’t think I’d be in the record books like this. I always expected to be a leader because that’s always been my role, so I came in thinking that my teammates might look up to me one day, but I never expected that I’d achieve the things I did, and really I was just trying to help my team.”
In an almost cruel twist, Elemen had one last chance to deliver one final clutch RBI for Fort Lewis when she stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning Saturday with a runner on third base with FLC down 1-0. But Elemen was intentionally walked.
“I honestly was disappointed and thought they might pitch to me because I had made an out at four out of my five at-bats,” Elemen said. “But, it is what it is. I thought I’d be helping my team more than anything by putting me on and giving us a free base.”
Elemen finished the season with a .418 batting average, .803 slugging percentage and a .497 on-base percentage. She finished her career one home run from tying for second in conference history and was seventh in RBIs in conference history.
Fort Lewis College head coach Ellie Fracker said Elemen was her first four-year player to come through the program since she took over in 2015.
“We wanted to end today with a win, and I hate that her last at-bat was an intentional walk and don’t necessarily love that move, but I guess that just shows how scary of a hitter she is,” Fracker said. “(Elemen) has overcome two shoulder surgeries, never redshirted, and is made from a different cloth. She’s that rare athlete that you don’t get anymore with grit, toughness that isn’t going to come out of the game. We’re sad to see her go, and it’ll be a big hole to fill.”
Known affectionately as “Geek,” Elemen has seen a lot of changes in her four seasons in a Skyhawks uniform but said she wouldn’t change her experience.
“It’s just been a crazy four years,” Elemen said. “The one thing that I’m really proud of is maintaining consistent play, and was really struggling to find the consistency the last few years, no matter what my stats were. But this year, I was pretty consistent, so it’s been really cool. The journey has been hard; it’s been long but I wouldn’t have wanted to do it any other way. ... Having to fight through the snow, having to do all that stuff with our field to get it ready, plus going through some shoulder injuries, but, when I look back at it, it’s really hard to put into words.”
The Skyhawks will return a plethora of talent next year from the Hefley sisters, McKenna and Kylie, Taylor Hollestelle and pitchers Emily Morris and Kelly Decker. But when Fracker takes a look at the updated program record book, she’ll see Elemen’s impact all over the pages.
“She’s a heck of a kid, and we’re so lucky for her to have played such a big part in our program,” Fracker said. “She’s going to be around for awhile now once she’s etched into those record books.”
bploen@durangoherald.com
