PEPPERED WITH TALENT

BY CHRISTINE NESSLER

PHOTOS BY MICHELLE ISEBRAND PHOTOGRAPHY

A sure sign of the season, the bright lights beaming all summer long at Caswell Park in North Mankato. And under those bright lights, bright orange uniforms dot the landscape in what has become a part of every summer in North Mankato: Mankato Peppers Softball. The organization’s impact on the community, and on the players, reaches far beyond the glow of the lights.

“Peppers helps me be more confident so I can stand up for myself. Now I have confidence in other activities and school too,” says Harper Walsh, who plays on the 10u team.

Ava Bode on the 12u travel team says, “It makes you a better person by doing something you love.”

Her sister, Maddie (16u) echoes those sentiments. “Peppers is bringing kids together that just want to try something new. It’s a positive environment for everyone.”

For forty years Mankato Peppers Softball has been a cornerstone of our community by developing confident young women, cementing solid friendships and bringing vitality to our community. Each summer these girls are learning more than how to field a grounder or swing a bat, and the Caswell sports complex has grown right along with them. In addition to building a reputation around fast-pitch softball, Peppers has also affected our local commerce attracting teams from across the Midwest to the city. The Peppers host five tournaments at Caswell from May through July. According to Jon Thompson, Treasurer and Finance Chair of Mankato Peppers Softball, studies done by Visit Mankato, show in 2019 Mankato Area Girls Fastpitch Association (MAGFA) tournaments generated nearly $3,000,000 in economic activity in the Mankato area. The income comes from people drawn into the community from across the state and country as well as local supporters of the teams. This includes retail, tickets, gas, lodging and of course, food.

“The tournaments at Caswell can keep us busy from the moment we open to 9 'o'clock at night,” said Wade Becker, owner of Big Dog Sports Cafe located on Commerce Drive in North Mankato. Since Becker opened in 1994, he has had a partnership with Peppers. The Peppers give Becker advanced notice of any upcoming tournaments so he can staff accordingly. Becker also does his own due diligence by keeping records from past tournaments so he can be properly prepared. The extra work has been worth it.

“It’s unbelievable the support they’ve (Peppers) put into this place over the years,” Becker said. “There will be 60 to 80 people in the back room at some times.”

For Becker, it’s about more than numbers. It’s about the relationships he’s built with the families that come in to celebrate after each game.

“It’s been a pleasure watching those kids have a blast in the back. It puts a smile on my face to see a happy kid,” Becker said. “Some of the girls I’ve known since they were five or six years old and now, they have daughters of their own that play.”

Mankato Peppers was the area’s first organized fast-pitch softball team. Players, past and present, along with their families and our community will feel its positive impact for years to come because for Mankato Peppers Softball it’s always been about more than just playing a game.

Molding Young Adults

What started out as a very competitive traveling fast-pitch softball team, has through the years become a multifaceted softball program where kids of all abilities can find the love of softball. From Lil’ Peppers tee-ball players all the way up to the competitive teams that travel the country for National tournaments, Peppers is working to set up their players for success in softball and in life.

“The goal is to teach the kids in our program how to deal with adversity, work as a team, gain leadership skills, and become productive members of our community,” said Thompson.

A big part of attaining this goal of developing players with these positive attributes is finding the best coaches who not only want to lead the players on the field, but also impact their lives moving forward. Many coaches were once Peppers themselves, including Beth Benzkofer Kozitza.

Kozitza has been a part of Mankato Peppers since the very first year the program was formed. She played with the Peppers throughout high school and immediately began coaching for Peppers afterwards. Kozitza coached for the Peppers for 30 years before leaving to coach both college and high school teams. She currently coaches for Loyola-St. Clair High School Softball.

Lessons Kozitza learned on the field carried through to her life and shaped the person she became. She says it is the best thing she has ever done because Peppers improved her ability to work as a teammate, made her a better friend, made her more outgoing, gave her a drive to achieve and most importantly gave her confidence. 

The ability to share those lessons and a passion for building up confidence in girls, is what has kept Kozitza coaching all these years.

“Girls start losing confidence really early in life,” Kozitza said. “It’s so important we can build their confidence - not through talking, but through a sport. Confidence grows through doing something they love and by flourishing through friendships.”

Craig Bode, father of two Peppers players and a Peppers coach and board member, said one of the biggest impacts he’s seen on his daughters has been the confidence they have gained through the sport of softball, particularly his sixteen-year-old daughter Maddie.

Maddie Bode, a 16U traveling Peppers player, is a prime example of one of these impressive young women who has experienced personal development while honing her athletic abilities. Maddie started playing softball at a young age because she enjoyed being outdoors and had friends who were playing as well. It was the challenge of the game that got her hooked on the sport.

“Softball has definitely taught me hard work ethic because there are a lot of aspects to the game that you have to work hard at,” Maddie said. “I know there is always a next step, and it just challenges me to be my best self.”

Bode is also grateful for the lifelong friendships his daughters are developing through their involvement in Peppers. Ava, twelve-years-old, says that’s her favorite part of being on a Peppers team.

“It’s all so good and cheerful,” Ava said. “I like all the new friends that you meet, and I like just playing the game.” Players aren’t the only ones making friends. Families are also connected through Peppers.

“I have joked that many of my summer vacations over the years were spent not with my immediate family, but with my Pepper families,” Thompson said. “Some of my best friends today are from being a part of this program.”

Bode became close friends with Tomm Richards while coaching their daughters Maddie and Tiegen together. Richards is a long-time Peppers coach and father of three former and current Peppers players.

The families have become such good friends over the years that the Bode family traveled to Winter Haven, Florida for The Spring Games this past spring to watch another Richards’ daughter play softball. At the games they supported Torey Richards, former Peppers player and shortstop for the Minnesota State University Mavericks softball team.

Through the time the two families have spent together over the years, Torey became a role model for Maddie.

“I have been close with the Richards family forever and have always looked up to Torey,” Maddie said. In addition to being a well-known local athlete from East High School and now Minnesota State University, Torey has also been encouraging to younger players by participating in clinics and giving softball lessons.

“I have done a couple lessons with her,” Maddie said. “She always has answers to all my questions.”

Paying it forward

Like Kozitza once did, Torey plans to coach for the Peppers this summer and continue the tradition of former players coming back to teach and inspire the next generation of

Peppers. Many players have been inspired to give back after playing for Peppers, including Maddie.

“I want younger kids to have the same experience I had,” said Maddie, who at just 16-years-old, is already a role model for younger players. She aspires to play college softball and become a coach one day too.

“It feels good to hear those younger players look up to me,” Maddie said. “I want to show them that hard work pays off.” While Maddie leads through example, sometimes being a role model is as simple as showing up. Tiegen Richards, also 16-years-old, says being a good role model starts with supporting the younger Peppers by attending their games and cheering them on.

A Reputation of Excellence

Built to inspire, Mankato Peppers Softball was started in 1982 when Jerry Maschka and Gary Lunz gave girls in North Mankato and Mankato a chance to excel in a program designed just for them. Prior to that, there was no softball program and girls that wanted to play only had baseball as an option. Kozitza was one of the girls recruited from baseball.

“All the girls I was playing baseball with started playing Peppers,” Kozitza said. “They put together the best of the girls which at the time were really great athletes.” According to Kozitza, the baseball teams left behind suffered the loss of some of their finest players. Maschka, Lunz, and the eager young athletes who played, began the legacy of excellence for which Mankato Peppers Softball is still known. The early development of these baseballplaying young women turned the Peppers teams into a dominant softball force in statewide and national tournaments.

“The sport Mankato is most known for is softball because Peppers helps develop those kids,” said Richards.

According to Richards, there is a team in Kansas City that named themselves the Peppers twenty years ago because of how they saw the Mankato Peppers play back in the 1990s. They were impressed and wanted to emulate the team.

What began in tournaments then carried through to the Big Nine Conference and the state. The older Mankato softball players influence their younger peers and so the reputation has been carried out by the generations that followed.

“The young girls in town see the high school teams winning, having fun and making it to the state tournament and then it really snowballs,” Richards said. “Now we have great momentum that has carried with us for 40 years.”

Girls, ages 6 to 18, interested in playing softball, can sign up for Peppers at mankatopeppers.com. 

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