When Cheryl was about nine years old, she and her sister Cathy, along with the neighborhood boys started playing baseball in the streets of Oak Lawn using the sewer covers as bases. When the Oak Lawn Park District decided to form a girl’s softball league, Cheryl and her sister Cathy joined and their mother Mary managed the team that they named the Kool Kats during its initial season. That year Cheryl hit fifteen home runs, drove in sixty-three runs and earned the team’s MVP award. The Kool Kats went on to take first place honors for several years and Cheryl was awarded many all-star awards. Cheryl attended Queen of Peace High School and played sixteen-inch softball until her senior year when the school left the Chicago Athletic Conference sixteen-inch league and joined the GCAC twelve-inch league. While playing for Queen of Peace she began to hone both her skills as a catcher, tagging out most runners who tried to score and also her long distance hitting skills. Queen of Peace won the CYO Sectional Championship in 1975 and 1976. In 1977 Cheryl was named the GCAC All-Area Second Team for her offensive and defensive skills. Her big break into sixteen-inch softball started in 1976 when she was seventeen and was asked to play for the Ringers, coached by Scott Carter. They were a dominant team at the time that played in the Bedford Park and Oak Lawn Park District women’s leagues. They won several league championships and Cheryl earned many All-Star awards. She then switched to the Flames (renamed the Angels the following year) where she played for the legendary coach, Bill Broukal. As a member of the Angels, she started to play four to five nights a week in league play all over the south suburbs and played in tournaments on the weekends. As a member of the Angel�s she became a dominant catcher but also played first base and pitched when needed. But her real skills were in her “south-paw” hitting. When she came up to bat, the outfield would back up to almost the fence line. Cheryl’s nickname was Scooter, and it came from her ability to round the bases. During her almost thirty years of playing softball, she hit hundreds of home runs and drove in hundred of runs as the clean up hitter. In 1980, the Angel’s had their best season ending the season with a record of 57-8. They won titles in Bedford Park, Oak Brook and the Blue Island End of Season Tourney. In 1981, the Angel’s repeated their success with a record of 53-8 and won the championship in Blue Island, Cal City and the Old Style Classic. In 1983, she was named to the League on Champion All- Star at the Old Style Classic. As a traveling team, the Angels traveled all over the country playing softball and traveled as far as Salt Lake City, Utah. In the spring of 1987, Bill Broukal passed away unexpectedly, so Connie Bruegmann stepped up as the coach and with Cheryl as the team captain, the Angel continued the legacy started by Broukal. The Chicago Sixteen-Inch Siftball Hall of Fame honored the Angels in 2002. Cheryl also played sixteen-inch softball for several other teams. She played for the Bidayos, Lightning, Altom, Good-n-Plenty, Arch Angels and the Diamond Girls. The Diamond Girls coached by Lisa Lovato, dominated sixteeninch softball in the ’90s, just like the Angels did in the ’80s. They played softball mainly in Tinley Park where they won league championship every year from 1992-2001. After the Diamond Girls called it quits, Cheryl continued to play twelve- inch softball until she retired in 2007 at the age of forty-eight. Cheryl came back to sixteen-inch softball in 2002-2004 to play in the Y-Me Tournament in Mount Greenwood. In 2003 the Angel’s reignited their old glory days by winning the Y-Me championship. Besides excelling at sixteen-inch softball, Cheryl also excelled in twelve-inch fast-pitch softball. In 1976 while still in high school, she tried out for the Chicago Ravens, a newly developed team in the Professional Women’s Softball League and even though she had only played fast pitch for one year, she made it to the final cut. Cheryl played fast-pitch twelve-inch softball at Moraine Valley Community College where she earned her Associates Degree in science. Cheryl continued her education at Illinois Benedictine College where she played softball for another two years. Once her eligibility expired, she became an assistant coach for her college team. She graduated at I.B.C. with a Bachelors of Computer Science degree. Cheryl continues to reside in Oak Lawn and enjoys training her dog in agility, spending time in Michigan, enjoying water sports and scuba diving in the Caribbean.
