January 30, 2025
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1990 Hall state softball team, pitcher make a double play for Hall of Fame

All-around athlete John Matthews also to be inducted

By Kevin Hieronymus
The 1990 Hall softball team was undefeated NCIC champions and played its way back to stater. They are being inducted into the Hall High School Hall of Fame. Team members are (front row, from left) Gena Filippini, Kerry Carlson, Lynn Hewitt, Stacie Ring, Wendy Becker and Gina Rogers; and (back row) Cindy Wertz, Margaret Stergulz, Chelle Mixon, Joanna Walsh, Morena Andrade, Tricia Ziel, Theresa Zeglis and Penny Booker.

The 1990 Hall softball team was undefeated NCIC champions and played its way back to stater. They are being inducted into the Hall High School Hall of Fame. Team members are (front row, from left) Gena Filippini, Kerry Carlson, Lynn Hewitt, Stacie Ring, Wendy Becker and Gina Rogers; and (back row) Cindy Wertz, Margaret Stergulz, Chelle Mixon, Joanna Walsh, Morena Andrade, Tricia Ziel, Theresa Zeglis and Penny Booker. (Photo provided by Hall High School)

The best team and pitcher of any era of Hall softball and one of the Red Devils’ best all-around athletes make up the 2025 Hall High School Hall of Fame class.

Hall’s 1990 state softball team, Wendy Becker (class of 1990) and John “Boog” Matthews (class of 1979) will take their place in the Hall of Fame between games of Friday’s boys basketball action with Erie-Prophetstown.

Red Devils reign

The 1990 Hall softball team earned a repeat trip to state on the heels of an appearance the year before. The Red Devils were dominating in the return, going 13-3 in the regular season with a 7-0 run as NCIC champions before defeating Putnam County (9-0) and St. Bede (10-0) at regionals and Prairie Central (3-0) and Dunlap (3-2) at sectionals.

The Red Devils may have won the state championship, but an unfortunate mishap erased what would have been the game-winning run on a bases-loaded walk against Casey-Westfield in the state quarterfinals. Hall runners failed to advance to the next base during the mass celebration at the plate, and Casey-Westfield won the appeal and went on to defeat Hall 6-2 in nine innings.

Casey-Westfield, which also knocked off Hall in the 1989 state quarterfinals (8-1), would go on to win the state championship, its third in five years.

Team members are Morena Andrade, Wendy Becker, Penny Booker, Kerry Carlson, Gena Filippini, Lynn Hewitt, Chelle Mixon, Stacie Ring, Gina Rogers, Margaret Stergulz, Cindy Wertz, Joanna Walsh, Theresa Zeglis and Tricia Ziel.

wendy becker

Wendy Becker was a dominating pitcher for the Hall state softball teams in 1989 and 1990.

Dominating ace

Becker was the ace pitcher of the Lady Devils state softball teams. The dominating Devil threw five perfect games, 12 no-hitters and five one-hitters.

For her career, Becker posted a 40-10 record with three saves between 1988-91 with a stingy ERA of 0.98. She ended her run amassing 466 strikeouts, averaging 10.5 per game, while walking only 77 and allowing only 103 runs.

Becker won two regional championship games, two sectional titles and pitched in two Elite 8 games. She lost only two NCIC conference games in four seasons, both by just one run.

She was an All-Area first-team pitcher three times and was Hall’s Most Valuable Player twice.

John "Boog" Matthews was an all-around standout athlete for the Red Devils, graduating in 1979.

John "Boog" Matthews was an all-around standout athlete for the Red Devils, graduating in 1979. (Photo provided by Hall High School)

‘Athlete of the Year’

A local sports writer once said in the late 1970s, “If there is an Athlete of the Year Award in the Illinois Valley area, it has to be John Matthews.” During his senior year, Matthews earned all-conference honors in football, basketball and track in the highly competitive NCIC.

He was a three-year varsity football player, earning All-NCIC recognition in his junior and senior years. On the basketball court, Matthews was a four-year letterman, earning MVP and All-State honorable mention as a junior and team captain his senior year. Despite being just 5-foot-11, he set a record with 304 rebounds, outworking taller opponents to dominate the glass.

However, it was track where Matthews truly shined. An NCIC champion for three years, he qualified for the state finals for three years, missing only his senior year because of injury.

As a freshman, Matthews shattered the 440-yard dash record at Hall, a record that stood for 23 years. He also led Hall to its first district championship, scoring 18 of the team’s 34 points, winning the 100-, 200-, and 440-yard dashes. As a sophomore, he took sixth at state in the 440 yard-dash. He returned to state in his junior year, medaling in the 100-yard dash (eighth), the 440-yard dash (third), and the 220-yard dash (second).

His coach, the late Rollie Morris, said, “I’ve never before coached anyone as athletic and as willing to work hard as John Matthews does. You name it, and he does it.”

Matthews excelled in the classroom, too, receiving many academic honors.

He continued his track career at Bradley University, then served six years in the Navy before finishing his degree in industrial engineering from Cal State. He is an industrial engineer manager at Tesla.

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