Julia Nealer '09-'11

Julia Nealer attended Iowa Lakes Community College from 2009-2011, she is going into the Hall of Fame for Softball. 

Julia decided late to come to Iowa Lakes but knew that it would be the right decision for her. Originally from Seattle, Julia knew she wanted to play softball in college somewhere outside of Washington. She made many recruiting trips but her final decision came down to either Northern Idaho or Iowa Lakes. She met Coach Bosch at a tournament in Colorado and immediately came to Estherville to visit the campus. As it was summer break, she was only able to meet one local softball player but stayed with her and her parents. Julia had such a great time with Christa, her family, and Coach Bosch, that she knew Iowa Lakes would be a great fit for her. 

Throughout her time at Iowa Lakes Julia was continually impressed with the care and dedication of Coach Bosch. He is the best coach she ever had and had to be head coach, pitching coach, catching coach, travel agent, bus driver, and anything else the team might need.  He put together a winning team and Julia is grateful for having had the chance to play for him.

Coach Bosch had this to say about Julia, “Julia took a chance on Iowa Lakes and moved halfway across the country to rewrite the Iowa Lakes record book. The memory that resonates the most with me is us dropping in the losers bracket at the National Tournament and Julia pitching us back to within one game of the championship game. I think she pitched 5 or 6 games in 24-36 hours.  Just incredible stuff and was the National Tournament most valuable pitcher for it.”

Some of her best memories come from the bonds she made with her teammates. They always had so much fun in the tiny bus Coach Bosch used to drive them all in. Both on and off the field the team did a lot together. She feels like they were always up to something. She loves how close they all were. They were all so different and from so many different backgrounds but were able to come together and become great friends. No matter what was going on they could come together as a team and lift each other up. She loves that team and feels lucky she can still call them friends today.

On the field, Julia led her team to a 3^rd place finish at the 2010 national tournament. She was named 1^st team All-Region and 1^st team NFCA All-American her freshman year. She was also ranked the #1 pitcher in the NJCAA, when she allowed just 28 earned runs. That year she was 1^st in the NJCAA in ERA with .77, 2^nd in wins with 33, 3^rd in strikeouts at 341 and innings pitched at 254, and 7^th in strikeouts per inning with 1.34. She is 3^rd all-time at Iowa Lakes with 38 career wins and 379 career strikeouts. She is 5^th all-time in career shutouts with 13. She is the single season record holder for innings pitched at 254, strikeouts at 280, and ERA at .77.

After Iowa Lakes, Julia continued her athletic and academic career at NCAA Division II University of Minnesota Duluth. Julia graduated from UMD with a degree in criminology and a minor in Sociology. Julia is currently completing a graduate degree and plans to work at Matheus Lumber in the west Seattle area upon completion of the degree.

Julia would like to thank her parents for always supporting he and her passion for softball. Coming to Estherville from Seattle she was homesick before her parents even left.

Congratulations Julia Nealer on being inducted into the Iowa Lakes Hall of Fame.