Senior TCHS softball player Boyer isn’t dreaming anymore

By Lenny Sementi
Senior TCHS softball player and three-time All Central Illinois Conference performer Ella Boyer has dreamed of being an Illinois State University Redbird since she first donned the cleats. “I was just seven years old when I went to my first camp at Illinois State,” commented Boyer. “My Papa (Dale Boyer) took me! My favorite thing is the atmosphere there, I feel comfortable there, and it’s a home away from home. It was a tough decision. I narrowed it down between three schools before making my decision. But in my heart, I knew I wanted to go to ISU all along.”

The All-State shortstop for the Lady Warriors a year ago signed on the dotted line this past Wednesday the 9th and will no longer need to dream about it. She made it official and will take her talents on the diamond a little over an hour northwest to Bloomington next fall suiting up for first-year ISU head coach Tina Kramos, 

Kramos is not new to Boyer or the program, after spending the last 23 years under hall-of-fame coach Melinda Fischer as an assistant and associate head coach. So the new boss, like the old boss who left with over 1,000 wins under her belt, has been watching Boyer for the past decade at camps and softball tournaments. A Tuscola product is nothing new to the ISU program either as Warrior alum Morgan Day shined for four years in Bloomington prior to playing her final season at Oklahoma State University. 

Boyer led the black and gold at the plate out of the three-hole posting a team-best .556-batting average. She was also at the top of the RBI column accumulating 46-RBI’s while tying little sister Ava for the home run crown recording 10 dingers. The senior scored 46 runs during the 2022 campaign and struck out just once in over 100 plate appearances. And, was just as strong in the field throwing out 51 runners and assisting on 35 more outs en route to a .935-fielding average.