Former Cypress softball standout honored in Iowa City
Standing before 70,000 fans in Iowa City this past week, memories of Diane Pohl’s long softball career came flooding in as she became one of the most celebrated athletes to ever enjoy such reverence from fans at the University of Iowa.
Three decades after she was a Cypress High School softball standout, Pohl was back in Iowa to be inducted into the Hawkeye Sports Hall of Fame.
“It was amazing,” she said. “There is no other way to describe it.” Pohl said the university “rolled out the red carpet and it was a humbling experience.”
Pohl, along with a handful of other Hall of Fame selected athletes, were honored at halftime during the Hawkeyes’ win over Miami last Saturday as fans remembered Pohl’s greatness on the Hawkeye softball diamond.
Her feelings toward the fans were mutual, she said, even though the whole Iowa thing was never intended to happen.
Pohl was very highly recruited after graduating from Cypress High School, where she led the team to great success. The former Centurion said she remembers having no real intention to attend the University of Iowa.
Pohl’s softball legend had already begun to grow. From Westminster to Gordon’s Panthers, then, after moving to Cypress High School, holiday travel ball, OC Knighthawks, national titles, CIF appearances, etc., Pohl became one of the most recognized catchers in California.
Back then, many of the most powerful softball programs west of the Mississippi wanted Pohl to play softball for them. Iowa was not high on her list (to say the least).
Nevertheless, Gayle Blevins, then the Hawkeye softball coach, had other ideas. Blevins “relentlessly” recruited Pohl. She called her. Encouraged her; sent birthday cards. It never stopped, Pohl remembers.
So much so that, “as a courtesy” to Blevins, Pohl decided to use one of her official visits to travel to Iowa and speak to coach Blevins.
“I only agreed to take the trip because Gayle was persistent,” said Pohl. “She recruited me from the day she got to Iowa,” said Pohl, so “I felt like I at least owed her a trip to Iowa.”
Pohl said the trip changed her life.
Unlike huge universities like USC and UCLA, Pohl said the University of Iowa campus was not restricted to the educational campus. The university, she said, “was the whole town. There are no professional sports in town, so the college is it. And they love it.”
Almost immediately upon arrival, said Pohl, she fell in love with the university and Iowa City. “It’s a Big Ten college town” where the campus and the city are synonymous, said Pohl.
Then, she said, in her meeting with Coach Blevins, the wise coach changed her perspective about the future, making her understand that in Iowa, “you can make more of a difference.”
In fact, the visit was so successful, that when her dad (Tom) picked her up at the airport, Pohl remembers his sort of stunned reaction as she told him, “I might go to the University of Iowa.”
In the end, Pohl obviously decided to attend the University of Iowa where she became a “superstar,” including being named the first-ever All-American girls softball player in the university’s history. In fact, she amassed an amazing assortment of softball records (see chart above).
It had been a long road down the softball base paths for Pohl, beginning her career at 9-years-old when she saw a sign for “Little Miss Softball” signups in Westminster.
While her dad immediately found someone to begin teaching her how to pitch, she remembers Ron LeFebvre showing her the new method of “windmill” pitching.
As time went on, however, she clearly remembers the day LeFebvre told her she seemed more comfortable “catching” the pitcher rather than pitching “and he was right.” So not long after, she switched to catching.
Says Pohl, sitting behind the plate gave her a sense of control of the game which felt incredibly comfortable for her. “I took command of the field and ever since then, I absolutely loved sitting behind the plate and controlling the field.”
According to the Hawkeyes’ website, Pohl became Iowa’s first National Softball Coaches Association All-America selection during a season where she was voted the team’s co-Most Valuable Player.
In her second season, she received a second All-American selection, hitting near .350 with 38 stolen bases and leading the Big Ten in seven categories.
Throughout most of her career, she led the batting order. She was fast on her feet and always ready to play, injured or not. While at the University of Iowa, the Hawkeyes won 170 games, two Big Ten championships, and made two NCAA Regionals.
Although her stolen base record is now gone, she still ranks third and is happy the program has grown to the point of breaking old records.
Following her record shattering collegiate career, Pohl returned to Cypress to coach for several years before landing a corporate job in Oregon, where she now coaches Aiden, her 10-year-old son. She said Aiden, who accompanied her to the ceremonies, said “Mom, I guess you were pretty good.”
Pohl told a university reporter that, during her last game as a Hawkeye, she remembers sitting in the dugout next to Coach Blevins and simply staring at the field. “That was all there was left to do.”
After that last game, a young Iowa girl brought her a Dixie cup full of the infield dirt, telling her she should have it “because you have made such a difference.”
Diane Pohl’s softball legend began in the dirt behind home plate and, as far as that cup of Iowa infield dirt given to her, she still treasures it today.
“I am deeply honored and gratified by the university’s decision” to be inducted into the University of Iowa Hall of Fame. Pohl said her entire collegiate softball career was an amazing experience that began with that unlikely trip to Iowa City as a courtesy to Coach Blevins.
“It was well worth it,” she said.
Coach Blevins was correct. Diane Pohl did indeed make a difference.
