WEBSTER CITY – BreAnn VanDeer took her rightful spot next to other local all-time great athletes Monday night when she became the first member of the Class of 2015 to be inducted into the Webster City Athletics Hall of Fame prior to the start of the Lynx softball game against Humboldt.

With her former coaches – pitching guru Jim Adams and Dave Hilton, also a Hall of Fame member – by her side, VanDeer said she was thrilled and humbled by the honor.

“(WCHS athletic director) Mr. (Bob) Howard and the Webster City Schools, thank you for nominating me and selecting me,” she said during her remarks. “The coaches and athletes that are already in there, to be a part of that group is quite an honor.”

VanDeer, who is the youngest member of the WCHS Athletics Hall of Fame, went on to thank her former teammates and her family members, many of whom were in attendance.

She saved her softball mentors for last.

“Coach Adams, thank you for all the time you devoted to the pitchers of Webster City,” she said. “I was blessed to follow in the footsteps of several all-state pitchers that you coached, many of them that I looked up to my whole younger days and throughout my whole career.

“Coach Hilton, there are not enough words to thank you for what you have meant to my development and growth as an athlete and as a person. You are such an inspiration.”

VanDeer was a fixture in the pitcher’s circle for the WCHS softball program from 2001-2005. She became the first eighth grader to pitch her team to a state championship when the Lynx won the Class 2A crown in 2001.

VanDeer walked away with a school-record 149 victories – a total that puts her 39th all-time in the state of Iowa. She fanned 1,282 batters in 1,473 innings and tossed 71 shutouts. She was also a five-time all-North Central Conference and all-state player.

VanDeer continued her pitching career from 2006-09 at Luther College in Decorah. She still ranks in the program’s top 10 for career strikeouts and earned run average.

Now 28, VanDeer works for Unity Point Heath in Fort Dodge as an athletic trainer. She is also a health occupations teacher at Fort Dodge Senior High.

VanDeer will marry Matt Drees on Aug. 1.