Frain joins Softball Hall of Fame

FORT DODGE — Madison (Frain) Peterson became Creston’s first inductee into the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Softball Hall of Fame Thursday night.

The 2012 Creston High School graduate pitched five years for the Panthers with a 148-31 career record, 1.07 career earned run average and 1,584 strikeouts. She was consistently among the state leaders in strikeouts, ranking third in Iowa in 2011 with 348 strikeouts. A lefthander with an array of pitches, Peterson struck out 356 batters with a 0.73 ERA during her senior season.

Peterson was also a force at the plate in a Panther lineup that produced records of 34-5, 32-4, 28-4, 34-5 and 29-8. She batted between .300 and .495 in her five seasons, with six career home runs and 138 career RBIs. In 2010 she hit .495 with 17 extra base hits, and she knocked in 43 runs while batting .390 in 2011.

Her five seasons are the top five single-season strikeout performances by Creston pitchers all-time, followed by Taryn Fredrickson with 255 this year in sixth place. The rest of the top 10 includes Tonya Latham with 213, Haylee LaMasters with 211, Chantel Klejch 203 and Kelly Reed 189. Her 148 wins tops the school career chart, followed by Roxanne Sammons with 112. (Taryn Fredrickson concluded her career this season with a 72-23 career mark, ranking fourth in victories for the Panthers all-time.)

Collegiate career

Frain’s softball career continued at the University of South Dakota, where she earned All-Summit League honors in 2015 and 2016. Peterson amassed the fourth-most wins in program history (41) and ranks sixth in career strikeouts (322). During her senior season she was named Summit League Pitcher of the Week after allowing only nine hits and one run in 15 1/3 innings (0.46 ERA), including a 10-strikeout performance in a 2-0 win over IUPUI.

Besides Madison Frain, the 2025 Hall of Fame class includes former Akron-Westfield pitcher Kayla Tindall, former Linn-Mar shortstop Lindsey Digmann and former Johnston shortstop Brooke Wilmes.

Tindall led her team to three state championships and pitched at Northwestern College. Digmann had a career .441 batting average including a .500 average with 61 steals in 2005. She became a four-year starter at the University of Iowa, earning All-Big Ten honors. Wilmes finished her career at Johnston with a .524 batting average with 21 home runs, 175 RBIs and 128 stolen bases. She helped lead Johnston to two state champions and became an All-American player at the University of Missouri.

“The three others that went in with me, wow, look at their careers!” Peterson said after the ceremony preceding the Class 5A championship game at Rogers Sports Complex. “To be with them is an honor. I’m very proud to be the first one from Creston, especially to come back home and live there. It’s super special.”

Peterson is married to Zach Peterson and they are the parents of two children, Johnny (5) and Lucy (2). She is a State Farm Insurance agent in Creston. Madison was also joined by other family members, including brother Brody Frain and parents Darrell and Kim Frain at Thursday’s ceremony, along with former high school coaches Mike McCabe and Teri Keeler.

“Very proud,” said McCabe, who guided those five teams led by Frain and all-state shortstop Katlin Briley to four regional finals and one regional semifinal. “Madison just continued to work and improve. As good as she was when she was a young pitcher for us, she was never satisfied. That whole group held each other to high standards. They loved softball and did everything they could to succeed.”

Corkrean honored

Four of those seasons ended in losses to Winterset and in Frain’s senior season the Panthers lost to Indianola in a regional final. Ironically, the coach of those Winterset teams, Steve Corkrean, was honored earlier Thursday evening with the IGHSAU Golden Plaque of Distinction. He compiled over 700 career wins in 24 years before retiring after the 2024 season. He led the Huskies to 13 state tournament appearances and never had a losing season at Winterset.

Despite falling one step short of the state tournament so many times, Peterson said she harbors many fine memories of Creston softball including four straight Hawkeye Ten conference championships. The 2010 Panthers went 18-0 in the conference and the 2012 team had a 17-1 league mark.

“Some of my best memories don’t even include the actual games,” Peterson said. “I remember coach would make us pancakes and we’d play ‘soft golf’ once every year. Just the things you did with teammates, all the time spent together, that’s what you really remember. We loved the game. My class with Katlin Briley and Maddie Haines, we made sure we were doing things right. We had great coaches. We all wanted to win and we knew what it would take.”

After many years of miles logged traveling to pitching lessons with private coaches in Omaha over the years, Peterson now finds herself in an advisory role for many local pitchers, as well as those for state qualifier Riverside. Darrell Frain was an assistant coach this year for the Bulldogs, who lost in the semifinals to Wayne and placed third in Class 1A.

“It’s fun to support the Riverside girls,” Peterson said. “They sometimes say, you talk like your dad! I try to tell them to enjoy it. You only get to do this so many times.”

Peterson became a pitcher in youth softball in Creston. Soon Madison and at least one of her parents was on the road once or twice a week for pitching lessons, as well as weekend club team tournaments in Omaha.

“At 9 years old she kind of threw the ball harder than the other girls, but there was zero control,” Darrell Frain said, smiling. “She enjoyed working to get better and really bought into softball by seventh grade. She still wanted to do other sports with her classmates, but softball was her thing. Now when I see her working with our (Riverside) girls, it’s like it’s come full circle.”