KRUG CRAWFORD AWARD: Nell thrived on every stage

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This article was published 02/01/2025 (259 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A year that softball took Danika Nell around the globe couldn’t have a more fitting end.

The superstar pitcher won multiple championships and represented Canada on the international stage twice, crossing one item after the next off a bucket list she started at age 12.

Nell’s rise to grand stages started small, putting in work when no one was watching in her Boissevain basement, where her parents hung netting so she could throw year-round.

On Friday, the Boston University rookie ran six hour-long pitching camps at Triple Crown Sports in Brandon as dozens of wide-eyed girls soaked in every second they could, learning from one of their heroes.

“It’s so important they have a player around here,” Nell said. “That they know it is possible to come from Boissevain, Manitoba like me and Zoe Hicks have done (as well as) so many great players to come from around here. I’d love to help as much as I possibly can.”

She’s a championship-calibre player and a role model in every sense of the term.

Nell is the winner of the 67th annual H.L. (Krug) Crawford award as Westman sportsperson of the year, one year after Hicks earned the honour.

MAKE MAGIC

Nell still has the journals she started as a pre-teen. Her list of goals started with, “Make Magic.”

You could say she did that, both in a figurative and literal sense. Some of her strikeout-filled pitching performances over the years left opposing hitters dumbfounded.

But of course, she was referring to the Westman Magic AAA program.

And she not only made it every year but slotted in as her team’s ace and one of the top hitters in the lineup year in and year out.

Faron Asham, who coached Nell’s Magic teams in 2020 and 2022, still remembers the day he knew she’d be a star.

“Probably the first time she walked into the old cages down on College Avenue,” Asham recalled.

“She walked in and she was a presence then. She was 13 years old but she walked in and was bigger, better, stronger than everybody at that time, and just came in and was committed to her craft.

“There was no mistaking who was going to be the player in that group and it certainly turned out that way.”

While some kids were content to throw a strike, Nell needed to pick a corner. Others worked until they got it right, she’d go until she couldn’t miss.

And she took practice home with her, spending more hours pitching in the basement. She chuckles about how her dad’s had to stitch up the strike zone three times over the years.

“It always started out as for fun and it never felt like a job,” Nell said.

“When I was younger, I would just do it because I liked it. When I was older, it was like ‘You have to practise and have to do this,’ but it never felt like a job.

“It has definitely helped me a tremendous amount, especially as I’ve gotten to college, the workload has been a better adjustment because I’m used to just going and doing things on my own.”

It led to plenty of success in the pitcher’s circle for Westman, most notably when she was named the top pitcher at under-14 nationals as the Magic finished fifth in 2019.

DON’T STOP THERE

Nell was clearly on a fast track to something big.

Unlike many young athletes who tower over their peers in middle school and get outworked and surpassed, Nell continued working — harder than anyone else.

She credits her parents, Meyer and Karen, as well as her older brother Meyer and sister Anja for instilling that work ethic.

“Especially my brother, he always had that same thing in him when we were in the gym together,” Danika said. “It was always ‘finish the last rep, always finish, go one more.’ If you want to be the best and help your team out, that’s what you’ve got to do.”

Virtually every coach Nell has crossed paths with figured she’d help their team. She was a mainstay on Team Manitoba, and in 2021, got a call from Nebraska Gold, an elite travel ball squad, to join them for a few tournaments throughout the summer.

Nell battled through a stress fracture in her left foot in the States, then took some time off before returning to game action with the Magic with her eyes opened to a seemingly whole new world.

“I was definitely surrounded by girls that also had that DI dream,” Nell said. “They’re putting in work outside of practice, they have their own hitting coach and pitching coach and that was cool to see, especially at tournaments.

“They’re walking around with their commitments on their visors, she’s going to Florida, she’s going to Oklahoma … With the national team or when you go to nationals, you see the kids from other provinces. Now you have something to chase.”

HIGH SCHOOL

Nell moved in with her brother and former Brandon Wheat King, Meyer, for Grade 11. She wanted a push in the classroom, taking IB courses at Vincent Massey Collegiate.

She was well on her way to landing an NCAA scholarship, and if she told anyone around her new school, they would have assumed it was for volleyball.

“Nobody even knew I played softball in high school so everyone was like, ‘Are you going to university for volleyball?’” Nell recalled. “I always tell people volleyball’s my for fun sport.”

Nell certainly had fun on the court. She was a standout for the Boissevain Broncos, playing up with the varsity team before she moved. Nell also helped Cats Volleyball Club to a 14U national title.

In Grade 11, she guided the Trojans to the AAAA provincial final. The following year, she cracked the Winnipeg Free Press top 10 and was named to the all-Manitoba team.

She capped her high school sports career in style. After leading the Broncos softball team to its first-ever provincial title, she did the same for the Trojans, then repeated in 2024 as she collected her third straight tournament MVP nod.

Naturally, she received the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association female athlete of the year award.

While high school ball is far from the level of some of her other teams, it was a valuable experience.

“You definitely learn you’ll have a role on every team. It was really nice to step into more of a leadership role because in Boissevain and especially at Massey, I was playing with girls who hadn’t picked up a bat in a few years,” Nell said.

“I was trying to help them and create a team where everyone feels comfortable going to each other and nobody feels like they’re left out there alone, because when I’m out on the mound, I don’t feel like I’m alone either.”

TEAM CANADA

Some goals are sure things, in hindsight. But no one’s simply handed a Maple Leaf to wear.

Nell achieved one of her biggest dreams last spring as the lone Manitoban on Team Canada’s U18 roster for the Pan American championship.

On March 30, Nell walked onto the diamond in Columbia for her national team debut.

“The first time you walk out of the dugout in the jersey and look up at the fans, that was unreal,” Nell said. “My family was up there, all the parents. We had a really good turnout with fans in Colombia because not a lot of events happen there, they would come to every game and they loved the Canadians so that was fun.”

And she played a massive role as Canada rolled through the first stage at 4-1, then beat Mexico 3-1, Peru 10-0 and Colombia 5-1 to reach the final against Puerto Rico.

Nell pitched in the final as Canada fell 2-1 and settled for silver.

She was slated to make another trip with the national team but had doubts after suffering a stress fracture in her left femur, which she believes happened during high school provincials.

Nell took six weeks off from pitching and returned to compete with her Smitty’s Terminators club team at nationals, then travelled to Dallas with Team Canada for the Women’s Softball World Cup group stage.

Canada lost 7-0 to the United States in the group final but bounced back in a big way in the repechage game. Nell earned the win, striking out six batters in three innings as Canada topped Mexico 9-2 to secure a spot in a World Cup Nell will be too old to play this year.

OFF TO BOSTON

Nell started an X account in 2021, posting videos with the hopes of catching the attention of college coaches.

A simple, 20-second clip of her throwing three pitches did the trick, as it appeared on Boston University coach Ashley Waters’s feed. She scrolled through a few more videos and reached out to Nell to set up a phone call.

Waters offered her a scholarship without seeing her play in person.

“I’ll never forget that,” said Nell, who’s quick to credit the other coaches throughout her journey.

“All my Magic coaches, from Shane Black to Faron Asham and Kayla Alexander, they’ve all helped me out. They all gave me the opportunities to have success at that level, whether it was putting me in pressure situations in games or encouraging me to dream big and go for the DI dream.

“(Team Canada coach) Keith Mackintosh … he was the first one to really give me that chance on the junior team so I’ll forever be grateful for that.”

Nell had a few other offers, and her decision wasn’t strictly about athletics. She needed the right academic fit to follow in her father’s footsteps and pursue medicine.

Nell feels she found it.

“It’s such a high academic school, so you’re surrounded by geniuses all the time. All my classes it’s so nice because I’m surrounded by pre-med, pre-health, everyone in my chem labs and bio labs has the same goal in mind,” Nell said.

“You get to do that as well as play on a super high-level softball team so I don’t have much to complain about. I love the city, Boston’s such a beautiful city, rich in history.”

Nell’s had some time to explore, shopping on the famous Newbury Street and taking in events like the Head of the Charles, the world’s biggest three-day rowing competition.

But she spends the vast majority of her hours in class, studying, training and practising.

The softball schedule is lighter in the fall than in the winter, with 10 exhibition games. Nell has pitched and hit in games as a rookie, gearing up for an intense second term.

Her Terriers head to Florida and North and South Carolina in February, then move into a heavy conference schedule. All in all, BU’s 2025 slate will include about 50 games from February to May.

She still has a few more weeks at home, enjoying the longest break she’s had all year after a rewarding yet completely exhausting 2024.

Incredibly, she’s found a way to avoid burning out.

“You have to remember who you are outside of the sport. I like to remember even at school, when I step away from the softball field, I’m a student,” Nell said.

“I’m a daughter too, or a friend, you’ve got to have things outside of softball you enjoy and can look to because, at the end of the day, softball isn’t going to be forever. It’s very important to me right now and will be for a while but you still gotta know who you are outside of it.”

BRIGHT FUTURE

One day, she’ll hang up her cleats for good. But if she has it her way, that day is far away.

Nell has already crossed off all the goals she set as a kid, but the list has grown.

The next two include winning a championship with Boston and cracking the senior national team roster.

Down the road, the 2028 Summer Olympics are circled on her proverbial calendar.

Every step of the way, she’ll be just as excited to teach a young kid how to throw a change-up or rise ball.

“There’s no nicer person that I can think of in a competitive environment. Sometimes you have to have that edge, well she’s got that edge but when it’s done, when she walks off the diamond, she’s Nelly,” Asham said.

“The kids love her, she’s an idol to the kids here … she’s the same old Nelly and she’s kind of embarrassed by it because, ‘I’m just from Boissevain.’

“Nelly, you’re DI, you’re one of the top pitchers to come out of this province, ever.”

Yet if you ask Nell, there’s still room to grow. There always will be.

“The job’s never finished,” she said.

“I’m never going to cross off the last thing on my bucket list. There’s always going to be another thing.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

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PAST WINNERS

2024 — Danika Nell, softball

2023 — Zoe Hicks, baseball/softball

2022 — Emily Tuttosi, rugby

2021 — Justin Sharp, football

2020 — Austin Dobrescu, golf

2019 — Kristen Campbell, hockey

2018 — Lara Denbow, track and field

2017 — Pat Lamont, trapshooting

2016 — Isabela Onyshko & Lorie Henderson, gymnastics

2015 — Braden Calvert, curling

2014 — Isabela Onyshko, gymnastics

2013 — Halli Krzyzaniak, hockey

2012 — Rob Fowler, curling

2011 — Mark Stone, hockey

2010 — Paul Sanderson, volleyball

2009 — Lisa Barclay, volleyball

2008 — Brayden Schenn, hockey

2007 — Mark Derlago, hockey

2006 — Jenna Kerbis, gymnastics

2005 — Eric Fehr, hockey

2004 — Neil Andrews, curling, baseball

2003 — Jordin Tootoo, hockey

2002 — Israel Idonije, football

2001 — Jerry Hemmings, basketball

2000 — Shane Moffatt, baseball

1999 — Reed Eastley, baseball, volleyball

1998 — Cory Cyrenne, hockey

1997 — Grady Manson, hockey

1996 — Carmen Hurd, track and field

1995 — Kelly McCrimmon, hockey

1994 — Pam Flick, basketball

1993 — Marty Murray, hockey

1992 — Sandra Hamilton, basketball

1991 — Joey Vickery, basketball

1990 — Trevor Kidd, hockey

1989 — Shirley Bray, curling

1988 — Patrick Jebbison, basketball

1987 — Mabel Mitchell, curling

1986 — John Carson, basketball

1985 — Al Robertson, baseball

1984 — Ray Ferraro, hockey

1983 — Cathy Woodmass, water skiing

1982 — Jerry Hemmings, basketball

1981 — Diane Ogibowski, figure skating

1980 — Dan Halldorson, golf

1979 — Dunc McCallum, hockey

1978 — Glen Hanlon, hockey

1977 — Dan Halldorson, golf

1976 — Bob Thompson, baseball, hockey

1975 — Karen Anderson, curling, fastball

1974 — Jack Brockest, hockey

1973 — Ron Chipperfield, hockey

1972 — Lawrie Lewis, track and field

1971 — Gary Howard, basketball

1970 — Don Sumner, baseball, curling

1969 — Vailla Hoggan, water skiing

1968 — Buck Matiowski, recreation

1967 — Gerry MacKay, baseball, curling

1966 — Juha Widing, hockey

1965 — Bill Robinson, gymnastics

1964 — Lynda Kidd, basketball, softball

1963 — Earl Dawson, hockey

1962 — Fred Pilcher, curling

1961 — Ron Maxwell, hockey

1960 — Jake Milford, hockey

1959 — Mike Doig, shooting

1958 — Jack Matheson, hockey, golf