Warsaw is situated 40 miles north of Quincy Illinois. A small town of around 1800 people and former home of Burgemeister Beer brewed at the Warsaw Brewery until the early 1970’s. Warsaw has always been considered a “fastpitch town”. Our town/area has fielded at least one highly competitive Men’s fastpitch softball team since the early 1960’s, playing throughout Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa.

In the early 1970’s, The Keokuk Daily Gate City team, who eventually became the Warsaw Stag Boys, played men’s fastpitch softball at the highest level, competing against the best teams in the World. The Gate City team was always around the top of the Iowa rankings and finished as high as 3^rd in the Iowa Open/Major Men’s tournament in 1971 losing to Cedar Rapids Welty Way, 3-1, in the semi-finals. CR Welty Way went on to win the National Tournament and then placed 2nd at the Olympic-style ISF World Championships in Manila, the Philippines, defeating New Zealand in the Medal round and then losing to Canada. 

During the mid-1970’s and through the mid-1980’s, the team from Warsaw was sponsored by Wayne Beeson, owner of Beeson Beverage, the local Stag Beer distributor. The team was called the Warsaw “Stag Boys” and that name stuck. After moving exclusively to Warsaw, the Stag Boys, managed by Tim Bruder, were ranked among the top teams in Illinois fastpitch for several years from the mid-70’s to early 80’s. At one point, the Stag Boys hosted a tournament in Warsaw that featured three of the top five teams in the World: Decatur, IL, Aurora, IL, and Springfield, MO.

Many of the original Stag Boys, including the sponsor, retired in the mid-1980’s and a new crop of players formed a team that played together from the early 1980’s thru the late 1990’s under the sponsorship of Steve Siegrist-Realty World. That team also competed against the top teams in the mid-west winning several tournaments throughout Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri.

The current team has been together since 1999, sponsored by Steve Siegrist, now of Sutlive Real Estate, and a great group of local merchants, has been building an excellent talent base. The name of the game today is recruiting. That means assembling the best players to form the best team possible. After playing several years as a major contender at the ASA Class “B” level, we have assembled a core of players that are ready to make the move back to ISC and ASA Class “A” Fastpitch. 

Julie LeMaire  is the head coach of the Fort Hays State University softball program.

LeMaire came to the program from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., where she served as assistant coach for two years. She worked primarily with the pitching staff, outfielders and hitting. In her first year at Lynn (2007), the pitching staff posted a 5.83 ERA. LeMaire's guidance helped dramatically improve that number to 2.69 for the 2008 season.

Prior to her stint at Lynn, LeMaire served as a graduate assistant coach at the University of North Dakota for two years. With the Fighting Sioux, LeMaire worked with the development of the pitchers, outfielders, and hitters, while assisting in recruiting, budget management and fundraising. She also taught physical education courses while working towards the completion of a master's degree.

LeMaire put together a solid playing career at Quincy (Ill.) University, an affiliate of NCAA Division II. During her senior year, she was named the team's Most Valuable Offensive Player while setting a single-season school record in home runs. She earned Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division II All-Region Second Team honors and All-Great Lakes Valley Conference Second Team honors. She also had much success as a pitcher winning 29 games in her career. She was the recipient of Quincy's Brother Clete Van Ackeren Award for Academic and Athletic Achievement in 2004.

A native of Basco, Ill., LeMaire earned a bachelor's degree in Physical Education from Quincy University in 2004 and earned a master's degree in Kinesiology from the University of North Dakota in 2007.

Jackie Weigand   completed a highly successful career at Warsaw High School and went on to pitch the Utah State Aggies Softball team to an AIAW Division I National Championship in 1981. The AIAW was the predecessor to the NCAA. Jackie currently ranks 5th on the Aggies All-Time career record book with an ERA of 1.09. 

Jackie transferred to Western Illinois University. Her 1984 season currenly ranks 5th on the WIU single season record book recording an ERA of 0.94. That same year, Jackie led the team with 95 strikeouts in 154 innings pitched. Her 1984 season also places her 6th on the carrer strikeouts per inning list with 0.64 K's/inning.