When she got the call a few weeks ago, Guyer associate head softball coach Lindsay Wilhelmson was content with her current position and wasn’t looking to move on any time soon.

Lindsay Wilhelmson

After all, she and head coach Keith Medford had seen their young team make a nice run in the Class 4A playoffs in May after having never won a playoff game prior to last season.

But things change when Keller comes calling, and Wilhelmson accepted the head coaching position vacated by Moe Fritz, which was made official last week when her hiring was approved by the school board.

Wilhelmson, 26, is making a rare jump for someone her age as she moves from being an assistant with a 4A program to become the head coach at a traditionally powerful 5A program.

“It’s a huge honor just to be called and given an interview for that job,” Wilhelmson said. “They have so much tradition. There’s so many softball people around there and to be offered that job was huge.”

The Lady Indians were eliminated in the bi-district round of the Class 5A playoffs by Flower Mound and posted a 17-16-1 record. They finished fourth in District 5-5A, but times have been much better in recent history.

Keller won the 5A state championship in 2003 and again in 2005 when the Lady Indians were named the top high school program in the nation in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll.

Wilhelmson grew up and made a name for herself in the area after graduating from Richland High School following a successful playing career. She went on to star at Texas A&M as a pitcher and hitter. She led the Big 12 in home runs during her junior season and led the Big 12 in ERA as a sophomore.

She coached at The Oakridge School, a private school in the Southwest Preparatory Conference, for one season before moving to Guyer in 2005 when the school opened.

Wilhelmson naturally gravitated toward the pitchers and called the pitches for Guyer. She said one of the toughest aspects of taking a new job will be leaving behind the youthful team that will be mostly sophomores and juniors next year — especially pitcher Kylee Crosek, who will be a junior.

“I’m really going to miss all the girls but that [Crosek] was the biggest thing,” Wilhelmson said. “I’ve worked with her for two straight years and she’s progressed so much. I hated that part more than anything.

“We have a very close bond but it’s a respectful thing. I tell her to do something and she does it without question and it’s pretty awesome.”

Crosek said the team is thrilled for their coach to get the opportunity, but that it will no doubt be different come February without Wilhelmson sitting by the dugout calling pitches.

“Our bullpen talk is what I’ll miss most,” Crosek said. “Whenever we had problems with anything she was always there for us. Whenever it came down to business, we talked business, but she always [cared about] our personal life too, which was good.”

The decision to leave certainly wasn’t an easy one for Wilhelmson, especially after seeing the success on the field last season that came from a mature group of freshmen and sophomores.

She labored over the decision for days, was in open discussion with Medford and had his full support no matter what she decided in the end.

“I’m going to remember so many things about those kids,” she said. “They’re a wonderful group. That’s what made it so hard. I cried about it just thinking about leaving them. Their enthusiasm about the game and how much they know about it was amazing. They were freshmen and sophomores, but they didn’t act like it.”

Wilhelmson and Medford both said they were impressed with the players’ reaction when they heard the news. Sure, there were some tears and questions but before they knew it, they had thrown Wilhelmson a surprise party.

“They’re just so mature,” Wilhelmson said. “Most kids would just be upset, but they were different.”

While Medford said her departure is a devastating loss to the program, he said he has no doubt Wilhelmson made the right decision.

“There’s not a lot of people that get that opportunity,” Medford said. “I know that Lindsay struggled with her decision on this. I told her regardless I’d support her 100 percent, no matter what. If I was 26, I would’ve taken that job as well. It’s a very prestigious position. I’m completely flattered. It makes our program look good. They’re getting a bona fide winner. She’s gonna do a fantastic job over there.”

Wilhelmson said the job was a natural progression in her softball career, which has now spanned just more than a decade.

“It just seemed right,” she said. “It’s the next step in my career from playing in high school and having a good career to having a college career, coaching at a private school and coaching at Guyer, and winning four games the first year to what we did last year. Now it’s just time to do my own thing and see where that leads me.”

The natural question is to wonder whether this move will kindle a new rivalry for both teams, but Medford said the teams likely won’t play each other, at least not any time soon.

“We may meet up in a tournament or something, but early on it’s difficult because you’re playing against your kids you’ve spent a great deal of time with and you both want to win so badly,” he said. “That’s the nature of the business though. It’s tough early on facing a team that she was so close to. It’d be a very emotional game.”

But that doesn’t mean the Guyer softball team won’t be keeping close tabs on how the Lady Indians do in the coming years.

Crosek’s catcher from her select team plays for Keller, and Medford and Wilhelmson will be chatting on a regular basis.

“Absolutely, we’ll talk a lot,” Medford said. “We’ve already talked about that. It’s not like we’ll never see or talk to each other again. We’ll definitely have talks weekly, if not daily.”

Perhaps Crosek best summed up the feelings of the entire Guyer softball program on her young coach’s big-time promotion.

“It’s gonna be really hard [not having her],” Crosek said. “I know she’ll be fine at Keller. She’s a great coach. She doesn’t need to be an assistant coach anywhere.”

ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com.