Softball Players Killed – Three young female college softball players were killed after driving into a farm pond while stargazing late Sunday night.
The three softball players were killed in a tragic accident and found dead in a vehicle at the bottom of a pond near Dickinson State University, the college they attended in North Dakota, on Tuesday.
A search party at about 2:45 p.m. found tracks leading to the pond, with oil residue floating on its surface. Police sent in divers, who pulled up the vehicle a few hours later.
The women were reportedly on a stargazing trip, something they did often, according to published reports.
Afton Williamson, who, according to her Facebook page, graduated from Paloma Valley High in 2007, then played for the RCC Tigers until 2009, was a student at Dickinson State University, in Dickinson, N.D., where she and the other two women were on the softball team.
According to police, Williamson and the other two — 22-year-old Kyrstin Gemar of San Diego and Ashley Neufeld, 21, of Brandon, Manitoba — were found in a 1997 white Jeep Cherokee that had sunk to the bottom of a stock pond.
Ashley Neufeld’s body pressed against the back window of the Jeep Cherokee, one of her best friends dead beside her, the other a few feet away in the front seat.
It looked as though she was locked in a desperate struggle to survive, her mother said Wednesday. But even a stellar athlete couldn’t generate enough force to push open the back window of the Jeep as it slipped deeper into a North Dakota pond.
Local police say it appears the three young women were driving off-road, planning on stopping to gaze at the stars, when they drove into a deep pond on a farmer’s field.
The vehicle quickly filled with water, police said. Ms. Neufeld’s close friend Kyrstin Gemar, 22, died with her in the cargo area at the back of the Jeep.
Their friend Afton Williamson, 20, died halfway between the front and second row of seats. Ms. Neufeld’s dog, Easton, a black and white mop of fur, also died in the accident.
The young women likely didn’t see the pond, Dickinson Police Lieutenant Rod Banyai said Wednesday.
They had only a few seconds to react, and in those precious moments Ms. Neufeld called her roommate – a scratchy, hysterical call that said only there was water and danger, her mother recounted Wednesday.
“I got a call on [Monday] about 1:30 in the morning from Ashley’s roommate,” Bev Neufeld said. “Her roommate asked me if Ashley had given me a call, or if I had heard from her. I said, ‘No, what’s wrong?’
“She said she’d got a phone call from Ashley saying she needed help, they were in trouble, could [the roommate] come and help. The cell communication was very broken, and there was scant information saying ‘water’ and ‘a lake’ and things like that. I immediately tried to call her and it went directly to voice message. I continued to text her but got no response.”
Her roommate called police, but they had very little to act on. It was common for members of the softball team to take rides in the country to look at the stars, but they never visited the same place twice.
Police used the last cellphone calls to triangulate the approximate area where the girls had gone stargazing on Sunday night. A combined ground and air search found their bodies on Tuesday.
“From what we gather, Ashley and one of the other girls were in the back cargo area, so they were assuming that they were trying to kick the back window out but they weren’t successful,” her mother said.
“The pressure against the windows … they’re very strong girls, there must have been no way they could kick out the windows.”
Around 11:20 p.m. Sunday, the group called a friend for help, according to Dickinson police. The caller was difficult to understand during the 40-second call, but the friend told authorities of hearing the woman say they were near a lake and water.
A search began at that time and a missing persons report was filed.
“At this time, foul play is not suspected,” states a press statement released by Dickinson police.
And that’s the latest news on three female college softball players killed.
Tags: accident, afton williamston, ashley neufeld, college softball, kyrstin gemar, softball players killed