The NCAA News - News and Features

May 4, 1998

Division II Women's Softball

Coker, 50-1, seeks crown in only second championship appearance

Event: 1998 Division II Women's Softball Championship.

Overview: Coker is looking to make its second appearance in the championship and is going for gold. Coker has had a phenomenal season, compiling a 50-1 record. The Cobras started their season by going 38-0 -- the second longest winning streak in Division II softball history and Coker's best-ever start in a season. Senior third baseman Kelly Norris leads all active NCAA Division II players in career doubles and is high on the charts of career home runs, career runs batted in and career hits. Norris is only the second player in Division II softball history to exceed 300 career hits and 200 career runs batted in. Pitcher Missy Paterson ranks third in Division II in career strikeouts and is only the second player in Division II to reach the 1,000-strikeout mark in her career. Sophomore Angela Williams has a .565 batting average in an 11-game stretch .... Challenging for championship honors, Kennesaw State is on a 35-game winning streak. The Owls have a 46-1 record for the season. Senior pitcher Brenda Farrell is ranked in the top 10 in three national pitching categories. Also on the mound for the Owls is freshman Christina Caldwell. Caldwell also ranks high in national rankings with a 0.66 earned-run average and an 18-0 win-loss record. Senior centerfielder Shannon McDonough has a .480 batting average and leads her team with nine triples this season .... Top-ranked Humboldt State is seeking its first championship title and is worthy for battle after posting a 55-5 record for the season -- a school record. Sophomore leftfielder Talisha Pleasant has broken the Lumberjacks' single-season home run record with her tally of 12. Junior centerfielder Jamie Peterson has 46 stolen bases for the season and totals 106 for her career .... Merrimack is searching for its second championship title. Shortstop Stacey Dell'anno, pitcher Carrie Ladebauche, pitcher Jennifer Connolly, first baseman Lana Gazone, pitcher/designated player Julie Phipps and second baseman Heather Faria have their sights set on victory.

Field: The championship field is 32 teams. Four teams will participate at each of eight regional sites in a double-elimination format. Winners of the regionals will advance to an eight-team double-elimination final. All teams are selected at large.

Dates and sites: Regional competition will be May 8-9 at on-campus sites. The eight-team final will be May 14-18 at Pensacola, Florida. West Florida will be the host institution.

Information/results: The NCAA Fax-on-Demand Sys-tem will have regional and championship results. The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1473 for dates and sites, 1474 for bracket/schedule and 5171 for results. Championship results also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Scores from regional competition will be published in the May 18 issue of The NCAA News. Results from the finals will be in the May 25 issue of The News.