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2005 Season Notes
*HOW RARE?: There are nearly 350 teams that play Division III softball, and just 43 make the nation al playoff field. Eight make the College World Series, and one is crowned national champ. *THE STREAK: The Toms extended their Division III record winning streak to 43 games with two March victories before losing an 8-7 game. That streak is second among all NCAA softball divisions to Arizona's 1995-96 run of 47 consecutive victories. The previous NCAA D-III record was 34 held by Pacific Lutheran (2002) and Muskingum (2001) and 33 held by another of Coach Tschidas team back in 2000. POSTSEASON HISTORY: This was the Tommies' eighth NCAA softball playoff appearance in the last nine years and 13th in the last 21 seasons. St. Thomas' all-time postseason record is 41-23, with two national championships, three regional titles and two regional runner-up places. The 2002 Tommies shared fifth place in the only other College World Series appearance. *SWEET RUN: The 2005 Toms went 10-0 in the postseason, including the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoffs and the NCAA Midwest Regional in Cedar Rapids. At regionals, the Tommies beat the No.1 ranked team in the country twice and and No. 6 ranked team once by a combined 24-1 margin. At nationals, the Toms outscored four foes 23-6. WERE #1: In the last poll of the regular season, UST was ranked 12th nationally by the National Fastpitch Coaches' Association (NFCA). UST's No. 4-ranking in May 2004 was its highest ever before it won nationals and claimed the top ranking last June, 2004. The Toms repeated as No. 1 in the final poll released June 3, 2005. CONFERENCE DOMINANCE: The Tommies have won five of the last six and 12 all-time conference titles, and are 131-7 vs. MIAC foes since Coach Tschida took over in 2000. St. Thomas is 55-1 in its last 56 games vs. MIAC teams and went 24-1 vs. conference foes this season. Combining dominant pitching and defense with a potent offense allowed the Tommies to outscore conference opponents 203-14 in their 21-1 regular-season finish. In 22 years of MIAC softball, the Toms have 19 top-three finishes. St. Thomas also has 26 consecutive winning seasons. LEAD OFF EXTROIDENAIREMichelle Wong: Michelle Wong (SR-Golden Valley/Hopkins) was voted to the Division III All-American team for the second year in row. She was named Conference Player of the Year in both 2004 and 2005 and led the MIAC in hitting and stolen bases. She broke the conference career hits record and ranks 19th on the Division III all-time list with 239 in 181 games. All this was accomplished while learning how to hit from the left side for the first time while entering college. Wong is representing softball as one of 12 finalists on the Division III Women Athlete of the Year ballot for the Honda Collegiate Women Sports Awards program. The American Honda Corporation will donate $1,000 in Wong's name to the University of St. Thomas scholarship fund. MORE WONG ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Wong graduated with a degree in Health Promotions, and was on the national ballot for CoSIDA Academic All-America consideration. She is attending Physical Therapy school this fall. Wong led the Tommies to a 159-25 record in her four-year era as a starter (90-4 vs. conference foes), including a Division III record 43-game winning streak in 2004 and early 2005. She helped UST win back-to-back Division III championships and post a 20-0 W-L record in postseason last two seasons. In 2005, her .973 fielding percentage included no errors in her last 61 defensive chances of the season at second base. She struck out just twice in 170 plate appearances in 2005. On her career, she played in 181 games and had 239 hits, hit .410, had 102 stolen bases (two off the school record), 173 runs, 90 RBI and 33 extra-base hits. In her last two seasons UST was 85-7 when she was in the lineup. SMOOTH OPERATOR-KRISTI HUEGEL: Huegel had no errors in 53 defensive chances at shortstop in 2005. She finished her career with a whopping 60 career extra-base hits. Huegel smashed 19 homers -- fourth best on the MIAC all-time list. She had 186 hits, 145 RBI and 121 runs in 176 games. In 2005, she had 14 multi-hit games and reached base in 45 of 49 games. SIMPLY THE BEST-NIKKI CONWAY: With one more season left in her four year career at UST, Conway ranks first in the MIAC history and 14th in Division III history in home runs with 31 in 137 games. Conway is on pace to become just the second Division III player to score 200 career runs. In seven NCAA playoff games Conway batted .565 (13-for-23) with 12 runs, 11 RBI, four homers, a triple, and three doubles. In 14 career NCAA playoff games, Conway is batting .470 with 18 runs, 16 RBI, six doubles, a triple, five home runs, eight walks and a slugging percentage of 1.300. In her three-year era, Toms are 121-16 (69-3 vs. MIAC foes)... In 137 career games she's batting .390 (.745 slugging%), with 162 hits, 169 runs, 102 RBI, 31 HRs, 43 doubles, six triples, 63 walks, 13 hit-by-pitch and 46 steals. In her first college game in March 2003 vs. Tufts (Mass.) she went 3-for-4, including a three-run homer in the sixth inning. She had a 19-game hitting streak as a freshman. UST is 28-1 when Conway has homered. Conway has homered against eight of 11 conference opponents. During the Tommies 41 game winning streak, Conway reached base in 39 games. In 2005 she had a hit, walk or run in 41 of the last 42 games and had 12 multi-hit games... she had no errors in 183 defensive chances in 25 MIAC games. Conway is largely considered the best defensive catcher in the country, giving up only an average of eight stolen bases per year. COMING ON STRONG-CARRIE EMBREE: In 12 career NCAA playoff games, sophomore Carrie Embree has batted .500 (17-for-34) with nine runs, seven RBI and seven stolen bases. Embree had a hit or scored a run in 27 of her last 28 games and had 14 multi-hit games this season. She had just one error in her last 138 defensive chances at first base. She led the team with a .433 batting average. ALMOST UNBEATABLE, AWSOME-JANET NAGLE: Senior NCAA All-American and 2004 NCAA D-III Player of the Year, Nagle is 34-0 in career conference decisions and 59-5 overall. She needs just nine strikeouts to break the UST career mark and 31 to reach 500 on her career. She has a 0.82 career ERA in 398.1 innings with 469 strikeouts and 134 walks. She also has 12 career home runs at the plate and batted .323 with 32 hits and 23 RBI in 2005. Nagle won her last 31 decisions of 2004 and was the MIAC Pitcher of the Year in 2004 and 2005. In two wins vs. No. 1-ranked 46-1 Washington (Mo.), Nagle allowed one hit, no runs and struck out 18 hitters in 12 innings. Nagle improved her career postseason record to 18-0 with a 1.01 ERA and 115 strikeouts and 35 walks in 105 innings. In 2004, Nagle won her final 31 starts to finish 33-2 on the season with a 1.14 ERA and 235 strikeouts in 205 innings. In 10 postseason games she was 10-0 with a 1.26 ERA and 73 strikeouts and only 21 walks in 69 innings. FRESHMAN SENSATION-MARIA BYE: In her college debut season, Bye was 17-3 with a 1.53 ERA with 160 strikeouts in 119 innings while holding foes to a .171 batting average. At the plate she hit .402 in 38 games with 39 hits, 27 runs, 25 RBI, six doubles and three homers with no errors in 40 defensive chances. In 10 postseason games, freshman OF-P Maria Bye batted .480 with 12 hits, seven RBI, six runs and four walks at the plate. On the mound, Bye was 2-0 with one save and an 0.40 ERA. In a key 4-1 win over Chapman (Calif.) in the winners' bracket, Bye relieved starter Janet Nagle in the first inning and pitched out of three jams. She retired the last 11 batters she faced to push the Tommies into the finals. DOUBLE VISION-FITZPATRICK TWINS: The Toms had identical twins Kathleen and Colleen Fitzpatrick, seniors who have been in the program for four years and playing in their third national finals. The sisters have worked part-time jobs for more than six years at a group home for developmentally disabled adults in the Twin Cities, often working a 6 a.m. shift before classes. Kathleen has 3.00 gpa in Biology and on her career in 141 games batted .280 with 68 hits, 61 runs, 26 RBI, four HRs, six doubles, 18 walks and 31 steals... Colleen has a 3.10 gpa in Health Education and in 108 games has 46 hits, 41 runs, 25 RBI, 16 walks, three HRs, 11 steals and a .305 batting average. AND ALONG CAME A POWER SURGE: The Toms' 38 home runs fell just shy of the school record of 40 set in 2004. Nine different players homered, and five hit three or more. Nikki Conway's 11 homers tied the UST season record she set in 2003. In the two seasons prior to Coach Tschidas arrival, UST hit just six homers (0 in 1999 and 6 in 2000) and have hit 149 in five years since he came on board (14 in 2001; 21 in 2002; 36 in 2003; 40 in 2004; and 38 in 2005). TSCHIDA FACTOR: Tommies Coach John Tschida, is the only college softball coach to win NCAA titles at two different institutions. Tschida has the highest winning pct. of all D-III coaches. His overall record of 401-79 (.835) includes a 225-23 record (.907) vs. conference foes. In his fifth season with the Tommies after six seasons at St. Mary's, Tschida is 37-11 in career postseason play. He guided St. Mary's to the NCAA Division III championship in 2000, came to UST in 2001 and took UST to the NCAA Division III National Championships in 2002. Tschida then led UST to back-to-back National championships in 2004 and 2005. ALL-AMERICANS: Prior to Tschidas arrival in 2001 (1974 through 2001), the Tommies had never had an All-American in the history of the program. Since his arrival, the Tommies have had six NCAA All-Americans. In 2003, Catcher Gina Utecht was not only named USTs first All-American, she was named Diamonds National Catcher of the Year. In 2004, pitcher Janet Nagle was named NCAA All-American and Hondas National Player of the Year. Joining Nagle on the All-American team were second baseman Michelle Wong and catcher Nikki Conway. Michelle Wong (2B) was a repeat All-American in 2005 and was USTs second straight Honda National Player of the Year award winner. Shortstop Kristi Huegel joined Wong on the All-American list in 2005. MORE AWARDS: The Tommies swept three of the four conference softball awards with Janet Nagle named Pitcher of the Year, Wong named Player of the Year, and Tschida named Conference Coach of the Year. Wong, Nagle, Bye and Embree were named to the All-MIAC first team. Honorable mention all-conference honorees were Kristi Huegel; OF Katie Wiberg; catcher Nikki Conway; 3B Mandy Evans (JR-Prior Lake); and OF Kristina Trapp (JR-Jordan). On the MIAC Playoffs All-Tournament Team, Nagle was named MVP and was joined by at-large picks Carrie Embree and Maria Bye; 2nd Team All-Tournament award winners were infielders Michelle Wong, Kristi Huegel, Mandy Evans; and outfielder Kristina Trapp. The NCAA Midwest Region all-tournament team featured five Tommies: (Nikki Conway (C), Janet Nagle (P), Maria Bye (DP), Michelle Wong (2B) and Carrie Embree (1B). The College World Series all-tournament team featured Conway, Nagle, Embree and Bye . *TOUGH COMPETITION: Seven of the last nine NCAA D-III softball titles have been won by teams considered in the Tommies region. Tschida is now 13-2 all-time in four trips in the national tournament. The Tommies went 31-1 in April and May and have won 18 in a row. *DID YOU KNOW?: In five seasons under Tschida, St. Thomas softball is 111-7 vs. MIAC foes, including an 81-0 record vs. Augsburg, Bethel, Carleton, Concordia, Hamline, Macalester, St. Olaf and St. Catherine; UST is 7-4 vs. Gustavus, 11-2 vs. St. Mary's and 12-1 vs. St. Ben's... Tschida's five UST teams have swept 50 MIAC twinbills, split four and have been swept just once... In Tschida's last nine seasons in coaching (1997-2000 at St. Mary's, 2001-present at St. Thomas), he's never lost to Augsburg, Bethel, Carleton, Hamline, Macalester, St. Olaf and St. Catherine (18-0 vs. each program). *2005 LOSSES: The Toms' six 2005 defeats came by a combined seven runs, two in extra innings... UST lost 4-3 in eight innings to St. Scholastica, a 30-win team it also swept in March; lost 2-1 in eight innings to 2004 NAIA national runner-up Simon Fraser; lost 2-1 to CWS qualifier Chapman (now 36-9); lost 10-8 to 30-win team Linfield; split with 30-win UW-Eau Claire, losing 8-7 without Janet Nagle in uniform; and split with 28-16 Gustavus (2-0 win, 3-2 loss). *NCAA GOLD: St. Thomas secured the school's 21th NCAA top-two team finish... Softball is among 14 different sports at St. Thomas to claim a top-four NCAA team finish... Softball is the sixth different Tommie sport and 12th team overall to win a national team championship, joining St. Thomas' women's cross country (1982, 1984, 1986, 1987), men's cross country (1984, 1986) women's basketball (1990-91), men's indoor track (1985), baseball (2001) and softball (2004). Only six other Division III institutions have won NCAA team championships in six or more sports. *RECORDS: Eight school season records were set or tied by UST softball in 2005: Team Records: Batting Average -- .343 (tied old record .343, 2004) Fielding % -- .964 (old record .963, 2002) Postseason wins -- 10 (tied old record 10, 2004) Runs-- 357 (old record 326, 2004) RBI-- 286 (old record 285, 2004) Strikeouts by UST Pitchers -- 388 (old record 324, 2004) Individual Records: HRs -- 11 by Nikki Conway, tied her own 2003 record and Kaja Martinson's 2004 record Putouts -- 339, Nikki Conway (old record 331, Becky Hilgert, 2002) |
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ST. THOMAS TOMMIES |
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