Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 20, 1995 TAG: 9505220037
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The pain she has endured for the past two weeks cannot.
O'Connell, playing for Merrimack College in the NCAA Division II Softball Championship at the Moyer Sports Complex, finished her career with a season blunted by injury. The defending champion Warriors were eliminated from the tournament with two losses Friday.
But those aches pale when compared to the anguish she felt after learning that her mother was ill, perhaps critically, less than two weeks ago.
That put things in perspective for O'Connell, who has worn a brack brace the entire season and will undergo knee surgery next week. O'Connell did not travel to Salem with her teammates, choosing instead to stay home in Massachusetts until her mother received favorable test results earlier this week. A growth that was removed from her mother's abdomen was determined to be benign.
After hearing the good news, O'Connell's mother, Beverly, made two requests of her daughter. The first was to join her team. The second ...
``My mom asked me to hit a home run,'' Judy O'Connell said.
Like a good daughter, she complied. O'Connell arrived in Roanoke early Thursday morning, then later in the day smacked a two-run homer in her first at-bat to help Merrimack to a 5-1 victory over Nebraska-Omaha.
``It was nice to call her and tell her I did it,'' O'Connell said.
After everything she's been through this year, O'Connell's glad just to be playing. In the 1994 national tournament, O'Connell was 6-for-12 with two home runs and six RBI in helping the Warriors win the national championship. For the season, she batted .382 and had 10 homers and 51 RBI.
Her totals were down a bit this year because of injury. She batted .372 with five homers and 25 RBI coming into the tournament.
``It's been a character-building year,'' she said. ``There are a lot of things I would loved to have accomplished. I'm happy just to have played.''
On Sunday, when the championship game will be played here, O'Connell will be in North Andover, Mass., attending her graduation. O'Connell's fiancee, Michael Kelley, is home in Wilmington, Mass., tending to his future mother-in-law while Judy finishes her career.
``I didn't want to let the team down,'' O'Connell said. ``But there's no question my family is more important.''
Friday's games
Humboldt State 2, Merrimack 1: In a rematch of last year's championship game, the top-ranked Lumberjacks got their revenge over the Warriors when Kristi McCarthy singled home Anetra Torres with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Humboldt State's Melanie Howard (24-3), the loser in last year's championship, scattered eight hits, struck out one batter and walked none. She worked her way out of a bases-loaded jam with none out in the third by allowing just one run on Laura Carlson's single.
``Revenge is definitely one of my motives for going out there,'' Howard said.
McCarthy, who had been 0-for-11 in the postseason, doubled in the third inning and scored on Jennifer Fritz's two-out single to tie the score at 1.
Humboldt State, the West Region champion from Arcata, Calif., plays Bloomsburg State today at 1 p.m.
Bloomsburg (Pa.) 8, Wisconsin-Parkside 0: All-American pitcher April Paoli won her 30th straight and notched her 19th shutout of the season with a 10-strikeout, four-hit performance. Paoli's 36-1 record is the best in the nation.
Paoli, who is pitching with a badly bruised left ankle sustained in last week's regionals, didn't allow a runner past first base after the first inning.
``The ankle didn't bother me much until about the fourth inning,'' Paoli said. ``I tried not to think about it. You're not getting me off that mound.''
All-American shortstop Jen Lefever and Emily Brown smacked two-run homers for Bloomsburg. Huskies centerfielder Kerri Kahlsen was 2-for-3. Shelley Stroik had two of Wisconsin-Parkside's four hits.
Second-seeded Bloomsburg, the Mid-Atlantic Region champion, plays Humboldt State in a winner's bracket game today at 1 p.m.
Kennesaw State 4, Merrimack 3: The Warriors, last year's champs, became the first team eliminated from the tournament when the Owls rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Nada Hlovsky singled to lead off the inning, Collen Thorburn moved her to third with a single and took second on the throw. Cara Dornstauder followed with a game-winning double to centerfield. Merrimack erased a 2-0 deficit with a three-run sixth highlighted by Daniela Paparo's two-run single.
Wisconsin-Parkside 4, Nebraska-Omaha 2: Jackie Aiken's two-out grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning kept the Rangers (45-13) alive in the loser's bracket. Aiken drove a 3-2 pitch over the left-centerfield fence for her 26th home run of the season and her second of the tournament. Aiken, who had two of the Rangers' three hits, has 110 RBI. Nebraska-Omaha (39-18), which was eliminated with its second loss, scored twice in the second inning on Theresa Tramp's double and Jess Barrineau's RBI groundout, but Wisconsin-Parkside pitcher Wendy Wolff (26-8) retired 10 straight batters to keep the Mavs at bay.
Note
FAMILY AFFAIR: Wisconsin-Parkside features a rarity - its coaches are husband and wife. Rangers head coach Tory Acheson is assisted by his wife, Terry. The Achesons met in high school when Tory coached Terry in a women's summer league. After they married, Tory hired Terry to assist him when he landed a high school coaching job and the two have coached together since.
``When I go out on a recruiting trip, instead of having someone at home wishing I was there to cut the grass, there's someone at home hoping I get that really good shortstop,'' Tory Acheson said.
The tournament has another family coaching connection. Merrimack head coach Michele Myslinski is assisted by her father, Leonard.
by CNB