Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 22, 1995 TAG: 9505230060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Kelly Rafter went the distance in pitching Kennesaw State to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship.
Rafter and the Owls won the national title by beating Bloomsburg twice on Sunday at the Moyer Sports Complex. Rafter, a junior right-hander from Lilburn, Ga., completed an iron-armed performance by outdueling fellow All-American hurler April Paoli as the Owls won the first game 3-0 then claimed the title with a 3-2 victory in eight innings.
Cara Dornstauder's two-out RBI double in the eighth accounted for the winning run after Bloomsburg (53-6) had sent the game into extra innings with a run in the bottom of the seventh.
After losing 4-2 to Wisconsin-Parkside in the first game of the tournament on Thursday, Kennesaw State (53-5), which rode a Division II-record 40-game winning streak into the tournament, won five games in a row. The Owls won four games in the last two days.
The Owls, who were in their first season of NCAA competition after finishing fourth in NAIA last year, became the first team to ever win the Division II championship after losing the first game of the tournament.
``After that first loss, we got back to the hotel and I looked at the brackets,'' said Kennesaw State coach Scott Whitlock. ``I said, `Okay, we're a single game and a doubleheader sweep from winning the national tournament.' That's the way we went about our business.''
Rafter toed the rubber in all four of those. In four days, Rafter (32-5) pitched 51 innings and allowed 10 earned runs. She pitched all 15 innings on Sunday.
``She had nothing left after the sixth inning of the second game,'' said Whitlock. ``She pitched on nothing but courage and determination. She's got the nerves of a jewel thief.''
Bloomsburg coach Jan Hutchinson, the winningest coach in Division II with 597 wins who was looking for her first NCAA title, was denied a title in her sixth trip to the championship tournament. Hutchinson's 1991 squad also finished as the Division II runner-up.
``Two times we've gotten to the finals and two times we've lost in extra innings,'' said a teary-eyed Hutchinson, who lost the title to Augustana in 1991. ``We're getting closer. We've got to get it sometime.''
Hutchinson's team, which advanced to the finals through the winners' bracket, didn't go down easily. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh of the second game, the Huskies rallied to tie on Brenda Moffat's two-out RBI single. After Rafter retired Bloomsburg's first two batters in the inning, Jan Lefever singled and Heather Gray walked to bring up Moffat, who lined a 3-2 pitch to rightfield.
Gray went to third and Moffat took second on the throw. Rafter intentionally walked clean-up hitter Melissa Lee then coaxed a ground ball to second from Emily Brown to end the inning.
Likewise, Kennesaw State's winning rally came with two out. Colleen Thorburn singled off Paoli's glove and scored from first on Dornstauder's double.
Rafter retired the Huskies in order in the bottom of the eighth.
``There are no words to describe winning the championship,'' said Rafter. ``I'm very tired. I was just wanting to hold on to the lead. ... All I wanted was to get the third out.''
Said Paoli: ``[Rafter] is a great little pitcher. She's good under pressure. She didn't buckle.''
Paoli (37-3), who had won 31 straight games before Sunday, pitched well despite a badly bruised right ankle, allowing six runs and striking out 15 in Sunday's games. For the tournament, she pitched 44 innings and struck out 46 batters.
``I wouldn't compare [the way she pitched in the tournament] to the way I threw all year,'' said Paoli. ``My speed was off. My location was off. I guess it was the ankle ... and getting used to the mound.''
Paoli struck out nine in the first game, but was hurt by a couple of defensive mistakes in the fourth inning that led to two runs. Paoli issued a leadoff walk to Tonya Carlisle, then Kathy Morgan bunted down the first base line, where first baseman Lee fielded and unsuccessfully tried to get Carlisle at second.
Rafter came up with runners on second and third. She lifted a pop-up that second baseman Gray dropped after bumping into Lee in foul territory. Given new life, Rafter rapped a single up the middle that scored Carlisle. Tiffany Tanner followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
After winning the title, the Owls continued a tradition began last year by Division III champs Trenton State by diving into the nearby Roanoke River.
``You can't fathom something like this happening,'' said Whitlock. ``We thought we were good enough to make the playoffs, but you can't fathom this.''
Rafter and Paoli were both named to the all-tournament team. Kennesaw State had six other players on the squad: Thorburn, catcher; Nada Hlohovsky, second base; Carlisle, third; Shannon McDonough, outfield; Dornstauder, designated player; and Paige Wofford, at-large. For Bloomsburg, Lefever was chosen at shortstop and Brown as an outfielder. The rest of the all-tournament squad: Jennifer Fritz, Humboldt State, first base; Michelle LeFebvre, outfield, Merrimack; and Jackie Aiken, Wisconsin-Parkside, at-large.
by CNB