By: KSU Sports Information
Inside the 1995 Season
Following four years of fastpitch softball in the NAIA, the Kennesaw State Owls were ready for a new challenge. A record of 176-29 and four consecutive finishes in the top-four nationally made it apparent that head coach Scott Whitlock and his upstart program were poised for bigger and better things.
Beginning in 1995, the Black and Gold began their journey in the world of NCAA sports, as the entire athletic department made the move to compete at the Division II level. A move up to a higher and more prestigious level of play generally means some early struggles as a program adjusts to the greater demands of competition and the added attention.
For Owls softball, however, the move to Division II meant immediate continued success, as Whitlock and his group of 12 returnees and talented newcomers plowed through the competition on their way to a 53-5 overall record to win the NCAA Division II national championship, a mark that included a perfect 14-0 record in their new league, the Peach Belt Conference.
In addition to being able to count on trusted veterans Kelly Rafter, whose 32-5 record and 0.85 earned run average would make her the 1995 NCAA Division II National Player of the Year, and offensive juggernauts Tonya Carlisle, Colleen Thorburn and Cara Dornstauder, the Black and Gold also added some key pieces that would help them reach the pinnacle of their sport. Dee Webb, a junior pitcher from Arizona, brought championship experience with her to Kennesaw, fresh off being a key part of Glendale Community College’s 1994 NJCAA National Championship team. As a regular part of the starting rotation, Webb went undefeated in her lone season with the program, going a startling 15-0 thanks to a 1.10 ERA. The Owls also added a local freshman in shortstop Kathy Morgan, who was one of just two Owls to start in all 58 games and finished fifth among Owl regulars with a .349 batting average.
Following an uncharacteristically pedestrian 8-4 start to the season, Whitlock and his squad immediately began to click when the PBC schedule began. On Mar. 8, the Owls swept newly-minted conference rival Augusta St., 8-0 and 7-2, and would forego being on the losing side of the scoreboard for a solid two months. From that day until the beginning of the NCAA Division II National Championship, the Black and Gold would reel off 40 consecutive wins, going unscathed throughout the rest of the regular season and then the Peach Belt Conference Tournament, before winning all three games in the NCAA South Regional to make their first trip to the Women’s College World Series.
It was upon arriving in Salem, Va., for their World Series appearance that they would receive a timely reality check. Facing Wisconsin-Parkside and longtime friend and fellow coach Tory Acheson, who now faces off against Whitlock at the Division I level as the head coach at Tennessee Tech, the Black and Gold saw their 40-game streak come to an end in the World series opener, dropping a tough, 4-3, decision that would put them in peril of an early exit from the championship tournament.
Unfazed, the Owls would win the next four games, on the strength of spectacular pitching from Rafter and the offensive prowess of Thorburn and Dornstauder, who would bat .478 and .381 in the World Series, helping Dornstauder to a First Team All-American honor. Nada Hlohovsky, a senior batted .333 during the regular season, would also step up at the plate, batting .391 during the six-game World Series. Whitlock and his Owls would outscore their next four opponents by a total margin of 20-6, including a, 9-1, thumping of Wisconsin-Parkside to avenge their early loss.
Facing Bloomsburg in the championship game after defeating them, 3-0, in the first game of the day, the Black and Gold were in for the fight of their lives for their first-ever national championship. Behind Rafter’s dominant pitching, the Owls were up 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh and were one strike away from glory when Bloomsburg, the 1991 national runner-up, tied things up to send it to extra innings.
Having to re-claim a lead when victory was within their reach, the Owls bore down once again, with Thorburn hitting an infield single in the top of the eighth before being driven in by Dornstauder, who laced an RBI double to give the Owls a lead they would not relinquish. Rafter would set down the side in the bottom of the eighth on just four pitches, the final coming on a chopper to third base, which Carlisle would cleanly field and toss over to first for the final out and the championship, winning the decisive game, 3-2.
For the senior Carlisle, who would go on to coach current Owl stars Sharon Swanson and Abbey Meixel at Cherokee County High School, it was her final moment as a college softball player, and was the culmination of a season that would garner All-American recognition, the third of her decorated career. Her throw across the diamond, though, would be just the beginning of a championship tradition that is still Owls softball.
Looking Back on the Championship
"The one thing that stands out in my mind about winning the National Championship in 95’ is losing the first game of the tournament and coming back through the loser’s bracket to win. I made the last out defensively to win the game. When the ball was hit to me at third base, I practically ran to the pitcher’s mound to make the throw so that I wouldn’t throw it into right field. I can remember Wanda Wiggins kept stretching and stretching. She was like throw the ball already. It was like slow motion! I have never been so happy to be on the bottom of a dog pile!"
-Tonya Carlisle, Infield (1992-95)
From The Vault
May 22, 1995: Lady Owls Capture Division II Title (Courtesy: Marietta Daily Journal)
