By: Ryan Henry
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Kennesaw State Department of Athletics will induct three new members into its Hall of Fame this fall at a ceremony on Friday, Nov. 21 at NorthStar Church in Kennesaw. The inductees will also be recognized during the Saturday, Nov. 22 KSU football contest against Missouri State at Walens Family Field at Fifth Third Stadium.
The event will start at 6 p.m. with a mingle hour before moving onto the dinner at 7 p.m. and the ceremony at 7:45 p.m. Tickets are available to the Hall of Fame dinner, both for an individual ($75) or for a table ($500).
KSUOwls.com will profile each inductee leading up to the ceremony, and today we feature Brenda Farrell.
Oct. 2 Feature - Scott Whitlock
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Nothing about Brenda Farrell's story was normal. Whether it was her iconic "Dobber" nickname, her festive rituals or her unorthodox pitching style, Farrell was able to shine because she was uniquely herself.
Hailing from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Kennesaw State discovered Farrell on "accident." Her team was hosting a national tournament and were playing a squad from Ontario. Head Coach Scott Whitlock (fellow 2025 Hall of Fame inductee) and Assistant Don McKinlay – having previously established a pipeline of players from Canada – traveled up to The Great White North to scout a player on the opposing team.
Farrell shined in the circle, recording out after out, deceiving hitters with her patented drop ball. Before the game even ended, Whitlock knew he had to bring in Farrell, someone he didn't even know before that day.
"She was just getting people out left, right, and sideways and had the most unusual mechanics that you could ever believe," Whitlock on seeing Farrell that day. "Her mechanics were very unique, but she got ground ball after ground ball. Her best pitch was a drop ball. It spun away and sank but people would chase it because it looked like a strike for a long time. In the fifth or sixth inning, I leaned over to Don McKinlay and said, "I don't want that kid from Ontario, I want that one."
The unusual mechanics Whitlock referred to was the fact that Farrell's elbow went outside her body frame. He said you want pitchers to have a prominent windmill-type motion and joked that Farrell "never went around and around once." But at the end of the day, he realized you have to stick with your bread and butter.
Another person in attendance to see Farrell's performance was a scout from Team Canada. The scout too was impressed with her performance and picked up Farrell for the World Youth Games.
For Farrell, she got to realize her two-part dream in one day: play college softball in the United States and represent her country.
"When I was growing up in Nova Scotia, it was a thought, but you never thought it to be possible," Farrell on playing collegiate softball and representing Team Canada. "My dreams came true in one moment where I had both sides of the coin. Everything was an honor."
Moving to an entirely different country was a culture shock for Farrell. All she had ever known was small town Antigonish.
She recalled a story when she was talking to her parents on a pay phone and was terrified of bright lights coming from a local car dealership. She immediately hung up the phone and darted back to her apartment for safety.
To those at KSU, she was not Brenda, she was "Dobber." Based on the TV character from the sitcom
Coach, Dauber was the jock who never graduated college. When Farrell was first settling in, Coach Whitlock joked that Farrell would be at Kennesaw State forever just like Dauber.
The nickname stuck and has carried to this day. Everyone Farrell played with calls her "Dobber" or "Dobbs" for short, professors knew her as that, and she has a tattoo of the Superman logo but instead of the "S" it's a "D" for Dobber.
Farrell entered her freshman year as the number three pitcher behind Kelly Rafter and Dee Webb. The freshman saw limited action in 1995, throwing just 12.0 innings.
On the plus side, the Owls went all the way, winning the national championship in their first season competing at the Division II level.
Despite the limited role, Farrell always believed in Whitlock and McKinlay's process.
"I'm away at university playing softball and it was always a dream of mine," Farrell said. "I know that my time is going to come, I see myself getting better, I see the things that I need to improve on my game and what coach is trying to instill in us. When you become a part of something greater than just yourself, it's just amazing. No matter where you are, you fall into a role."
In her sophomore season, Farrell saw an expanded role, sliding in as the team's number two starter as the Owls went back-to-back as national champs.
Her true breakout came in 1997 when she was tasked with being the team's ace following the departure of Rafter. Farrell answered the call to the tune of a Third-Team All-American selection.
"It was so fun to watch Brenda begin to develop confidence in herself," Whitlock said. "For the first two years, she thought she could pitch and by her junior year she knew that she could pitch at the collegiate level."
In addition to her unorthodox pitching style that deceived hitters, Farrell would hum Christmas Carols to herself in the circle to calm her nerves.
"I sing Christmas songs because it helps to calm my nerves," Farrell said. "My teammates are like 'you're crazy!' When you get into those bigger roles, your focus changes. I went from being easy-going, laughing with a big smile to staring down batters as they came into the batter's box. I felt like I owned them, this is our game, and you're not going to come into our house and beat us."
"Anything that Brenda did was one of the odder things you would ever see," Whitlock on Farrell's Christmas Carols routine. "She is unique and that's why I love her, but she doesn't care. I never ask her why. If you have a pitcher or any player that is in the zone, you don't ask or say anything to them."
Whether it was the confidence she built in her three years, the unique pitching style or the holiday tunes, all of her hard work culminated in her magnum opus.
May 9, 1997. First Round of the NCAA Regional against Columbus State in Kennesaw. Farrell started the game with five shutout innings. After surrendering one run in the bottom of the sixth, Farrell threw 11 straight scoreless innings as the Owls finally broke through in the 17th inning, winning 3-1. She totaled 191 pitches.
"That was very much a coming-of-age performance by her and she literally kept us in the game until we figured out a way to score," Whitlock said on Farrell's 17-inning complete game. "By that time, she had come to the realization that she was pretty good and not scared of anybody. When that happened, I really believe that game may have been the last piece of the puzzle that she needed to realize what ability she had."
She followed up that performance by pitching two complete games against Coker the following day, helping the Owls clinch their third-straight Women's College World Series appearance on the heels of 24 straight scoreless innings.
If 1997 was the appetizer, then 1998 was the entree that lasted for three months. Farrell turned in one of the single greatest seasons in KSU softball history. She received First-Team All-American honors, posting a 24-2 record and program-record 0.42 ERA with 14 complete game shutouts and a no hitter.
"I was never a strikeout pitcher, I was a dirty ball pitcher," Farrell on her senior season. "I pitched junk and I needed to have good defenders to stand behind me. Coach had developed us into machines on the field and we were unstoppable as a defensive team. Prior to a game start, I was pitching balls in my head on where I wanted to hit, what I wanted to do, and how I pitched to players."
Despite entering the Regional with a 46-1 record, the Owls did not make it to the WCWS, a first for the Owls since transitioning from NAIA to Division II.
The reality set in hard for Farrell as her team – which she believed was the best out of the four she played on – and her career was over.
"I'll never forget that last day," Farrell said. "We had the best record out of all four years going into the tournament and our expectation was of course to win that tournament and go to nationals. We lost to Columbus State and it was the first time that we didn't make it to nationals. I sat out at the batting cages for two hours and watched their championship game. It felt like the end of the world. All the time, the sweat, the blood, the crying, everything that brought you to this place was over."
After her playing days were finished, she went to the dugout and coached at Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga. for a few years.
Home was calling and Farrell moved back to Canada to be with her sister in Calgary where she has been for the last 18 years.
She completed the trifecta, umpiring softball, before an injury made her step away from the game entirely.
Farrell now runs a bar and has gotten to see the growth of Kennesaw State from a school where the average student was 27 years old to now being able to watch them on television over 2000 miles away.
To be inducted into the KSU Hall of Fame is a blessing for the girl from Antigonish and to be honored alongside the man who dubbed her "Dobber" and served as a second father, it makes it even more special.
