COUGARS SOFTBALL

THE BEST TEAM DOESN’T ALWAYS WIN
COUGARS LOSE HEARTBREAKER TO FLORIDA SOUTHERN, 1-0 ON QUESTIONABLE CALL; REISER, FALKOWSKI, JACKSON, GUERRA EXCEL; TEAM RECEIVES AWARD FROM NCAA FOR BEST OVERALL GPA; REISER NAMED ALL-AMERICAN

"In my 60 or so years of being around the game and 32 years in professional baseball, I deem that call to be wrong and I think any experienced baseball-type person, who has been in the game a long time will tell you that should not have been called a catch." Mitchell Mick, long-time radio broadcaster who called the Caldwell-Florida Southern game for Internet Radio on May 15, commenting on a ball hit by Anna Dahl that appeared to be a 2-run homer but was ruled a catch. Check out the softball page to read the full transcript of Mick’s call on Dahl’s at bat.

A wise person once commented that everyone should learn something new every day of their lives.

The members of the Caldwell College softball team learned a lesson in competition last Saturday at the NCAA, Division II World Series in Altamonte Springs, FLA. They learned that the best team doesn’t always win.

Caldwell lost a 1-0 contest to Florida Southern on May 15 which ended its season in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. The previous day, the Cougars had blanked Northern Kentucky 1-0 after falling by the same score on May 13 to Western New Mexico.

"I don't think I can put in words what these kids have meant to me," Caldwell coach Dean Johnson said. "This one will hurt a little. But we showed one thing, for sure. We belonged in this tournament. We played three 1-0 games against the best teams in the country. I'll take Corinne Reiser over any pitcher here. She's the best."
Johnson’s composure, on the surface, exuded professionalism. Inside, however, the veteran coach had to be seething after what he saw in the fifth inning of the game against Florida Southern.

In the top of the fifth, Caldwell's Katie Jackson walked to lead off the inning and Sara Neely pinch ran. Jackie Velardi bunted Neely over to second. After a strikeout, Anna Dahl hit a long drive to the left centerfield fence. Florida Southern's Sarah Kohlbrenner reached over the fence to haul it in. However, as her momentum pulled her over the fence, the ball appeared to fall out of her glove, which would have meant a 2-run homer for Dahl. But the third base umpire ruled that Kohlbrenner had made the catch.

There are a couple things to say here.

First, Kohlbrenner made a tremendous play just to get to the ball. And yes, she did catch it. Momentarily.

As Kohlbrenner hauled in the ball, she got caught up in outfield fence, fell and CLEARLY dropped the ball. Since she was behind the fence at the time she dropped it, the hit should have been ruled a homer. There were a number of people in the outfield stands, including players from other teams, who all said there was no question the ball was dropped.

“When an outfielder goes to catch the ball,” said Mitchell Mick, who was broadcasting the game for Internet Radio, “if she falls down in any direction, on a dive, or falling after the catch, if she loses that ball between the fall and the tumble, it's supposed to be no catch.” (You can read Mick’s full account of the play on the softball page of our website).

"I know what I saw," Johnson said. "It looked like she dropped the ball after she fell over the fence. I thought it was a 2-run homer. But like I told the kids after the play, and then after the game, this is a 7-inning game. You can't hold everything to one play."

The cruel irony was not lost on Dahl, who had struggled to find her hitting groove throughout the tourney, and finally appeared to break out of the slump in a big way, at the most opportune time.

“I guess I’m still oh for 98,” Dahl said in her best humor after the umpires would not reverse the call. Dahl was referring to her times at bat without a hit at the World Series, which certainly never approached 98, but at the time, seemed that way to her.
To add to the surreal atmosphere, Florida Southern (53-7) scored the game's only run in the last of the fifth, a half inning that took an hour to complete because of two rain delays.

Reiser (27-4) struck out the first two batters in the inning. After a 30-minute rain delay, Krista Bradley singled and stole second. Jess Shepherd singled Bradley to third. A second 33-minute rain delay ensued, and when play resumed, despite a steady rain still falling, Stephanie Huber singled through the right side of the infield to score Bradley with the game's only run.

Caldwell (45-7) threatened in the top of the seventh when Jackson singled with two outs, but the game ended on a groundout to the pitcher.

Reiser was simply fantastic throughout the Series. She pitched 20 innings, allowing two earned runs and 10 hits while striking out 28 and walking one.

A day earlier, Caldwell won a 1-0 decision over Northern Kentucky when Stacy Falkowski drove in pinch runner Danielle Payne with the game-winning run in the last of the seventh inning. Payne was running for Danielle Guerra, who led off the inning with a double.

Caldwell's winning rally started when Guerra, a senior catcher, laced a leadoff double to deep right centerfield. Guerra had struck out in her first two plate appearances, but made some visual adjustments which paid off in the seventh.
"In my previous at bat (in the fourth inning), I had a better look at her pitches and by the seventh, I felt I would get a good swing,” Guerra said.

Payne entered the game as a pinch runner for Guerra and when Jackson bunted, Payne took off for third and beat the throw, which was high, allowing Jackson to race to second. Jackie Velardi, who collected Caldwell's first hit of the game in the fifth, was intentionally walked to load the bases. After the next two Caldwell hitters struck out, Falkowski, who had struck out in her first two at bats in the game, hit a 2-strike offering over the second baseman’s head to drive in the winning run.
Falkowski’s flair for the dramatic made for interesting reporting, but the freshman was only thinking about a hit.

"When the ball came off the bat," Falkowski said, "I was thinking to myself 'don't let her (second baseman Ricki Rothbauer) catch it'. She jumped pretty high, but then I saw the ball go over her glove and that was that.”

Reiser struck out nine in the game and allowed just two hits. She was nearly un-hittable the last three innings of the game.

In the opening game, Caldwell lost a 1-0, 8-inning contest to Western New Mexico. Reiser and Western New Mexico pitcher Angela Slaugh combined for 32 strikeouts in the game, with Slaugh registering 19.

The numbers tell the story of the 2004 Caldwell softball season. The Cougars finished 45-7, the best mark in the program’s history. Its seven losses were all by one run. The team won the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference’s regular season and post-season championships. Johnson, who won his 250th career game this year, was named the CACC’s Coach of the Year.

Reiser was named the MVP of the CACC post-season tournament and the CACC’s Pitcher of the Year. Jackson hit the game-winning homer in the 12th inning of the post-season title game. Jackson, Reiser, Velardi, Dahl, Guerra and Candice Collins were named first team, All-CACC players while Falkowski was selected to the second team. The All-Tournament team included Reiser, Guerra, Jackson, Collins and Gina D’Amico.

The Cougars earned the first NCAA post-season invitation in school history and went on to capture the NCAA Northeast Regional championship with Reiser being named the MVP of the regional tourney as well.

Reiser, Guerra, Jackson, Dahl and Amy Coker were named to the NFCA, Division II All-Region, first team while Collins earned a selection to the second team.
At the World Series, Reiser was named a second team, NFCA All-American. It was the culmination of a season, and a career, which will go down in Cougar lore. Reiser finished 27-4 this year, and set every conceivable school pitching record at Caldwell.
And at the closing ceremonies, Caldwell received a prestigious award from the NCAA for having the highest team GPA of the eight softball teams at the festival.
All in all, a pretty good year.

NOTES: This year, the NCAA tried something new in Altamonte Springs, bringing a number of Division II sports together (softball, tennis, lacrosse and golf) for a championship festival. It included a grand opening ceremony at the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios in Orlando and a gala closing ceremony. In between, the athletes had the opportunity to experience an Olympic Village-type setting, with the respective sports held at different venues, all within an easy driving distance. The softball games were contested at the Seminole County Sports Complex, a 10-minute drive from the team's hotel. It featured two meticulous practice fields, a beautiful game field, a 2-tier press box and just about every comfort possible at an outdoor event. (Next year, the format changes back to its original setup, meaning the championships will be held at different venues around the country. The NCAA's plan is to have a championship festival at least once every four years, so that every student-athlete can enjoy what the athletes this year experienced).

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