(PELLA, Iowa) – One of the most dominant teams in Central College athletics history will be recognized Saturday as the school’s 1993 NCAA Division III championship softball squad celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Returning team members will be saluted between games at Central’s Iowa Conference doubleheader with Simpson College Saturday. The first game starts at 1 p.m. at the A.N. Kuyper Athletics Complex softball field.
The 1993 squad posted a 38-2 mark en route to the third of four national titles for NFCA Hall of Fame coach George Wares. The Dutch lost just one regular-season game, to NCAA Division II foe Emporia State University (Kan.), and rolled up a 32-game win streak, an NCAA record at the time. Central dropped one tournament game en route to claiming the NCAA Division III West Regional crown at Pella, then stormed through the double-elimination Division III finals in Decatur, Illinois with three straight victories, including a 7-3 triumph over Trenton State College (now the College of New Jersey) in the title game.
Central had three all-America honorees in pitchers Missey Allen and Emily Grimes along with outfielder/designated player Jennifer Semler. Allen (16-0) led the nation with a school-record 0.25 earned run average and Grimes (19-1) was third nationally at 0.74. Grimes was also named the Iowa Conference MVP. Semler set a school mark with a .531 batting average. Wares was tabbed as the league’s coach of the year.
Center fielder Mindi Remsburg and third baseman Heather Reedy were voted to the CoSIDA Academic All-America squad.
Wares is now in his 34th year at Central and is the winningest coach in Division III history with a 1,110-378-3 career mark.
For more information on Saturday’s activities, contact the Central alumni office at 800-447-0287 or alumni@central.edu.