American International College

The 1996 and 1997 American International College softball teams will become the second and third teams to be inducted into the American International College Athletics Hall of Fame.
 
The softball program is one of the most storied in the history of the College. Its status as the first varsity women’s team at AIC and the 1000-plus wins it has accumulated in five decades make it arguably the most successful of AIC’s many athletic teams. Yet even among the high achievements of the team over the long term, the 1996 and 1997 teams reached a peak deserving of this special accolade.
 
Dominant is an understatement when describing the two seasons being inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Yellow Jackets were in a string of seven consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, but in those two seasons they won Regional Championships, advancing to the College World Series. They went a combined 71-22 in those two seasons, including an NE10 Championship in 1996 as well as wins over New Haven and Merrimack to take the regional titles in the two years.
 
The statistics for the team are staggering, both individually and collectively. The team racked up 779 hits over the two seasons, including 137 doubles and 76 home runs in the 93 games, and the pitchers allowed just 127 earned runs in 634 innings for a team ERA of 1.40. Five batters hit .300 or better in each season.
 
Four members of the roster are already individually in the Hall of Fame – Carolyn McGowan ‘99, the third baseman who batted .423 in 1996 and holds the top two spots for single-season batting average in program history among players with 100 plate appearances and the top average and slugging percentage in program history, outfielder Krissy MacLean’98, who is fourth all-time in average and sixth in slugging percentage and tops in runs scored and stolen bases, pitcher Ravella Gericke ’97, who threw over 600 innings in her career with a 1.25 ERA, fifth-best in program history, and head coach Judy Groff, who won 976 games behind the bench, far and away the most in the history of the College.
 
They are deserving of their individual recognition, but each will acknowledge that it was a collective effort of many players and staff that launched the run to the College World Series in back-to-back seasons. It is this collective effort from all involved and the fruits of that labor which is being honored, deservingly, as a Hall of Fame achievement: the best two seasons of softball in the history of the College.