Hall of Fame
Following one of the best seasons in NCAA history would be no easy task, but the 1997 UW-Parkside Softball team was up to the challenge. Coach Tory Acheson’s Rangers registered a 62-10 record and finished just two wins away from claiming the school’s first national championship.
UW-Parkside was once again ranked number one in the country for multiple weeks of the 1997 season. Another difficult schedule prepared the Rangers for what was in store come tournament time. The team started the season 37-5 on the road before returning home to their new jewel of a ballpark.
The program spent countless hours the previous summer building what would become known as the Case Softball Complex. The field debuted on April 1, 1997 and saw the Rangers rout Saint Joseph’s, 14-2 and 10-5 in a conference doubleheader. The team once again went on to earn Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles before advancing to the postseason.
There, the Rangers rolled to a regional championship, taking two from Lewis University to advance to the program’s third straight Division II World Series. This time a 3-0 victory over UC-Davis put UW-Parkside into the championship game with a chance to avenge a 1-0 loss earlier in the tournament to California University of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately a late run broke a 1-1 and gave Cal (Pa.) the title.
The Rangers had three more NCAA All-Americans led by Jackie Aiken whose 87 runs batted in were best in the country. The team’s 62 wins, at time of induction, were the fifth-most in NCAA Division II history.
