Final Record: 36-25 (15-5 CAA/2nd Regular Season)
Home Record: 15-8, Road Record: 13-10, Neutral Record: 8-7
CAA Tournament: No. 2 seed, 4-1; Defeated No. 3 Towson, 3-2 (12), Lost to No. 1 Hofstra, 1-0, Defeated No. 3 Towson, 3-0, Defeated No. 1 Hofstra, 4-2, Defeated No. 1 Hofstra, 2-0
Final RPI: 78th out of 289 (Top 27% of all NCAA Div. I softball teams)
Final national team rankings: Team ERA (27th - 1.95 ERA), Team Fielding Percentage (41st - 0.969)
Final national individual rankings: Erin Collins (T-5th Saves - 7), Kaitlyn Medlam (T-14th - 4)
All-CAA First Team (1): McCall Langford (P)
All-CAA Second Team (5): Lauren Jones (1B), Audrey Mason (OF), Kaitlyn Medlam (P), Brenna Morrissey (DP), Paige Nowacki (SS)
All-CAA Rookie Team (3): Jessica Clifton, Kaitlyn Medlam, Maddy Stanton
CAA co-Coach of the Year: Roger Kincaid
CAA Rookie of the Year: Kaitlyn Medlam
CAA Tournament Team (4): Lauren Jones, McCall Langford, Alana Thomas (Most Outstanding Performer), Emily Whitaker
CAA Players of the Week (4): 4/11 - Paige Nowacki
CAA Pitcher of the Week (3): 3/1 - McCall Langford, 3/28 - McCall Langford (Co-Pitcher), 4/11 - Kaitlyn Medlam
CAA Rookies of the Week (4): 2/22 - Kaitlyn Medlam, 3/1 - Jessica Clifton, 4/11 - Kaitlyn Medlam, 4/18 - Jessica Clifton
CoSIDA Academic All-District Three: Cassie Boese (Second Team)
Louisville Slugger/NFCA Division I Mid-Atlantic All-Region: McCall Langford (Second Team)
GSU Academic Honors: Twelve players honored in fall; Fourteen in the spring
GSU Spring Awards Banquet: Cassie Boese (Pickett Riggs Award), Alana Thomas (Ron Curry Determination Award)
The 2011 season turned out to be a most memorable one for the Georgia State softball team as the Panthers hoisted their first CAA Tournament Championship on the home turf of No. 1 seed and arch-rival Hofstra on May 13. That CAA championship advanced GSU to only the second NCAA Regional in the program's history.
Along the way was a rollercoaster of emotions that culminated in one magical week in Hempstead, N.Y.
With a boatload of expectations entering the 2011 season with six All-CAA performers returning, the season got off to an emotional start just 10 games in, where with the team sitting at 5-5, legendary head coach Bob Heck stepped down after win number 700 against Appalachian State, moving top assistant Roger Kincaid into the role of interim head coach. What immediately followed was a streak where the Panthers lost eight out of their next 12 games to put them at 9-13 entering a Sunday game against Belmont.
However, a team meeting in the outfield immediately following a 9-3 loss to Bowling Green seemed to reinvigorate GSU as they then topped Belmont, 8-2, and didn't look back, going an impressive 23-5 in its next 28 games, including 15-straight CAA wins. The 15 CAA wins in a row were the most by a CAA team in a single season since GSU joined the league in 2006. Their record jumped from 9-13 to 32-18 and put them in a tie with Hofstra at 15-1 for the right to be the No. 1 seed and host the CAA Tournament.
A four-game slide cost GSU a No. 1 seed and right to host, as the Panthers scored three runs total in the four games and were swept by the Pride in a three-game regular season series.
The final loss on Saturday, May 7 to the Pride sealed GSU's fate of returning to Hempstead for the CAA Tournament on Tuesday, May 10, with game one of the CAAs slated for Wednesday, May 11.
At the CAA Awards Banquet the night before the tournament was set to start, the awards flowed in for the Panthers following a remarkable turnaround season. Eight players and Kincaid received accolades, with freshman pitcher Kaitlyn Medlam becoming the big winner as she was named Rookie of the Year, All-CAA second team and All-Rookie. Kincaid was named CAA co-Coach of the Year. Also earning recognition were pitcher McCall Langford (first team), first baseman Lauren Jones (second team), shortstop Paige Nowacki (second team) outfielder Audrey Mason (second team), designated player Brenna Morrissey (second team), outfielder Jessica Clifton (all-rookie) and catcher Maddy Stanton (all-rookie).
An old foe awaited the Panthers in the opening game of the CAA Tournament as the Towson Tigers looked to avenge six losses in the last seven meetings to GSU, including being eliminated from the 2010 tourney and being no-hit by Langford on March 27. In that regular season game the sophomore struck out six, caused 14 others to ground out and allowed only one fly out in nearly hurling a perfect game. She allowed only one walk on a 3-2 count with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
The CAA Tournament game proved to be a barnburner as both teams had trouble scoring. The game eventually reached the 12th-inning, which tied it with the longest game in CAA Tourney history, a GSU 3-1 victory over Hofstra in 2009 that took two days to complete. After Towson scored a run in the top of the 12th to give it the lead at 2-1, junior Emily Whitaker stepped to the plate with two outs as GSU's final hope. Whitaker jumped all over a 1-1 pitch and sailed it well clear of the center field fence for her first career homer, giving the Panthers the dramatic 3-2 victory.
A 2-0 loss to Hofstra on Thursday put GSU's back against the wall. After eliminating Towson for the second year in a row, 3-0, the Panthers knew they must beat the Pride twice on Friday to claim the title. Against them was a remarkable streak of dominance by Hofstra. Not only had they beaten GSU seven times in a row dating back to the 2010 season, but the Pride had won eight of nine CAA Tournament titles, had never lost in a CAA Tournament title game and had the nation's longest winning streak at 30.
Game one proved to be a pitcher's duel as usual between the two teams as the Pride carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. With two outs and two players on, the senior Jones tied the school record for homers in a career as she bombed the 31st of her career to give GSU a 4-2 lead. That would be all the Panthers would need to force a winner-take-all game to decide the championship and NCAA Regional berth.
The championship game entered the sixth inning tied at zero but Jones refused to let the Panthers lose. Again with two outs, the Stockbridge, Ga., native drove a single down the left field line that plated one run. Nowacki followed with another RBI single to give the Panthers a 2-0 cushion and needing only three outs for the title. Junior pitcher Alana Thomas, who would later be named Most Outstanding Performer of the tournament after allowing only one earned run in 18 1/3 innings of work, quickly worked three outs to give GSU its first conference title since 1994.
Also honored during the tournament by earning a place on the All-Tournament team were Jones, Langford and Whitaker.
Despite two losses in the NCAA Regionals to No. 6 national seed and host Georgia and ACC Champion Florida State, there was one bright spot for the Panthers as Jones broke the school's all-time homers record with a solo shot off All-ACC pitcher and 1,000 strikeout star Sarah Hamilton of FSU.
The Panthers ended the year at 36-25 overall and finished second in the CAA during the regular season with a 15-5 record. The overall record also included four wins in the CAA Tournament. They won 15 games at Bob Heck Field and had a winning record at home, on the road and at neutral locations. The 36 wins were eighth all-time in school history and was the program's 17th 30-win season in the 27-year fast pitch history.
Throughout the year, the Panthers routinely played top competition as evidenced by their 27 games out of 61 (44%) against teams that finished in the top 100 of the RPI. They were 9-18 in those games, including wins over Chattanooga (45), Hofstra (54), Mississippi State (69), Miami (OH) (85), Kennesaw State (93) and Mercer (99). They also played 11 against the RPI top 50.
There were many performers who deserved recognition for a fine 2011 campaign. Besides the postseason awards that saw Jones, Langford and Mason all earn CAA awards for the second year in a row, Clifton and Medlam each won two CAA Rookie of the Week awards, Langford earned two CAA Pitcher of the Week awards, Medlam was named CAA Pitcher of the Week once and Nowacki was named CAA Player of the Week once.
Langford also became just the second player in the program's history to earn All-Region accolades as she earned a place on the Mid-Atlantic second team.
The pitching staff had a remarkable season under first year pitching coach Amy Dumas. Not only did they produce the nation's 27th-best ERA (1.95), but they also had 15 complete games and 12 saves. Junior Erin Collins (T-5th) and Medlam (T-14th) were each in the nation's top 15 in saves with seven and four, respectively. In conference games, the four-person staff trimmed their ERA to a tiny 0.82, shutting out six opponents.
Softball once again proved this year that it not only competes hard on the field of competition, but off it as well as 12 student-athletes in the fall and 14 in the spring earned GSU academic honors including two who made the President's List with perfect 4.0 or better GPAs. Junior Emily Althafer made the list in the spring, while junior Cassie Boese earned a spot both semesters. The Middlebury, Ind., native has been on the President's List all six semesters at GSU and was named CoSIDA Academic All-District Three for the second season in a row. In 2010 she was named first team at the designated player position, while this season she earned second team honors. Boese also was given the Pickett Riggs Award at the annual GSU Spring Awards Banquet for the female junior with the highest GPA. Also honored at the banquet was Thomas, who earned the Ron Curry Determination award as she has overcome scoliosis to become one of GSU's top pitchers for three years.
Completing their eligibility for the Panthers was a pair of talented senior starters in Tiffany Bess and Jones.
Jones ended her career as the school's all-time homers leader, while finishing second in RBI. She was the only junior to ever be elected co-captain, and was on the leadership council as a senior. Jones also displayed quite a glove as she had a career .987 fielding percentage. She started 209 games and had a career .293 batting average, while earning academic honors in all but one semester while playing for GSU.
Bess started 93 games in the outfield and finished her career with 66 hits, 57 RBI and 32 runs scored. The Watkinsville, Ga., product also earned academic honors every semester while playing for the Panthers.
GSU and now full-time head coach Roger Kincaid will return 16 lettermen from the championship squad and will welcome back a pair of injured Panthers in redshirt freshman Megan Kildahl and senior Christina Reed. Ten of the 16 returnees have earned regular season CAA recognition at some point in their careers and only Jones will not return from this year's honorees. The future looks bright for a program that captured the hearts of Panthers fans during one magical week in Hempstead, N.Y.
