Lake Forest College Sports Information
May 15, 2002
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Awards Continue To Roll in for the Foresters
Findeisen and the coaching staff the latest honorees
  

 Nancy Findeisen is the first Forester softball player to achieve All-American status.
EAU CLAIRE, WI - At Wednesday's (May 15th) NCAA Division III National Softball Tournament Banquet, the National Fastpitch Coaches Association handed out a number of end-of-season awards, and Lake Forest came away with a pair of them. The Forester coaching staff was named Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year and pitcher Nancy Findeisen (Beecher, IL/ Beecher) was named an NCAA Division III Third Team All-American.

Post-season honors are nothing new to head coach Diane Kanney, as she has been named Midwest Conference South Division Coach of the Year following three of the last five seasons (including 2002). Chris Pier has been Kanney's assistant throughout her six years at Lake Forest and serves as the team's first base coach. Jill Popovich helps out with the Forester pitching staff.

The staff directed Lake Forest to its second-ever Midwest Conference Championship and first since 1988. In the program's first-ever trip to NCAA post-season play, the Foresters swept through the regional tourney with three wins to advance to the NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament, which begins on Thursday (May 16th). The team's 29 victories (against 10 losses) are 11 more than the previous school record of 18, which was set in 1989 and matched in 2001.

School records have also been broken by a number of individual Foresters, including Findeisen, who is arguably having the best season ever by a Lake Forest College pitcher. The sophomore's 15 wins are already a school record, as are her 10 shutouts and 139 strikeouts (against just nine walks). With a 0.71 earned run average entering the national tourney, Findeisen is sure to better the school record 1.80 ERA at year's end. She is currently tied for the best winning percentage in school history at .750.

Findeisen started the season with three straight shutouts, including a 1-0 victory over defending national champion Muskingum College and a 4-0 no-hitter against Springfield College. She allowed more than one run in a game just three times this year and more than two runs just once. The Foresters' ace has completed 17 of her 20 starts and has held opposing hitters to a .179 batting average.

Findeisen's next appearance in the pitcher's circle will occur when Lake Forest takes on Emory University on Thursday in round one of the national tournament.

NFCA Division III All-American Teams