2012 ARMY SOFTBALL GUIDE
HISTORY 1979: Under coach Dennis Helsel, Army enters into its first year of varsity competition in the spring after spending the first two years at the club level. The team registers a 14-9 mark and reaches the finals of the New York State AIAW Tournament. Lori Utchel leads the team in batting with a .474 average as Army finishes the season batting .333 with eight players hitting .300 or better and three hitting .400 or above. Utchel, a shortstop, leads the team in hits (36), batting average and RBIs (24) and shares it in doubles (6) and home runs. Pitcher Karen Hinsey compiles a 9-4 mark registering a 2.63 ERA.
1979 Team 1980: The Black Knights finish 10-7 in what turns out to be Dennis Helsel’s final year on the bench. Lori Utchel tops the team in batting for the second straight year and her .537 average is still the school’s all-time mark. Kim Hall, the first women’s basketball player to score 1,000 points, is next at .424. 1981: Liz Cousins, the head coach of the women’s basketball team, was planning to wear two hats when she was named to succeed Helsel, but the conflict of schedules brought in Lorraine Quinn as head coach just prior to the start of spring practice. Though dropping seven straight games early in the schedule, Army just misses compiling a winning season in finishing 9-11. Catcher Maria Stangle leads the team in batting with a .442 average and is the leader in triples (4), stolen bases (5) and walks. Team captain Lori Utchel is second at .435 along with leading the team in hits (27), doubles (10) and RBIs (19). 1982: Under interim head coach Suzi Horne, filling in for Lorraine Quinn, Army suffers through its second straight losing campaign. The five wins proves the fewest in school history. Outfielder Louise Chrisman bats .417 with a team-high 25 hits and 18 RBIs. Jenni Moehringer, who also played basketball with Chrisman, follows with a .308 average. Peggy Laneri registers a 2.22 ERA. 1983: Lorraine Quinn returns to the squad for her second season. Louise Chrisman leads the team in batting (.371) and hits (25) with Sue Miguel, who also stared in basketball, next at .313 as Army finishes under .500 for the third straight year. Lori Stocker registers a 1.55 ERA and Jill Schurtz is the mound workhorse with 72 innings for a 1.75 ERA. 1984: Army’s first year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and under Harold Johnson, who is also the women’s basketball coach, finds the Black Knights on the winning side of the ledger for the first time in four years. Army finishes 18-14 and qualifies for the MAAC Tournament behind the pitching of Jill
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Schurtz. She registers a 1.51 ERA and is named to the All-MAAC team. Louise Chrisman tops Army for the third straight year in batting (.350) behind a teamhigh 35 hits, 16 RBIs and three triples. 1985: Army finishes fourth at the MAAC Tournament in Harold Johnson’s final year at the helm. Brandt Kinder and Jill Simon are named to the All-MAAC tournament team. Bridget Arens leads the team with a .358 batting average and Chris Heberle is first in hits with 21. Bernie McLaughlin tops Army in extra base hits with seven, to include a pair of home runs, along with nine RBIs. 1986: Al Arceo, an assistant to Harold Johnson, takes over the helm and goes on to build the program into a Division II Eastern power. His Black Knights rank as high as 19th nationally, set a school mark for wins (27-7) and capture the MAAC title. Army wins its final 14 games, sets a USMA mark for shutouts (14), ties the record for fewest losses (7) and posts the best winning percentage of 79 percent. Andee Hidalgo is named the MVP of the MAAC tournament, and Jill Schurtz sets school records for strikeouts (62), ERA (0.90), consecutive wins (7), shutouts (8) and overall mark (14-4). Trese LaCamera posts a 9-3 mark and 1.22 ERA as Army’s pitching staff records a run of 42 c o n s e c u t i ve scoreless innings en route to a team 0.93 ERA . Bernie McLaughlin’s 36 hits ties the school record. She is also the leader in RBIs (21), triples Jill Schurtz (6) and total bases (57). 1987: Army finishes runner-up at the MAAC Tournament and earns a postseason bid as the No. 2 seed in the ECAC South Division II playoffs. It is Army’s first postseason invite since its inaugural year. The Black Knights finish second en route to recording their second straight 20-win season (23). They post their 100th victory against Lewis University (7-4) on March 9. Bernie McLaughlin (catcher), Alisa Schnitker (DP) and Jen Fleming (OF) are named to the all-MAAC team. Michelle Bronner tops Army in batting (.356) and runs (20), while tying McLaughlin for the school mark in hits (42). McLaughlin sets single-season marks for doubles (11), triples (9), RBIs (29) and total bases. She becomes the all-time leader in triples with 17. Laura Slattery sets a season mark for singles (34), and pitcher Trese LaCamera records a 1.19 ERA and 11-7 mark. 1988: The Black Knights, who rank as high as 11th nationally, set 21 records and tie three others in closing out the winningest season in school history
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(33-11). Arceo, who played for present head coach Jim Flowers when both were in the military, compiles more wins than his predecessors combined in winning 83 of 199 contests. Army records eight shutouts during a run of 11 straight. The Black Knights capture the MAAC and ECAC Division II South titles. Freshman Colleen McCabe records an unprecedented 29 wins, tosses the first perfect game in school history, pitches 19 shutouts and finishes 11 strikeouts shy of the all-time mark en route to writing her name into the record books 12 times. She is also chosen the MVP of the MAAC after allowing just one earned run over 44 innings. Chosen for the MAAC all-tournament team are Bernie McLaughlin, Laura Slattery and Melody Smith. McLaughlin closes out her career with four marks outright while sharing another. LeeAnne Craft and Slattery break the season mark for hits with 44 each. Smith sets the record for singles (38) and leads the team in batting (.360). Teamwise, Army sets season marks for wins, shutouts (19), consecutive shutouts (6) and consecutive scoreless innings (46). 1989: Army jumps out to a 13-1 mark behind a 9-0 start en route to its fourth straight 20-win season (24). The Black Knights tie for fifth nationally in Division II and are first in the Northeast. Al Arceo picks up his 100th career win and Colleen McCabe strikes out 210 batters to stretch her career mark to 446 along with breaking her single-game record (13 vs. Fordham and Pace). She closes out the year 19-5 with an 0.58 ERA. LeeAnne Craft finishes first in batting (.340), RBIs (18), doubles (9) and triples (4) with team captain Sandy Petrin first in hits (33) and runs (13). First baseman Kami Iannaco is named to the all-MAAC team. Arceo steps down, leaving with the highest winning percentage of any Army coach (.695), after guiding the Black Knights to three tournament championships (2 MAAC, 1 ECAC) and posting more than 20 wins in each of his four years. 1990: Former Army basketball star, Maj. Gary Winton, did not disappoint in his lone season at the helm. The Black Knights finish their final year at Division II with the second-most wins in history with a 29-10 mark. Army shows it won’t have any trouble moving up the next level by its 20-6 mark against Division I
Bernie McLaughlin