Eastern Connecticut State University

Through the first 25 years of the NCAA Division III fastpitch softball tournament, no one did it as well as right-handed pitching sensation Kimberly A. Durocher Wise. Especially when the national championship was on the line. In each of her two seasons in the program, the East Freetown, Mass. native led Eastern to NCAA Division III national championships. In a total of four games in the championship rounds of the 1985 and 1986 national tournaments, Durocher Wise pitched complete-game shutouts each time. As a freshman in 1985, she blanked No. 1-ranked Trenton State College by identical 1-0 scores in the championship round at Howard Spector Field, allowing a total of only five hits. In 1986 at Storm Lake, Iowa, Eastern again came out of the loser’ bracket in the national tournament. With Eastern needing four wins after a second-round loss, Durocher Wise shut out Allegheny on two hits, then pitched a four-hitter to eliminate Trenton State later that day. The next day, she shut out Central College, 2-0 and 1-0, allowing only five hits and one walk with 11 strikeouts to deliver a second straight title. In national tournament competitions in her career, the 5-foot-7 inch, 140-pounder was 9-1 with 44 strikeouts and a 0.33 ERA in 64 1/3 innings. Following a record-setting sophomore year which included a 21-7 record, 0.84 ERA, four no-hitters and a nation-leading 245 strikeouts, Durocher Wise was named first-team NFCA Division III All-America.