Eastern Connecticut State University

Initially anticipating a collegiate basketball career, Leanne E. Shoop instead achieved numerous milestones and records in a four-year softball career which produced three All-America certificates and a program record for hits which remains today. A rightfielder, Shoop is the only player in program history to achieve All-America status in each of her first two seasons, is one of only two players in program history named first-team All-America as many as two times, and is one of only three three-time All-Americas in program history. Shoop began a streak of 160 consecutive starts fifteen games into her freshman season, and ultimately established program career records for hits (192), stolen bases (65), consecutive stolen bases (31),  outfield  assists (41) and at-bats (556), with all except the stolen base mark remaining today. She began her program record streak of 31 consecutive steals four days into her sophomore season – a streak which extended four days into her senior year. The Colchester native helped Eastern to a record of 136-38 (78.2 percent), four consecutive regional championships, three spots in the championship round of the NCAA Division III national tournament, and the 1990 national title. The 5-foot-3 inch, 120-pounder joined the softball program after two solid basketball seasons, and in her first softball season in the spring of 1989, batted .368, threw out 12 runners from right field,  and became the program’s first first-team freshman All-America; on the 1990 national title team the following year, she posted career-highs for batting (.371) and RBI (21), led the club in hits (49) and steals (12), and repeated as a first-team All-America; as a senior, she batted .359 with a career-high 52 hits and was selected second-team All-America and as the ECAC Player-of-the-Year. In her career, she was caught stealing only five times in 70 tries. In her two-year basketball career, Shoop appeared in 48 games, averaging 3.3 points and 1.7 assists.