St. Thomas Wins 2004 NCAA Division III Softball Championship
Tommies Defeat Moravian, 2-0

Salem, VA --The University of St. Thomas scored two runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning and held Moravian scoreless en route to a 2-0 National Championship win over the Greyhounds.  The Tommies finish their season 46-4 overall while the Greyhounds complete their 2004 campaign at 40-6 overall after appearing in the National Championship series for the first time in school history.  The national title is the first for the St. Thomas softball program.

The championship game, which was originally schedule for 2:30pm, was pushed back until 4pm due to the fact that game 12 did not finish until 1:00 Monday morning.  However, inclement weather in the Salem area, forced the game to be postponed until approximately 7:45pm.

"These guys (St. Thomas) are night owls.  It helped that we kept them at the hotel and out of the weather.  The delays really didn't affect us because we kept in touch with cell phones to keep up with the schedule.  It wasn't hard to motivate.  After all, this is a national championship.  It's a great opportunity to show what type of team we are," stated Tommie Head Coach John Tschida.

Both teams were held scoreless through the first four innings before St. Thomas' Kathleen Fitzpatrick hit a bunt single in the bottom half of the fifth inning.  Fitzpatrick then stole second base for her 15th theft of the season.  After Carrie Embree fouled out to the catcher, Nikki Conway singled, scoring Fitzpatrick from second.  Shortstop Michelle Wong added an RBI of her own as she singled down the right field line, scoring Conway.

"We had some bad at-bats.  I was feeling it was a matter of time before we starting stringing some together," said Conway.

"This was a great effort.  All season we've had players step up to play their roles and tonight was no different.  I should mention we have a lot of seniors that may not have huge stats, but they've had a huge impact on our program through their character and work ethic," added Tschida.

St. Thomas pitcher Janet Nagle threw a complete-game, one-hit shutout, allowing just one double to right fielder Krissy Cianfichi.  Nagle finished with four strikeouts on the night.

The Tommies were led by right fielder Kathleen Fitzpatrick who was 1-for-2 with a run scored.  Nikki Conway and Michelle Wong were each 1-for-3 with an RBI.  Kaja Martinson and Carrie Embree finished the night with one hit apiece for St. Thomas.

Meagan Hennessy (23-3) took the loss as she threw six innings, giving up one earned run on five hits and striking out three.

The All-Tournament Team is listed below:

Catcher - Nikki Conway, St. Thomas
First Base - Lauren Homa, Moravian
Second Base - Colleen Trybus, Alma
Third Base - Leslie White, Salisbury
Shortstop - Brittany Ziegler - Chapman
Outfield - Erin Zupko, Muskingum
Outfield - Amanda Dow-Allen, Wheaton
Outfield - Carrie Embree, St. Thomas
Pitcher - Janet Nagle, St. Thomas
Pitcher - Lacey Lister, Salisbury
Designated Player - Erin Ruest, Salisbury
At-Large - Kim Tackett, Muskingum
At-Large - Meagan Hennessy, Moravian
At-Large - Kaja Martinson, St. Thomas
At-Large - Melissa Soroka, Moravian