1988 NCAA Division I softball season

1988 NCAA Division I softball season
Defending Champions	Texas A&M
Tournament
Women's College World Series
Duration	May 25–29, 1988
Champions	UCLA (4th (5th overall) title)
Runners-up	Fresno State (4th WCWS Appearance)
Winning Coach	Sharron Backus (4th (5th overall) title)
Seasons

The 1988 NCAA Division I softball season, play of college softball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began in February 1988. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 1988 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 1988 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held in Sunnyvale, California at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, ended on May 29, 1988.

Conference standings

1988 Big Ten Conference softball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT Minnesota ‍†‍‍^y 15 – 8 – 0   .652 31 – 25 – 0   .554 Michigan ‍‍‍ 15 – 9 – 0   .625 29 – 20 – 0   .592 Northwestern  ‍‍‍ 14 – 10 – 0   .583 25 – 23 – 0   .521 Indiana ‍‍‍ 13 – 10 – 1   .563 36 – 20 – 1   .640 Iowa ‍‍‍ 10 – 13 – 0   .435 33 – 20 – 1   .620 Michigan State  ‍‍‍ 10 – 14 – 0   .417 21 – 30 – 0   .412 Ohio State ‍‍‍ 5 – 18 – 0   .217 19 – 31 – 1   .382 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Rankings from Coaches' Poll	1988 Pacific-10 Conference softball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT UCLA  ‍†‍‍^y 15 – 3   .833 53 – 8   .869 Arizona  ‍‍‍^y 15 – 5   .750 54 – 18   .750 Oregon  ‍‍‍ 9 – 11   .450 32 – 26   .552 Arizona State  ‍‍‍ 8 – 12   .400 26 – 25   .510 California  ‍‍‍^y 7 – 11   .389 38 – 22   .633 Oregon State  ‍‍‍ 2 – 14   .125 13 – 32   .289 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of May 31, 1988[9] Rankings from Coaches' Poll	1988 Pacific Coast Athletic Association softball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT Fresno State  ‍†‍‍^y 29 – 5   .853 55 – 17   .764 Cal Poly Pomona  ‍‍‍^y 28 – 8   .778 57 – 16   .781 Cal State Fullerton  ‍‍‍ 24 – 10   .706 52 – 20   .722 Long Beach State  ‍‍‍^y 25 – 11   .694 46 – 17   .730 Pacific  ‍‍‍ 16 – 18   .471 35 – 27   .565 Hawaii  ‍‍‍ 16 – 20   .444 30 – 29   .508 San Jose State  ‍‍‍ 13 – 19   .406 24 – 29   .453 San Diego State  ‍‍‍ 9 – 23   .281 24 – 33   .421 UNLV  ‍‍‍ 9 – 27   .250 18 – 29   .383 UC Santa Barbara  ‍‍‍ 3 – 31   .088 6 – 50   .107 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament
1988 Southland Conference softball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT Sam Houston State  ‍†‍‡‍ 13 – 1 – 0   .929 49 – 17 – 0   .742 Texas–Arlington  ‍‍‍ 10 – 3 – 0   .769 34 – 27 – 0   .557 Stephen F. Austin  ‍‍‍ 10 – 4 – 0   .714 33 – 16 – 0   .673 Northwestern Louisiana  ‍‍‍ 6 – 7 – 0   .462 25 – 24 – 0   .510 Southwest Texas State  ‍‍‍ 6 – 8 – 0   .429 21 – 39 – 0   .350 Northeast Louisiana  ‍‍‍ 5 – 8 – 0   .385 24 – 35 – 0   .407 McNeese State  ‍‍‍ 3 – 11 – 0   .214 8 – 34 – 0   .190 North Texas  ‍‍‍ 1 – 12 – 0   .077 4 – 51 – 0   .073 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of May 20, 1988[11] Rankings from Coaches' Poll

Women's College World Series

The 1988 NCAA Women's College World Series took place from May 25 to May 29, 1988 in Sunnyvale, California.[12]

	Upper round 1					Upper round 2					Upper final					Semifinals					Final
	UCLA		1
	Northern Illinois		0
						UCLA		6
						Fresno State		1
	Fresno State		3
	Texas A&M		0
											UCLA		5
											Arizona		0
	Arizona		1
																UCLA		4
	Adelphi		0
						Arizona		4								Cal Poly Pomona		1
						Cal State Pomona		1
	Cal Poly Pomona		3
	Nebraska		0
																					UCLA		1	3
						Lower round 1					Lower round 2										Fresno State		2	0
											Cal Poly Pomona		1
						Northern Illinois		0			Texas A&M		0
																Arizona		0
						Texas A&M		3
																Fresno State		4
											Fresno State		1^9
						Adelphi		1			Nebraska		0
						Nebraska		5

Season leaders

Batting

• Batting average: .484 – Jill Justin, Northern Illinois Huskies
• RBIs: 59 – Dori Beach, Charleston Southern Buccaneers
• Home runs: 9 – Luevenia Moore, Florida A&M Lady Rattlers & Michele Smith, Oklahoma State Cowgirls

Pitching

• Wins: 50-8 – Debbie Nichols, Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters
• ERA: 0.29 (11 ER/259.1 IP) – Lisa Longaker, UCLA Bruins
• Strikeouts: 294 – Debby Day, UTA Mavericks

Records

NCAA Division I season shutouts: 36 – Debbie Nichols, Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters[13]

NCAA Division I season assists: 237 – Charis Monroe, Cal State Fullerton Titans

Freshman class triples: 13 – Tricia Popowski, South Carolina Gamecocks

Freshman class assists: 230 – Julie Standering, Arizona Wildcats

Sophomore class assists: 229 – Carie Dever, Fresno State Bulldogs

Sophomore class wins: 50 – Debbie Nichols, Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters

Junior class innings pitched: 425.0 – Julie Carpenter, Texas A&M Aggies

Awards

• Honda Sports Award Softball:

Lisa Longaker, UCLA Bruins[14][15]

YEAR	W	L	GP	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
1988	31	4	39	34	34	23	3	259.1	136	14	11	31	240	0.29	0.64

All America Teams

The following players were members of the All-American Teams.[16]

First Team

Position	Player	Class	School
P	Lisa Longaker	SO.	UCLA Bruins
	Melanie Parrent	SR.	Fresno State Bulldogs
	Debbie Nichols	SO.	Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters
C	Karen Sanchelli	SR.	South Carolina Gamecocks
1B	Jody Schwartz	SR.	Creighton Bluejays
2B	Alison Stowell	SR.	Cal Poly Pomona Broncos
3B	Janice Parks	JR.	UCLA Bruins
SS	Liz Mizeria	SR.	Texas A&M Aggies
OF	Jill Justin	JR.	Northern Illinois Huskies
	Lorraine Maynez	FR.	UCLA Bruins
	Dee Brewer	FR.	Oklahoma State Cowgirls
UT	Michele Smith	JR.	Oklahoma State Cowgirls

Second Team

Position	Player	Class	School
P	Gretchen Koenig	SR.	South Carolina Gamecocks
	Teresa Cherry	SR.	Arizona Wildcats
	Carie Dever	SO.	Fresno State Bulldogs
C	Kris Tipmore	SR.	Central Michigan Chippewas
1B	Gena Strang	SR.	Fresno State Bulldogs
2B	Julie Thomas	SR.	Sam Houston State Bearkats
3B	Valerie Douglas	SR.	Cal State Fullerton Titans
SS	Shari Johnson	JR.	Oklahoma State Cowgirls
OF	Linda Smolka	JR.	Princeton Tigers
	Amy Lienhardt	SR.	Bowling Green Falcons
	Angie McDonald	SR.	Eastern Michigan Eagles
UT	Kris Peterson	SR.	Adelphi Panthers

References

1. "Big Ten Softball Standings" (PDF). BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
2. 1988 Indiana Season
3. 1988 Iowa Season
4. 1988 Michigan Season
5. 1988 Michigan State Season
6. 1988 Minnesota Season
7. 1988 Northwestern Season
8. 1988 Ohio State Season
9. 2018 Softball Media Guide. Pac-12 Conference. p. 52. Retrieved February 2, 2019.
10. 2020 Softball Record Book (PDF). Big West Conference. p. 2. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
11. "Southland Softball" (PDF). Southland Conference. p. 13. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
12. "1988 Women's College World Series". Ncaa.org. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
13. "Division I Softball Records" (PDF). Ncaa.org. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
14. "PAST HONDA SPORTS AWARD WINNERS FOR SOFTBALL". Collegiatewomensportsawards.com. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
15. "FINAL 1988 Women's Softball Statistics Report" (PDF). Ncaa.org. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
16. "1988 NSCA Division I All-America Teams". Nfca.org. Retrieved July 24, 2020.