|
|
| Linfield’s Steinke caps career at College World Series |
|---|
| Canby grad Steinke helps Linfield to College World Series |
|---|
 | | Photo courtesy of Linfield College | | Shelly Steinke hit .388 at the plate for the Linfield Wildcats, helping the team reach the NCAA Division III College Softball World Series for the first time. Linfield took fourth place at the World Series and finished with a 37-11 overall record in Steinke’s senior season. |
|
By Ian Forrest
For four years, Shelly Steinke has done it all for the Linfield softball team.
And after earning Player of the Year awards and All-American honors, Steinke capped her career with the ultimate team accomplishment: an appearance in softball’s College World Series.
Steinke, a graduate of Canby High School, helped Linfield to fourth place at the Division-III College Softball World Series, in Raleigh, N.C. The appearance in college softball’s “big dance” capped a memorable career.
For four years, Steinke anchored Linfield’s outfield. After she played in her first college game as a freshman, she quickly became a fixture at centerfield.
“She’s started ever since then,” said Linfield coach Jackson Vaughn. “She does a little bit of everything — she was a senior leader this year, she’s a great baserunner, a great hitter and she’s one of the best defensive players we’ve ever had at Linfield.”
This past spring, Steinke hit .388 at the plate with 39 RBIs. Her numbers and consistent play in the outfield led to her selection to the all-NWC first-team for the fourth time in her career.
For the first time, however, Steinke was named the Northwest Conference Player of the Year. She was also named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team.
“It was my best year yet,” Steinke said.
It’s a long road from the tiny McMinnville college of Linfield to the NCAA College World Series. First, the Wildcats had to win the Northwest Conference. Then, Linfield travelled to Redlands, Calif., for the NCAA West Regional where a World Series berth was on the line.
“The one thing that gets lost is the fact that there’s over 400 teams playing D-III softball,” Vaughn said. “Finishing fourth out of 400 is a pretty big accomplishment.”
Steinke led her team to a conference title and the Wildcats earned a spot in the NCAA D-III West Regional. In back-to-back elimination games, Linfield pulled out two tightly-contested wins to advance to the eight-team NCAA D-III championships.
It was the first time in Linfield school history that the Wildcats reached the College Softball World Series. After falling to the Muskingum Muskies (Concord, Ohio) in a loser-out game, however, Linfield settled for a fourth-place trophy and a 37-11 overall record.
“We were definitely playing our best softball when it counted at the end,” Steinke said.
The late-season run came despite a number of injuries to starting players. At one point, Linfield was without its third baseman, second baseman and shortstop.
“Basically, our whole infield was playing a different position, but everybody picked up the slack from what we lost,” Steinke said. “Our pitchers did so well that it didn’t matter quite as much.”
The Wildcats’ team as a whole stepped up, but so did Steinke individually.
Her three-run home run led Linfield to a 5-2 victory over Coe (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) at the College World Series. The victory meant fourth place would be Linfield’s worst-case scenario.
“When you have an injury in the starting line-up, it requires everyone to step up around them. Shelly did that and so did several others,” Vaughn said.
The World Series run may have been a first, but it wasn’t entirely a surprise to the Wildcats. Steinke and Linfield had been knocking at the door of the College World Series the three previous years. Her freshman year, Linfield missed out by just one game.
“We knew we had the potential to make it this far,” Steinke said.
The loss to Muskingum marked the end of Steinke’s softball career. But playing on the stage of the College World Series was one of her highlights.
“Going to the World Series was a great way to end my career,” said Steinke, who plans to become a school teacher. “I couldn’t ask for more.”
At Canby, Steinke was a four-time Pacific-9 Conference all-league outfielder who helped the Cougars win a Class 4A state championship in 2001. |
| Go to top. |
|
