Trenton State Halts Chapman’s Title Bid

Chapman may have been the top-seeded and top-ranked team as well as defending champion, but Trenton (N.J.) State finished the NCAA Division III softball tournament as champion with a convincing 7-2 victory Sunday at the Moyer Sports Complex.

Well-rested and seeded second, Trenton State was playing its third game of the tournament. Chapman, playing its fifth game in three days and third game in 20 hours, had to beat the Lions twice on another hot and humid day to repeat as champions.

About the only thing that seemed to favor Chapman was recent history. The Panthers beat Trenton State, 4-2, in the NCAA title game last season and, 2-1, on a one-hitter by Christy Guidorizzi on March 19 in Orlando, Fla.

But two months to the day later, it was all Trenton. “We talked early this morning,” Trenton State Coach Sally Miller said, “and said the Chapman team that we saw in Florida is not the team that’s playing here right now.”

Guidorizzi, Chapman’s two-time first-team All-American, had pitched 11 innings Saturday night in a 2-1 victory over Simpson (Iowa), and the Panthers’ second pitcher Jessamine Maiben had pitched seven the same day in a 1-0 victory over Allegheny (Pa.).

“After watching the games last night,” Miller said, “the kids came back to the hotel and I could hear it, ‘We can hit her you guys. We can hit her. She’s ours.’ ”

Chapman’s plan was to start Maiben and keep her in for as long as possible to rest Guidorizzi for the second game. But the first two batters singled, putting runners on first and third, and center fielder Guidorizzi switched positions with Maiben.

One out later, with runners on second and third, Maiben made a running catch in center and doubled up Alicia Sanchez at second but plate umpire Art St. Germain ruled Anita DeFeo, who tagged up from third, scored before the third out was recorded.

Maiben returned to the pitching circle for the second inning and stopped the Lions, and tied the score, 1-1, with her second long home run of the tournament in the top of the third, but got into trouble in the bottom of the inning when the first two batters reached. Guidorizzi returned and pitched the rest of the way.

She didn’t have any luck either. Trenton State scored three runs in the inning. Guidorizzi walked in a run, and then Leslie Miller drove in two runs with a double over left fielder Kasie Chavez’s head.

Guidorizzi, who was named to the all-tournament team with fellow Panther catcher Kathy Donovan, Cancilla, Maiben and right fielder Laurel Bailey, was obviously tired. The top of the Trenton State lineup did most of the damage--the first five Lion batters had nine hits and drew four walks.

Chapman cut the lead to 4-2 in the fourth when Cancilla doubled off the wall in right field, Donovan sacrificed her to third and Guidorizzi singled her in.

But whereas Chapman was scratching for runs, managing only five hits against Karen Stefanowicz (19-1), Trenton was scoring them in bunches. The Lions scored two in the bottom of the fourth to make it 6-2 and another in the sixth.

The difference in the tournament, Chapman co-Coach Janet Lloyd said, was the Panthers’ games with Simpson. Friday, Simpson dealt the Panthers their first Division III playoff loss, 1-0, sending them to the losers’ bracket and Saturday further wore Chapman down by extending them 11 innings.

“Both Simpson games took a lot out of us,” Lloyd said. “Well, all of them did. We were fighting for each game. I said at the beginning of the season that we can’t have a bad day because we’re the defending national champions. Everybody we play is going to play their best game and it showed in this tournament.”

Trenton State (38-3) won its third title in five seasons--the Lions were runners-up the other two years. Chapman (40-9), which was top-ranked the entire season, took the loss hard.

Many Panthers were crying during the postgame awards ceremony. Co-Coach Lisle Lloyd had to keep under wraps the Panther team picture he planned to pass out after two victories Sunday.

The poster-sized prints he ordered several months ago included the caption: “Chapman Softball. 1996 National Champions.”