From The Parthenon Archives by SHAWN A. HOLMES reporter
MU Women's Softball has got .....
'Nuthin' But Glove For Ya, Baby!!
From The Parthenon Archives by SHAWN A. HOLMES reporter
The softball team ended its existence in the Southern Conference after its completion of the conference tournament Monday at the Marshall University field.
The Herd was unsuccessful in its attempt to capture a SC tournament championship in its last year before moving on to the MAC as the team was defeated by Furman 3-0 in the semifinal round.
The Herd opened the tournament on good note as it defeated Georgia Southern
2-1 in 10 innings. Marshall 
opened the scoring in the first inning,
but the Eagles tied the score in the fourth.
The game later went into overtime, where the Herd's Cristy Waring held the Eagles scoreless be-fore the Herd pushed a run across for the win.
Waring was the winning pitcher, going all ten innings and giving up one run on six hits. She struck out 13 and walked three. Dawn Matoy led the Herd offense with three hits.
In the next game the Herd was defeated 8- 10 by eventual champion 
Tennessee-Chattanooga.
The Herd faced Furman Monday to decide who would face UTC in the championship
and once again, the offense was unable to get started. Furman scored a run
in the fourth and two more in the sixth to secure a 3-0 victory.
The Herd finished the season with a record of 36-25.
Marshall will lose seniors Aimee Anderson, Missy Frost, Carrie Hinkle,
and Tracy Mann as it moves into the MAC next season.
From the Marshall Athletics Home Page for Softball
When Marshall University reinstated the softball program in 1993,
the first priority was to find a bright, young head coach to take the reigns.
The school found its ideal candidate in Louie Berndt, a highly successful
assistant coach who helped build programs at Ohio State, Florida State and
Nicholls State.Berndt took the position with the knowledge that Marshall
is committed to building a first-class Division I softball program.
The University has lived up to its promises by constructing a 1,000- square foot locker room for the softball team, complete with a players' lounge, an adjacent 1,680 square foot indoor batting cage complex and a new playing field located in the heart of the campus. "I'm very excited about the direction this program is headed," Berndt says. "I think that Marshall is the best-kept secret in the South."
Berndt is a graduate of Western Michigan, where she was a two-time All-American at second base. She led the Broncos in hitting three straight seasons and had a career.321 batting average and .973 fielding percentage. She led the Broncos to two World Series appearances and one NCAA tournament bid.
The All-Mid-American Conference and all-region performer also was selected to play in the Tri-Nation Games in Colorado Springs, CO, during her senior year. Berndt entered the coaching ranks in 1985 as an assistant with Nicholls State in the tough South Region. The team set a school record for wins with 47 that year. In 1987, the Lady Colonels won the Gulf Star Conference Championship and made the National Invitational Tournament.
In 1988, she served one year as an assistant at Florida State, helping the Seminoles finish second in the Southwest Regionals with a 39-14 mark. From 1989 to 1993, Berndt helped rebuild a struggling Ohio State softball program. The Buckeyes won a Big Ten championship in 1990, earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
In 1994 Berndt made her head coaching debut and guided the Thundering Herd to a 17-21 record. In 1995 the Thundering Herd captured its first ever Southern Conference Tournament title under Berndt.
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