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COLLEGE SOFTBALL

Rivier's White set for NCAA regionals

Graduation can wait with games still to play

By Gary Hawkins ghawkins@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

If all goes well, Augusta native Monica White will miss her graduation from Rivier College this Saturday.

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SHE GOT GAME: Cony High School graduate Monica White leads Rivier College into Thursday’s Division III Regional softball tournament in Wellesley, Mass., against Bowdoin College. White went 26-3 this season and is among national Division III leaders in several categories.

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Missing it would mean White and the Raiders softball team are still alive in the NCAA Division III Regional softball tournament. Rivier, a small Catholic School in Nashua, N.H., stands at 32-4 and drew the fifth seed in the tournament, which begins Thursday at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass.

The Raiders face Bowdoin in the first game of the double-elimination tournament. The tournament ends Sunday with the winner advancing to the Div. III nationals at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire.

"The president (of the school) has nicely agreed to have a private graduation ceremony (for the softball team) on Sunday," White said.

The Cony High School graduate and former Miss Maine Softball winner ranks in the top five nationally in several Div. III pitching categories, including wins (26), earned run average (0.87), fewest walks (9), most strikeouts (292) and hits. She also batted .358 this season with four homers, 28 RBIs and 13 stolen bases.

White was named both Great Northeast Athletic Conference pitcher and player of the year this spring.

"That's a first for our conference," Rivier coach Kelly O'Connell said.

White also became the first softball player in Rivier history to receive ESPN The Magazine Softball All-Academic District I honors. A biology major, White easily met the 3.30 grade point requirement.

White was at her best in the GNAC tournament where she won three one-run games in extra innings, two by shutout, and was named the tournament MVP. In extra inning games, a runner was placed at second to begin the inning and none advanced beyond that point against White.

"I think she's smarter (this year)," O'Connell said.

The Rivier coach, who took back the pitch calling duties this season because the team has young catchers, said White's best pitch is a screwball.

"To a right-handed batter it tails high and tight," O'Connell said. "That's her main pitch."

White, who played in state championship games in both basketball and softball her senior year at Cony, played both sports at Rivier. O'Connell coached both teams and values White's contributions to those teams as well as the school.

"She's the type of person who will always be in my life," O'Connell said. "She's done so much for both the basketball and softball programs. In the classroom, in the dorms, she's set the bar so high classmates have no choice but to follow her lead."

White is planning on going to physician's assistant school either next spring or next fall. She'll work to help pay off some loans in the meantime and would like to help coach local youth softball teams. O'Connell thinks she'd make a good coach.

"She just has an easy going way about her that makes it easy to learn from her," she said. "One of our players had never played softball and Monica spent a lot of time trying to teach her the basics of the game."

White realizes this weekend could mark the end of her athletic career.

"I try not to think about it too much," she said. "I still want to be around it. It couldn't have been a better end of the year."

Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638

ghawkins@centralmaine.com