1996 NCAA Division I softball season

The 1996 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 1996. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 1996 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 1996 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held in Columbus, Georgia at Golden Park, ended on May 27, 1996.

1996 NCAA Division I softball season
Defending Champions	UCLA
Tournament
Women's College World Series
Champions	Arizona (4th title)
Runners-up	Washington (1st WCWS Appearance)
Winning Coach	Mike Candrea (4th title)
WCWS MOP	Jenny Dalton (Arizona)
Seasons

Conference standings

1996 Big 12 Conference softball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 12 Oklahoma ‍†‍‡‍y 17 – 5   .773 50 – 20   .714 No. 15 Oklahoma State ‍†‍‍y 17 – 5   .773 37 – 20   .649 Missouri ‍‍‍ 10 – 8   .556 31 – 22   .585 No. 17 Nebraska ‍‍‍y 10 – 8   .556 42 – 23   .646 No. 21 Texas A&M ‍‍‍y 11 – 11   .500 39 – 21   .650 Kansas ‍‍‍ 10 – 12   .455 31 – 26   .544 Iowa State ‍‍‍ 6 – 13   .316 17 – 28   .378 Texas Tech ‍‍‍ 1 – 20   .048 4 – 44   .083 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament Rankings from NFCA/USA Today[1]	1996 Big Ten Conference softball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT No. 7 Michigan  ‍†‍‡‍y 20 – 4 – 0   .833 51 – 14 – 0   .785 No. 19 Minnesota  ‍‍‍y 17 – 6 – 0   .739 43 – 18 – 0   .705 No. 4 Iowa  ‍‍‍y 17 – 7 – 0   .708 49 – 19 – 0   .721 No. 23 Indiana  ‍‍‍y 16 – 7 – 0   .696 37 – 24 – 0   .607 Michigan State  ‍‍‍ 14 – 10 – 0   .583 37 – 19 – 0   .661 Purdue  ‍‍‍ 12 – 11 – 0   .522 36 – 21 – 0   .632 Northwestern  ‍‍‍ 8 – 16 – 0   .333 19 – 33 – 0   .365 Ohio State  ‍‍‍ 6 – 18 – 0   .250 19 – 43 – 0   .306 Penn State  ‍‍‍ 5 – 18 – 0   .217 24 – 26 – 0   .480 Wisconsin  ‍‍‍ 3 – 21 – 0   .125 14 – 39 – 1   .269 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] As of June 1996[12] Rankings from NFCA/USA Today	1996 Pacific-10 Conference softball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 2 Washington  ‍†‍‍y 23 – 4   .852 59 – 9   .868 No. 1 Arizona  ‍‍‍y 23 – 5   .821 58 – 9   .866 No. 3 UCLA  ‍‍‍y 20 – 7   .741 47 – 11   .810 No. 6 California  ‍‍‍y 14 – 12   .538 41 – 23   .641 Arizona State  ‍‍‍ 10 – 18   .357 34 – 27   .557 Stanford  ‍‍‍ 7 – 19   .269 24 – 29   .453 Oregon  ‍‍‍ 5 – 18   .217 21 – 30   .412 Oregon State  ‍‍‍ 3 – 22   .120 15 – 35   .300 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of May 31, 1996[13] Rankings from NFCA/USA Today
1996 Southland Conference softball standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT No. 22 Nicholls State  ‍†‍‍y 19 – 5 – 0   .792 42 – 17 – 1   .708 McNeese State  ‍‍‍ 17 – 7 – 0   .708 31 – 22 – 0   .585 Northeast Louisiana  ‍‍‍ 15 – 9 – 0   .625 34 – 22 – 0   .607 Texas–San Antonio  ‍‍‍ 15 – 9 – 0   .625 36 – 20 – 0   .643 Sam Houston State  ‍‍‍ 12 – 12 – 0   .500 23 – 25 – 0   .479 Texas–Arlington  ‍‍‍ 10 – 14 – 0   .417 28 – 30 – 0   .483 Southwest Texas State  ‍‍‍ 9 – 15 – 0   .375 18 – 40 – 0   .310 Northwestern Louisiana  ‍‍‍ 7 – 17 – 0   .292 10 – 41 – 0   .196 Stephen F. Austin  ‍‍‍ 4 – 20 – 0   .167 12 – 40 – 0   .231 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of May 20, 1996[14] Rankings from NFCA/USA Today

Women's College World Series

The 1996 NCAA Women's College World Series took place from May 23 to May 37, 1996 in Columbus, Georgia. The event was held at the same venue that would later host the softball events of the 1996 Summer Olympics.^[15][16]

	Round of 16					Quarterfinals					Semifinals						Finals
	1	Washington	7
	8	Princeton	1
						1	Washington	9
						5	California	7
	4	Southwestern Louisiana	0
	5	California	2
											1	Washington	8	—
											3	UCLA	2	—
	8	Princeton	0
	4	Southwestern Louisiana	7
						3	UCLA	3
						4	Southwestern Louisiana	2
																	1	Washington	4
																	2	Arizona	6
	3	UCLA	2
	6	Michigan	0
						3	UCLA	0
						2	Arizona	4
	2	Arizona	5
	7	Iowa	2
											2	Arizona	106	—
											7	Iowa	2	—
	6	Michigan	2
	7	Iowa	3
						5	California	0
						7	Iowa	1

Season leaders

Batting

• Batting average: .514 – Jennifer Weaver, Towson Tigers
• RBIs: 109 – Jenny Dalton, Arizona Wildcats
• Home runs: 25 – Jenny Dalton, Arizona Wildcats

Pitching

• Wins: 35-6 – Carrie Dolan, Arizona Wildcats
• ERA: 0.48 (16 ER/230.2 IP) – Trinity Johnson, South Carolina Gamecocks
• Strikeouts: 351 – Audrey West, Boston Terriers

Records

NCAA Division I season doubles: 29 – Nina Lindenberg, Fresno State Bulldogs^[17]

NCAA Division I single game stolen bases: 7 – Stacy Hughes, Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles; April 14, 1996

Sophomore class RBIs: 96 – Leticia Pineda, Arizona Wildcats

Senior class season of perfect stolen bases: 47-47 – Gina Freeman, South Carolina Lady Bulldogs

Team doubles: 142 – Tennessee Volunteers

Awards

• Honda Sports Award Softball:

Jenny Dalton, Arizona Wildcats^[18][19]

YEAR	G	AB	R	H	BA	RBI	HR	3B	2B	TB	SLG	BB	SO	SB	SBA
1996	67	179	84	84	.469	109	25	1	12	173	.966%	64	11	19	20

All America Teams

The following players were members of the All-American Teams.^[20]

First Team

Position	Player	Class	School
P	Heather Meyer	SR.	Washington Huskies
	B'Ann Burns	JR.	UCLA Bruins
	Cheryl Longeway	SR.	ULL Rajin' Cajuns
C	Leticia Pineda	SO.	Arizona Wildcats
1B	Michelle Church	SR.	Washington Huskies
2B	Jenny Dalton	SR.	Arizona Wildcats
3B	Christine Kubin	SR.	North Carolina Tar Heels
SS	Ali Viola	SO.	Nebraska Cornhuskers
OF	Alison McCutcheon	JR.	Arizona Wildcats
	Shamalene Wilson	SR.	FSU Seminoles
	Rachel Nelson	JR.	Minnesota Golden Gophers
DP	Lisa Dacquisto	JR.	Arizona State Sun Devils
UT	Sara Griffin	SO.	Michigan Wolverines
AT-L	Lindsay Parker	FR.	Fresno State Bulldogs
	Scia Maumausolo	SR.	CSUN Matadors
	Kendall Richards	SR.	Texas A&M Aggies
	Nina Lindenberg	SO.	Fresno State Bulldogs
	Sara Pickering	JR.	Washington Huskies

Second Team

Position	Player	Class	School
P	Trinity Johnson	JR.	South Carolina Gamecocks
	Susie Bugliarello	JR.	Sacramento State Hornets
	Carrie Dolan	JR.	Arizona Wildcats
C	Jennifer Cline	SR.	Washington Huskies
1B	Alleah Poulson	JR.	UCLA Bruins
2B	Cynthia Smith	SR.	Oklahoma State Cowgirls
3B	Krista Gomez	SR.	Arizona Wildcats
SS	Keri Lemasters	JR.	Michigan State Spartans
OF	Rashunda Taylor	SR.	Nicholls State Colonels
	Amber Hegland	SO.	Minnesota Golden Gophers
	Chanda Lee	JR.	South Carolina Gamecocks
DP	Tia Morenz	SO.	Hawaii Rainbow Wahine
UT	Jennifer Richardson	SR.	CSUN Matadors
AT-L	Brandi Shriver	JR.	Arizona Wildcats
	Myssi Calkins	JR.	FSU Seminoles
	Renee Espinoza	SR.	FSU Seminoles
	Jill Most	JR.	Oklahoma Sooners
	Patti Raduenz	SR.	Michigan State Spartans

Third Team

Position	Player	Class	School
P	Whitney Floyd	JR.	California Golden Bears
	Audrey West	SR.	Boston Terriers
	Gina Ugo	SR.	Indiana Hoosiers
C	Stephenie Little	SO.	Oklahoma State Cowgirls
1B	Kari Knopf	JR.	Iowa Hawkeyes
2B	Yvette Healy	FR.	DePaul Blue Demons
3B	Julie Adams	FR.	UCLA Bruins
SS	Christy Hebert	JR.	Iowa Hawkeyes
OF	Kellyn Tate	SO.	Michigan Wolverines
	Jenifer Henry	SR.	Fresno State Bulldogs
	Jamie Foutch	FR.	Oklahoma State Cowgirls
DP	Katie Marten	JR.	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
UT	Erin Field	SR.	Texas A&M Aggies
AT-L	Lynn Britton	SR.	ULL Rajin' Cajuns
	Kim Rondina	JR.	UNLV Rebels
	Carolyn Wilson	SO.	Pacific Tigers
	Tobin Echo-Hawk	SR.	Nebraska Cornhuskers
	Becky Newbry	FR.	Washington Huskies
	Robyn Yorke	JR.	Fresno State Bulldogs