2002 NCAA Division I softball season

The 2002 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 2002. The season progressed through the regular season, many conference tournaments and championship series, and concluded with the 2002 NCAA Division I softball tournament and 2002 Women's College World Series. The Women's College World Series, consisting of the eight remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament and held in held in Oklahoma City at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium, ended on May 27, 2002.

2002 NCAA Division I softball season
Defending Champions	Arizona
Tournament
Women's College World Series
Champions	California (1st title)
Runners-up	Arizona (15th WCWS Appearance)
Winning Coach	Diane Ninemire (1st title)
WCWS MOP	Jocelyn Forest (California)
Seasons
← 2001 2003 →

Conference standings

2002 Big 12 Conference softball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT No. 16 Texas ‍†‍‡‍^y 17 – 1   .944 50 – 13   .794 No. 8 Oklahoma ‍‍‍^y 14 – 2   .875 49 – 16   .754 No. 6 Nebraska ‍‍‍^y 11 – 5   .688 50 – 14   .781 Baylor ‍‍‍ 10 – 8   .556 46 – 18   .719 No. 21 Texas A&M ‍‍‍^y 9 – 9   .500 40 – 18   .690 Oklahoma State ‍‍‍ 8 – 10   .444 29 – 22   .569 Kansas ‍‍‍ 7 – 11   .389 33 – 25   .569 Iowa State ‍‍‍ 6 – 12   .333 19 – 25   .432 Missouri ‍‍‍ 4 – 14   .222 29 – 33   .468 Texas Tech ‍‍‍ 2 – 16   .111 13 – 40   .245 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament Rankings from NFCA ^[1]

2002 Big Ten Conference softball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   T   PCT W   L   T   PCT No. 7 Michigan ‍†‍‡‍^y 15 – 3 – 0   .833 50 – 11 – 0   .820 No. 13 Ohio State ‍‍‍^y 16 – 4 – 0   .800 55 – 14 – 0   .797 Iowa ‍‍‍^y 12 – 4 – 0   .750 36 – 20 – 0   .643 Wisconsin  ‍‍‍ 11 – 6 – 0   .647 31 – 22 – 0   .585 Penn State ‍‍‍^y 10 – 9 – 0   .526 34 – 26 – 0   .567 Illinois ‍‍‍ 10 – 9 – 0   .526 34 – 24 – 0   .586 Northwestern ‍‍‍ 10 – 9 – 0   .526 24 – 18 – 1   .570 Minnesota ‍‍‍^y 7 – 8 – 0   .467 38 – 21 – 0   .644 Michigan State  ‍‍‍ 4 – 15 – 0   .211 24 – 35 – 0   .407 Purdue  ‍‍‍ 3 – 14 – 0   .176 33 – 26 – 0   .559 Indiana  ‍‍‍ 0 – 17 – 0   .000 13 – 31 – 1   .300 † – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament ^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12] As of May 2002^[13] Rankings from NFCA

2002 Pacific-10 Conference softball standings v t e Conf Overall Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT UCLA  ‍†‍‍^y 18 – 3   .857 55 – 9   .859 Arizona  ‍‍‍^y 15 – 6   .714 55 – 12   .821 Washington  ‍‍‍^y 13 – 8   .619 46 – 18   .719 California  ‍‍‍^y 12 – 9   .571 56 – 19   .747 Arizona State  ‍‍‍^y 10 – 11   .476 46 – 20   .697 Stanford  ‍‍‍^y 7 – 14   .333 44 – 20   .688 Oregon State  ‍‍‍^y 7 – 14   .333 40 – 25   .615 Oregon  ‍‍‍ 2 – 19   .095 24 – 30   .444 † – Conference champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 30, 2002^[14] Rankings from Coaches' Poll

Women's College World Series

The 2002 NCAA Women's College World Series took place from May 23 to May 27, 2002 in Oklahoma City.^[15]

	First round					Second round					Semifinals						Finals
	1	UCLA	1
	8	Florida State	2^9
						8	Florida State	0
						4	California	1
	4	California	4
	5	Oklahoma	2
											4	California	3	–
											3	Arizona State	0	–
	1	UCLA	2
	5	Oklahoma	0
						1	UCLA	1
						3	Arizona State	2
																	4	California	6
																	2	Arizona	0
	3	Arizona State	2
	6	Michigan	1
						3	Arizona State	0
						2	Arizona	1^8
	7	Nebraska	0
	2	Arizona	1
											2	Arizona	6^11	–
											8	Florida State	2	–
	6	Michigan	0
	7	Nebraska	1
						7	Nebraska	3
						8	Florida State	4

Season leaders

Batting

• Batting average: .528 – Stacey Nuveman, UCLA Bruins
• RBIs: 75 – Jaime Clark, Washington Huskies
• Home runs: 21 – Leneah Manuma, Arizona Wildcats

Pitching

• Wins: 36-7 & 36-8 – Nicole Myers, Florida Atlantic Owls & Cat Osterman, Texas Longhorns
• ERA: 0.44 (22 ER/351.2 IP) – Jamie Southern, Fresno State Bulldogs
• Strikeouts: 554 – Cat Osterman, Texas Longhorns

Records

NCAA Division I season walks: 108 – Veronica Nelson, California Golden Bears^[16]

NCAA Division I single game home runs: 4 – Jill Iacono, Saint Francis Red Flash; April 5, 2002

Sophomore class stolen bases: 73 – Nicole Barber, Georgia Bulldogs

Junior class doubles: 28 – Barbara Moody, Pacific Tigers

Senior class saves: 14 – Kellie Wilkerson, Mississippi State Bulldogs

Team season of stolen bases: 101-101 – DePaul Blue Demons

Awards

• USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year:

Stacey Nuveman, UCLA Bruins^[17]

YEAR	G	AB	R	H	BA	RBI	HR	3B	2B	TB	SLG	BB	SO	SB	SBA
2002	64	157	42	83	.528	64	20	3	15	164	1.044%	69	10	3	3

• Honda Sports Award Softball:

Jennie Finch, Arizona Wildcats^[18][19]

Year	W	L	GP	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
2002	34	6	43	39	36	21	1	273.1	136	46	38	82	366	0.97	0.80

YEAR	G	AB	R	H	BA	RBI	HR	3B	2B	TB	SLG	BB	SO	SB	SBA
2002	67	190	43	59	.310	56	16	0	8	115	.605%	37	36	1	1

All America Teams

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

First Team

Position	Player	Class	School
P	Jennie Finch	SR.	Arizona Wildcats
	Keira Goerl	SO.	UCLA Bruins
	Jamie Southern	FR.	Fresno State Bulldogs
C	Stacey Nuveman	SR.	UCLA Bruins
1B	Leneah Manuma	SO.	Arizona Wildcats
2B	Brandi Stuart	SR.	FSU Seminoles
3B	Lindsay Wood	SR.	UNI Panthers
SS	Natasha Watley	JR.	UCLA Bruins
OF	Jessica Mendoza	SR.	Stanford Cardinal
	Oli Keohohou	SO.	BYU Cougars
	Anna Smith	SR.	Ohio State Buckeyes
DP	Ashley Courtney	FR.	Alabama Crimson Tide
UT	Gina Oaks	JR.	Cal State Fullerton Titans
	Jaime Clark	JR.	Washington Huskies
AT-L	Britni Sneed	SR.	LSU Tigers
	Amanda Freed	SR.	UCLA Bruins
	Phelan Wright	SO.	Arizona State Sun Devils
	Jenny Topping	JR.	Cal State Fullerton Titans

Second Team

Position	Player	Class	School
P	Lindsay Chouinard	JR.	DePaul Blue Demons
	Cat Osterman	FR.	Texas Longhorns
	Nicole Myers	SR.	FAU Owls
C	Kristen Rivera	FR.	Washington Huskies
1B	Jackie McClain	SO.	Alabama Crimson Tide
2B	Liz Bouck	JR.	DePaul Blue Demons
3B	Stafanie Volpe	SR.	Michigan Wolverines
SS	Cara Blumfield	JR.	Boston College Eagles
OF	Nicole Barber	SO.	Georgia Bulldogs
	Trena Peel	SR.	LSU Tigers
	Tiffany Tolleson	JR.	North Carolina Tar Heels
DP	Geney Orris	SR.	UNLV Rebels
UT	Kristen Dennis	SR.	Virginia Cavaliers
AT-L	Wendy Allen	SO.	Ohio State Buckeyes
	Sarah Beeson	SR.	Stanford Cardinal
	Jocelyn Forest	SR.	California Golden Bears
	Becky McMurtry	JR.	ULL Ragin' Cajuns
	Kellie Wilkerson	SR.	Mississippi State Bulldogs

Third Team

Position	Player	Class	School
P	Cindy Ball	SR.	Pacific Tigers
	Jennifer Hadley	SR.	UMass Minutewomen
	Marissa Young	JR.	Michigan Wolverines
C	Stacy Roth	SR.	Ohio State Buckeyes
1B	Kim Wendland	FR.	Georgia Bulldogs
2B	Jennifer Link	JR.	Ohio State Buckeyes
3B	Andrea Loman	JR.	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
SS	Tara Knudsen	SO.	Georgia Tech Yellowjackets
OF	Yasmin Mossadeghi	SR.	Cal State Fullerton Titans
	Christi Musser	SO.	Kansas Jayhawks
	Kim Ogee	JR.	Nebraska Cornhuskers
DP	Claire Sua	SO.	UCLA Bruins
UT	Christina Enea	FR.	Oklahoma Sooners
AT-L	Selena Collins	JR.	Texas A&M Aggies
	Candace Harper	SR.	California Golden Bears
	Kristin Johnson	JR.	Iowa Hawkeyes
	Edel Leyden	SR.	UIC Flames
	Jarrah Myers	SR.	Notre Dame Fighting Irish
	Nichole Thompson	SR.	Arizona State Sun Devils

References

1. "2019-2020 Big 12 Conference Record Book" (PDF). Big 12 Conference. pp. 196–197. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
2. 2002 Illinois Season
3. 2002 Indiana Season
4. 2002 Iowa Season
5. 2002 Michigan Season
6. 2002 Michigan State Season
7. 2002 Minnesota Season
8. 2002 Northwestern Season
9. 2002 Ohio State Season
10. 2002 Penn State Season
11. 2002 Purdue Season
12. 2002 Wisconsin Season
13. "Big Ten Softball Standings" (PDF). BigTen.org. Big Ten Conference. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
14. 2018 Softball Media Guide. Pac-12 Conference. p. 52. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
15. "2002 Women's College World Series". Ncaa.org. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
16. "Division I Softball Records" (PDF). Ncaa.org. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
17. . Teamusa.org. Archived from the original on July 21, 2020. Retrieved August 2, 2020.
18. "PAST HONDA SPORTS AWARD WINNERS FOR SOFTBALL". Collegiatewomensportsawards.com. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
19. "Final 2001 Women's Softball Statistics Report" (PDF). Ncaa.org. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
20. "2002 NSCA Division I All-America Teams". Nfca.org. Retrieved August 2, 2020.