Softball Team (1983)

This is a photograph of the 1983 Springfield College softball team. The players shown are, left to right, [first row] Lisa Valardi, Terri Schenk, Tammy Owen (co-captain), Kathy Bell (co-captain), Deidre Phaneuf, [second row] Calli Granger, Jen Willson, Jacquie Willson, Helene Scott, Kirsten Johnson, Tammy Oswell, Patty McIlvenny, [third row] Phyllis Whiteside (manager), Dr. Diane Potter (head coach), Melinda Rustici, Kathy Mangano, Ann Marie Rodrigue, Dot Curran, Cindy Dunlap, Dr. Gretchen Brockmeyer (assistant coach), Karen Fitzgerald (assistant coach). During that season, the team went 20-12.Diane Potter was Springfield College’s first gymnastics and softball coach. She coached the women's softball team for an amazing twenty-one years. She formed an extramural squad of Softball at Springfield College softball program in the 1963-1964 academic year, and it wasn't until the 1966-1967 season that Springfield College recognized the squad. From the bottom up, Coach Potter was considered to be a leading pioneer for softball in the New England area. The softball field at Springfield College was dedicated to Coach Diane Potter. In 1989, she became the second woman inducted into the Springfield College Athletics Hall of Fame, and during that academic year, she served as the Springfield Distinguished Professor of Humanics