June 2013

Iowa Falls Short of the NCAA Tournament

Iowa Softball Newsletter

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The Iowa softball team watched the

NCAA tournament selection show

from Carver-Hawkeye Arena on

Sunday, May 12 in hopes that ‘Iowa’

would show up on the 2013 bracket.

Despite an RPI ranking of 34, the

Hawkeyes were not selected to the 64-

team tournament.

Although 2013 marks the first time that

Iowa has had a legitimate chance to be

selected since Marla Looper’s arrival to

the program, the Hawkeyes are far

from happy with this year’s outcome.

The Hawkeyes and Coach Looper

watched the selection show last year

with nothing more than a prayer that

they might make the tournament.

However, not being selected to the

tournament last year lit a fire under this

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year’s team, and no one was more

motivated than the senior class. Not

making the tournament this year was a

devastating blow to the team, and

especially to the senior class.

The Hawkeyes’ desire to make the

tournament this year was not just to say

that they were there. This year’s team

believed that come tournament time

anything can happen, and they wanted the

opportunity to compete for a national

championship.

Anyone who has watched college softball

in the past several years can clearly see

that the landscape has changed. UCLA,

Arizona, and the PAC-12 are not the

powerhouses that they used to be

(although they are clearly still playing

good softball). Different conferences are

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emerging as elite and more and more ‘no

name’ teams are finding themselves in

regionals, super regionals, and even the

World Series. This is all to say that the

Hawkeyes are confident that anything can

happen in the postseason, making it even

more difficult to be excluded.

The question remains as to why Iowa was

not selected. It is not clear as to exactly

why, but here are some of the facts.

Every team in the RPI top 43 was selected

to the tournament except for Iowa at 34.

Iowa had 10 wins over RPI top 50 teams,

more than any other ‘bubble’ team,

including three wins over nationally

seeded teams (the top 16 are nationally

seeded). The Hawkeyes finished ninth in

the Big Ten this year but this is not one of

the criteria the selection committee

considers since it does not take into

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consideration conference strength of

schedule. The Hawkeyes dropped a lot

of games in conference this season but

one must also consider that Iowa faced

the top five teams in the conference in

consecutive weeks. Four of those teams

went on to the NCAA tournament.

The Hawkeyes also had a stretch where

they dropped two games to Illinois and

two games to Penn State. The Hawks

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rebounded in their midweek non-

conference games and they were able to

complete a three game sweep of Purdue

in their final games of the regular season.

Despite the rebound, Iowa lost to Ohio

State in the first round of the Big Ten

tournament in Lincoln, NE. Iowa’s late

season wins pushed their record over the

final 10 games of the season to 5-5,

which is a consideration for the selection

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committee, but the loss to Ohio State

likely kept the Hawkeyes out of the

tournament.

Many feel that Iowa deserved a chance to

play in the tournament despite these

setbacks but that is not for the Hawks to

decide.

The team leaves this season with a clear

message: never leave anything to chance.

Iowa Adds One New Hawkeye in the Late Signing Period

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Alyssa Navarro signed a national letter

of intent to play for the Hawkeyes in

the late signing period in April, as

announced by head coach Marla

Looper. Navarro is an infielder from

Dinuba, California (Southern

California). "Alyssa provides

additional depth at the corners on the

infield," said Looper. "She also brings

the potential for a potent bat. Through

the years we have tried to increase our

offensive production, and she has the

opportunity and ability to do that."

Navarro has been selected first team

all-conference during each of her first

three seasons at Dinuba High School.

Navarro, an infielder, is a three-time

team captain, who has won her team's

MVP, best defensive and best offensive

player awards. Navarro is hitting .431

with four home runs and a .843

slugging percentage during her senior

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season. She was also a three-year varsity

basketball player.

Navarro joins Claire Fritsch (IF, Round

Rock, TX), Kara Misel (3B/1B, Solon,

IA), and Michaela Johnson (1B, Wake

Village, TX) to finish out the incoming

class.

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Karen Keith-Zamora “Z” (1975-1979)

Where is she now?

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Resume: 2-sport athlete at Iowa (Softball and Field Hockey) Hometown/Current Residence: Salix, IA/Pine, CO Degree: B.A. Business Administration, M.B.A Business Administration (St. Ambrose, ’97) Current Occupation: Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Accountable Property Manager Since Graduation From Iowa: “Since graduating from Iowa, I hung around Iowa City for 20 more years working in the trades, riding/training horses, supporting Iowa sports, and playing softball and bowling with my friend Fox. I met an Iowa Rugby player, Sharon Keith, and eight years later we sold our 40 acre farm in the Iowa City area and moved to the Colorado mountains.

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We adopted our son Robert “RJ” in 2002. My family loves to camp, ride motorcycles and horses, and I still play softball up in the mountains in the “old ladies league”, as RJ calls it. Favorite memory from Iowa: “My

favorite memory while playing Iowa

softball was the first Big Ten

tournament we hosted in 1977. There

were four Big Ten teams that attended

and we played at Mercer Park. The

University of Michigan team got off

the bus and this gal started playing

their fight song on the trumpet. How

irritating is that!! I played shortstop

that year and we were all determined

to win and quiet that trumpet. We

did, but it wasn’t easy.”

About Her Time At Iowa: “I was a

two sport athlete for Iowa. In the fall

of 1974 Dr. Christine Grant recruited

me from softball class to play field

hockey and at the end of the season I

received a scholarship for tuition &

books. This was the first year of Title

9. It was fun to play softball and field

hockey. I worked out every day and

when field hockey was done I went

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right to softball. I lived in Stanley Hall my

freshman year, then moved off campus. In

order to pay living expenses I worked as a

librarian. It was a busy time; full of making

friends, traveling on vans/buses to games,

sharing uniforms with the volleyball team,

$8/day for food, creation of the 12 hour

rule and flying to Michigan St. for the first

time ever.

I’m very proud of being a Hawkeye Alumni.

GO HAWKS!!!!”

Iowa Softball Newsletter 4

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Three Hawkeyes earned All-Big Ten

honors this year. Megan Blank was

named first-team All-Big Ten

Honors for the second straight year

as well as first team All-Region. The

Culver City, Calif., native was

second in the Big Ten with 58 RBIs,

third with a .437 batting average, 15

doubles and 68 hits, and fourth with

115 total bases, a .773 slugging

percentage, and a .566 on-base

percentage.

Blank also broke the single season

Iowa batting average record formerly

held by Kim Davis (.428, 1993).

She will also have a chance to break

Leah Twigg’s career batting average

record (.409, 1996-1997). Blank

currently holds a career batting

average of .413 after hitting .390 in

her freshman season and .437 in her

sophomore season. Blank will also

likely challenge most of the power

records before her career is over.

She only hit two home runs in her

rookie season, but she was able to

find her power stroke as a

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sophomore, blasting 11 home runs

this past season.

Johnnie Dowling was named second

team All-Big Ten in her final season

as a Hawkeye. Dowling, who hails

from Des Moines, Iowa, was second

on the team with a .349 batting

average and paced the team with 21

multi-hit games. The former West

Des Moines Valley standout started

all 53 games in center and in the

leadoff spot, and started 193-of-199

career games. She is second in the Big

Ten and 38th nationally with four

triples. Dowling sits at seventh in the

conference in runs scored (46) and

eighth in stolen bases (19) -- the 46

runs equal the seventh-highest total in

Iowa history. Dowling ranks ninth in

program history in runs (120) and

10th in stolen bases (52).

Dowling’s success directly correlates

with her high level athleticism.

Dowling is fast, strong, powerful,

and she has a good arm, but she

struggled through her freshman and

sophomore season until she found her

Dowling, Massey, and Blank Earn Post-Season Honors

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stride as a junior and senior. Dowling’s

success in the outfield came because of

her hard work over her career and her

ability to improve. Dowling found

success offensively when she switched

over to the left side of the plate as a

junior, allowing her to get on base more

often and to use her speed on the bases.

Junior pitcher Kayla Massey was named

to the Big-Ten All-Defensive Team.

Massey had a successful season on the

mound posting a 3.09 ERA in 199.1

innings pitched. Massey is known as a

high quality ground ball pitcher, but

many are unaware that Massey fields her

position very well. She rarely lets a ball

by her and she had a perfect 1.000

fielding percentage this past season. In

addition, Massey is an offensive threat.

When she did not pitch, Massey took on

the role as the DP and she hit .320 this

past season with nine home runs. She

was also given the task of hitting behind

and protecting Megan Blank. Massey

showed her versatility this past season,

and she became a valuable asset to the

Hawkeyes in every facet of the game.