Early Exit Still Baffling Chapman

It has been nearly a week since Chapman’s surprisingly early exit in the NCAA Division III softball regional at UC San Diego, and Panther co-Coach Janet Lloyd still isn’t sure why it happened.

The Panthers, seeded second in the four-team tournament, lost their opener, 11-3, to UC San Diego, a team they had beaten three times in the regular season. Chapman then was eliminated, losing the second game, 1-0, to top-seeded Simpson (Iowa), which also had been upset in the first round.

“It was a bad day,” Lloyd said. “Kind of one you want to go back to bed and start over. As a coach you go over it 100 times. You think you can think of what when wrong. But I don’t know.”

Lloyd named some possible reasons. Perhaps it was Chapman’s young team--seven freshmen played regularly. Perhaps a costly season-ending ankle injury to freshman outfielder Katie Chauvin on the final day of the regular season contributed. Perhaps the Panthers underestimated UC San Diego, looking ahead to a winners’ bracket game against Simpson.

Chapman, which advanced to the national tournament the last two seasons without losing a game in a regional, picked a bad day to have a bad day. Even so, Lloyd said, the program won’t be losing steam.

“Sure, we’re disappointed,” Lloyd said, “but things look bright for the future. If we came this far with this experience, we should be fine for the next couple of years.”

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Softball snub: Lloyd is less happy with the announcement that Chapman’s standout at first base, Stephanie Carew, was only a second-team All-American selection.

The National Fastpitch Coaches Assn. released its national honors Wednesday, and despite Division III-leading regular-season totals in home runs and runs batted in, the second-most hits and eighth-best batting average, Carew was left off the first team.

“I can’t imagine that many people who are first basemen are better than Stephanie,” Lloyd said. “With the kind of stats Stephanie had this year, the other person’s stats have to be unbelievable.”

In fact, Carew’s statistics are slightly better than the first-team All-American pick at first, Jami Musey of Rowan (N.J.).

Musey’s numbers: .504 batting average, .597 on-base percentage, 1.018 slugging percentage, 13 doubles, nine triples, nine home runs, 57 RBIs, 44 runs, 27 walks, .982 fielding percentage. Carew’s numbers: .547 batting average, .620 on-base percentage, 1.121 slugging percentage, 15 doubles, seven triples, 15 home runs, 59 RBIs, 43 runs, eight walks, .985 fielding percentage.

Each team was eliminated in an NCAA regional, Rowan, a top-seeded host, lost two of three games.

Lloyd said Carew took the news well. “She said, ‘It’s just stats.’ ” Lloyd said. “She’s a very mature person, so she’ll take it and run with it and do better next year. She’s the type of person who’ll prove that she should be first-team All-American.

Jessamine Maiben, a junior outfielder and pitcher for the Panthers and a first-team All-American pick the last two seasons, was a third-team selection.

Carew, Maiben, designated player Heather Peters and pitcher Brittany Carlson were named first-team All-West Region. Shortstop Amie Barnes was a second-team selection.

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Women’s tennis: For the second consecutive year, Chapman’s Deborah Denio received an unlucky draw in the NCAA Division III singles tournament.

Last year she lost to the fifth-seeded player in the first round. Last Saturday, Denio lost to top-seeded Elina Tolppa of Averett College (Danville, Va.).

Denio, a senior, didn’t fall easily, however. She won the first set, 6-1, and led, 40-15, at 4-4 in the second set, before letting the game slip away. Tolppa won the final set 6-2.