30th Anniversary of Unforgettable 1994 Softball Team

By Jim Fenton

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- A season to remember had reached its final day for the 1994 Bridgewater State College softball team.

It was 30 years ago -- May 22, 1994 -- when the Bears had advanced all the way to the championship round of the double-elimination NCAA Division 3 tournament in Salem, Va.

Bridgewater State was in need of two victories over the former Trenton State College to win the school's first national championship.

The Bears fell just short as Trenton State closed out a 48-4 season with a 6-5 victory on that Sunday afternoon.

But what a ride it was for Bridgewater State, which set a school record for wins while going 39-8 and winning the Northeast Regional.

No team at Bridgewater State has ever come as close to winning a national championship as the '94 Bears softball squad did.

The Bears were the No. 6 seed in a six-team field.

"Oh my goodness, no, it does not seem like it was 30 years ago," said Dee Dee Enabenter, who was the head coach before moving on to San Jose State and Brown University. "1994 is a year that will always stand out when I think back on my college career, almost 30 years coaching.

"We were over the top. We were elated to be there, but to win it all, talk about putting Bridgewater State on the athletic map. That's what it would have done for us if we would have won.

"We had a great deal of support. I remember the school sending a bus. It was a high I don't think too many teams can experience. It would have been great to be able to bring that back to Bridgewater."

The Bears were making their first of three appearances in the nationals and made a statement by getting to the championship round.

Bridgewater State had opened the tourney with an 8-7 loss to Trenton State on May 19, then stayed alive with a 7-5 win over top-seeded Buena Vista of Iowa, a 10-0 rout of second seeded Rowan of New Jersey and a 1-0 win over defending champion Central College of Iowa.

That put the Bears into the title round against Trenton State (now known as The College of New Jersey), which went undefeated in the tourney.

Enabenter said this week that Bridgewater State was angry about the way it lost the first game of the tourney to Trenton State and that inspired the Bears to climb out of the loser's bracket.

"They were mad after the first game and I had to calm a lot of people down," said Enabenter. "Judy Gallagher was our pitcher and she had a handful of walks all year. During that first game, they were calling a lot of balls that were questionable calls.

"Our team was very upset at the strike zone. We went away believing if it weren't for that horrible strike zone, we should have won that first game.

"I think the confidence was there going into the tournament. Knowing it was a bad strike zone for that game, they felt ripped off. You can't make a complaint and then not do anything about it. They tore through the next three opponents showing the strike zone was a major impact on the outcome of the first game."

Angela Constantine, the lone Bridgewater State player to earn All-America honors, broke a 5-5 tie against Buena Vista with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth. Gallagher allowed one run in five innings of relief.

Gallagher pitched six shutout innings in the win over Rowan with the Bears getting five runs in the top of the seventh and Sue Bradford contributed a homer and drove in four runs.

Contantine's RBI single in the fifth scored Kristy Wilbur for the lone run against Central to end the defending champion's season. Gallagher pitched a four-hit shutout.

"That first game took a lot out of us, but we still had enough competitiveness and energy to continue to fight,'' said Enabenter. "The players felt they belonged and they were determined.

"They were on a mission to show you can play with those teams. I knew that they belonged. We had some outstanding talent on that team."

In the rematch with Trenton State, Bridgewater State fell behind, 4-0, then scored four times in the top of the sixth with Danielle England and Kristen Guerette getting the key hits. A two-run triple in the bottom of the inning gave Trenton State a 6-4 lead.

The Bears weren't finished as they scored a run and had runners at first and second with one out, but back-to-back outs ended the season. Trenton State won its fifth title in 12 years.

"I’ll never forget just feeling we were right there and we knew we belonged with the best of the best,” said third baseman Jen Goodwin four years ago when the team was inducted into the MASCAC Hall of Fame. "We were the blue-collar team and we were gritty and we could play.

“What a story. It was so much fun. We got on a little bit of a streak and kind of looked at each other like, 'Wow, we’re pretty good.'"

Gallagher, catcher Dee Walsh, first baseman Constantine, center fielder Bradford and right fielder Wilbur made the all-tournament team.

Constantine was among the national leaders with 66 RBI, setting school records in that category and with 71 hits.

Goodwin hit 10 homers and Gallagher was seventh in the country with a 1.05 ERA and had 25 wins with four losses. The team ranked sixth in the country with a .376 batting average, was 10th in runs (8.6 per game), first in homers (0.66) and third in slugging percentage (.549).

Gallagher, Constantine, second baseman Janet Maguire (who would later coach the Bears) and Goodwin made the All-Northeast Region team.

The rest of the lineup included Guerette at shortstop with Wilbur and Bradford in the outfield along with Lysa Stortz, Tracey Ullathorne and England. Also on the roster were Amy Parker, Tara Mendonca, Beth Amaral and Lori Medeiros plus reserve pitchers Sharon Martin and Amy Piccirillo.

"I’d say it was probably a rough summer for a lot of us right afterwards," said Goodwin, who was later an assistant coach to Enabenter at San Jose State and the head coach at Yale.

"But I can look back and appreciate it as a coach and remember the feeling, the gut-wrenching feeling. I can put myself right back onto that field and moment (30) years ago.

"We were locked in like no other team I’ve seen before. We knew we were good. We weren’t cocky  about it. We knew we could play and we knew nobody could stop us. We had the offense and Judy Gallagher  was a rock for us on the mound, especially in the postseason."

No other Bridgewater State team has come as close to winning it all as the Bears' softball team three decades ago this month.

"I think it was special in that we went in there without any expectations other than to do our best,'' said Enabenter. "We had no idea who had done what in previous tournaments. We knew how good (New England power) Eastern Connecticut and Trenton State were. But other than that, we had no idea who else was the top teams in the country were at that time.

"We went in, and I think it's a good way to approach things, without the hype surrounding the tournament itself. We went in as just naive competitive people. It was tough losing.

"Our players were so mad after we lost. In the team picture after the game, you can see on their faces the disappointment and anger. It wasn’t like, I’m glad I’m here and we came in second. They felt like they should have won. That team was very upset we didn’t win."

Since Bridgewater State's run 30 years ago, Tufts University is the only New England team to reach the Division 3 title round since. The Jumbos won national championships in 2013, 2014 and 2015.