Hall of Honor
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.— The 2000 Colorado Mesa University (Mesa State College) softball team will make Maverick history once again on Friday (Oct. 20) when the group is inducted into the CMU Athletics Hall of Honor, becoming the first softball team to earn the prestigious honor.
The squad, coached by now retired Kris Peterson (Mort), went 44-12 during a historic season while becoming the first Maverick squad in any sport to win a NCAA Division II regional title. The 44 victories was also a program-record at the time.
The team got hot at the right time, winning its last five regular season games before going 3-0 at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament to claim the conference championship, which was given to the tournament winner at the time. Two of the Mavs' conference tournament victories over arch-rival and tournament host Nebraska-Kearney.
The Mavs were then selected to host the NCAA South Central Regional, where they again went 3-0 while conceding just a single run to earn a trip to that year's NCAA Division II World Series in Columbus, Georgia, where the Mavs saw their historic season ended with losses to Kennesaw State (Ga.) and West Florida.
The Mavs also made individual history as they had a still-standing program-record three players named as First Team NFCA NCAA Division II All-Americans in outfielder Kelly Adams, designated player Jamie Dunn and second baseman Kacey Henden. That trio had also earned first team all-South Central region honors while Tasha Sczbecki picked up second team all-region accolades.
The Mavs also had five First Team All-RMAC picks in Adams, Dunn, Henden, Sczbecki and pitcher Heather Hatzenbeller. Pitchers Melanie Meuchel and Kristi Wheeler were also named as Honorable Mention All-RMAC honors as the Maverick pitching staff posted a former school-record 2.75 ERA.
Adams was also named as the RMAC Player of the Year for the first of two consecutive times and would later be named as the RMAC's All-Time Top Player during the 2009 RMAC Centennial Celebration. She hit .433 with 12 home runs and 43 stolen bases that season while Dunn was the RMAC's top slugger with 16 home runs.
Hatzenbeller won 25 games, a former Maverick record that would be broken by Meuchel (26) and Renee Hietbrink (32) in the successive two seasons
Additionally, Peterson was named as the RMAC's Co-Coach of the Year while she and assistants Misty Critton and Eddie Mort, a current CMU assistant, were named as the NFCA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year.
Peterson would go on to post 537 career victories as the RMAC's winningest coach of all-time before her retirement from softball coaching following the 2012 season. She then moved to an administrative role and served as the Mavs' Senior Woman Administrator and later as the Co-Athletics Director before transitioning into a new role with the CMU Admissions Office in recent years.
