Softball team celebrates anniversary with all-star team

By Natalie Garcia
The Collegian

Four Fresno State alumnae and their softball coach, Margie Wright, have been chosen as candidates for an all-star softball team to commemorate 25 years of NCAA women’s championships.

Among those chosen were Laura Berg, Nina Lindenberg, Amanda Scott and Julie Smith, all multiple All-Americans.

“It’s a great honor and very humbling. It indicates we have had a lot of success for the athletes,” Wright said. “As coaches, our success comes from our athletes.”

Wright also attributes good old fashion hard work to her teams’ success.

“It was sort of a philosophy, sort of blue collar philosophy, if you outwork other teams you’ll be successful,” she said.
Laura Berg has a different opinion on her personal key of her athletic accomplishm

ents.

“Coach Wright,” she quickly responded as the source of her success. “A lot of skills and qualities she instilled in us, not just softball skills, but the mental side of softball.”

Berg also recognized Wright’s help in the larger sphere of women in sports.

“A lot of things that I have been a part of, college ball, international ball, the Olympics, World Championships, Pan American Games, is because of people like Coach Wright,” Berg said. “They paved the way for athletes my age and college athletes right now.”

Graduating from Illinois State in 1974, a year before Title IX actually went into affect, Wright played three sports but had no athletic scholarship.

“Women’s sports in general have made a tremendous amount of progress,” Wright said. “I feel really proud to have been a pioneer in that so that others can reap the benefits. When women drive by Cedar and Barstow, they can see the Fresno State softball complex is located,. That wasn’t the case in the late 70s and early 80s.”

For Wright, equality in athletics is a no-brainer.

“If society believes sports and competition make better citizens out of men, sports and competition must make better citizens out of women,” she said. “Equality is the right thing to do.”

Wright has more wins than any coach in the history of NCAA softball. She has coached at Fresno State since 1986, and led her team to a national championship in 1998, the only national championship team ever for Fresno State.

Fans will have the opportunity to vote online until April 1. To place a vote, visit fresnostatenews.com or ncaaaports.com. The candidates were selected from an expert panel of student-athletes who performed well at the NCAA championships over the last 25 years.

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