May 6, 2007
KENNESAW, Ga. - After clinching the regular season championship with a win over Mercer nearly two weeks ago, the Owls needed a little bit of help to win the outright title and they got that help from their arch-rival North Florida as the Ospreys beat Stetson, 1-0, in the final game of the season on Saturday night.
Thanks to a walk-off, seventh -inning, home run by Gwen Williams and a three-hit shutout by Katie Brosky, the Kennesaw State Owls stand alone as the outright Atlantic Sun Conference regular season champions.
Kennesaw State (44-20, 14-4 A-Sun) finished the regular season a game ahead of the Hatters in the conference standings and also swept the Stetson in their two regular season meetings at Bailey Park in early April. The championship is the first since Kennesaw State joined Division I and the A-Sun last season.
The championship is the crowning achievement for a talented Kennesaw State squad that featured 15 individual league-leaders in 2007, including the A-Sun's top hitter in Keri McKee and the league's most difficult pitcher to face in Brittany Matthews.
McKee was the lone player in the league to hit over .400, eclipsing the mark with a .422 average in her senior season. McKee also led the league in four other offensive categories this year; hits (81), on-base percentage (.519), doubles (22) and walks (40).
Fellow senior Jennifer Nolan led the A-Sun in total bases (126) and also accomplished the rare feat of leading the league in both runs scored (49) and runs batted in (56). Freshman Klair Wells led the conference with 213 at-bats and tied for the league lead with five triples.
Matthews topped the A-Sun in nearly every major pitching category. The junior left-hander led the league in wins (23), strikeouts (246), opponents batting average (.177), winning percentage (.821) while also throwing a league-high 10 shutouts.
The title is the third championships for the Owls as a program. Last season the women's cross country team captured the A-Sun crown and this season the women's soccer team won the conference regular season championship.
