FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The #NSU50 "Top Moments in NSU Athletics History" continues with the tenth moment on the list: Nova Southeastern begins the softball program. 
NSU added its fourth women's sport with the addition of softball in the spring of 1995, a program that would eventually blossom into a NCAA South-Region contending team. However, there would be stumbling blocks along the way. NSU would recruit its initial squad mostly out of Broward and Palm Beach County, where high schools had only started playing fast-pitch softball in 1994.
 
Seven key players on the team hailed from the local area and had only played fast-pitch softball in high school for one season. That group included Hall-of Famer Kim Eason, shortstop Darice Wiegel, and Lisa Ignasiak, whose career slugging percentage of .653 still ranks second all-time at NSU.
 
NSU's first team began competition on Jan. 31, 1995 with a doubleheader against Goldey-Beacom. The opposition would give NSU a proper welcome to the world of intercollegiate softball, as Goldey-Beacom defeated the Knights, 8-4, in the first game. However, NSU would earn the program's first win in the second game, 2-1. The win was highlighted by Eason, who held the Delaware school to one run in the circle, and offensively, went 3-for-4 with a solo home run.
 
The 1995 team, largely made up of freshmen, showed great potential by winning nine of its first 15 games. The Knights won 27 games in their second season and in 1997, NSU would win the Florida Sun Conference and NAIA Southeast Region Championship. Eason would be the team's rock in its first four seasons. She received All-FSC honors all four years of college and eventually was named FSC Player of the Year as a senior in 1998. She was inducted into the NSU Hall of Fame in 2009.
 
The Knights would start their season against Goldey-Beacom annually until 1998, going 4-3 against them. The two programs went their separate ways for 16 years before playing again on Feb. 22, 2014. The Sharks shutout the Lightning, 13-0, before the game ended in the fifth inning. It is the Sharks' largest margin of victory in 2014 as of March 25. 

Check back with NSUSharks.com next Tuesday for the next #NSU50 "Top Moments in NSU Athletics History."

Moment No. 1: NSU Athletics is Born
Moment No. 2: Knights Chosen as School Mascot
Moment No. 3: Hansley Hired as Director of Athletics
Moment No. 4: Nova Adds Four Sports
Moment No. 5: Nova Joins NAIA
Moment No. 6: Nova Adds Three More Teams
Moment No. 7: Nova Helps Form FIAC
Moment No. 8: Nova Wins First Conference Championship
Moment No. 9: Baseball and Volleyball Win First Conference Titles

For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by clicking here. For the latest news, be sure to sign up for the Shark Alert E-newsletter by clicking here.

Tweet #NSU50