Senior Kara Dornbos finishes impressive career in the circle for softball
Senior pitcher Kara Dornbos came into the Mid-American Conference Tournament with the third-best ERA on the softball team, but she finished the tournament with championship and tournament MVP honors.
She now leaves the MAC champion Chippewas behind with an impressive legacy.
"I just want to say that I feel blessed to be able to play for Central Michigan, to represent the 'C' and also play under coach (Margo) Jonker," Dornbos said. "I'm going to miss (my team), but I'll still be at Central, so I'm going to see them a lot."
Even though Dornbos took losses in both games of NCAA regionals — where the Chippewas' season ended — the team wouldn’t have gotten that far without Dornbos’ phenomenal pitching in the MAC tournament.
“Dornbos pitched an outstanding tournament, both last year and this year,” said head coach Margo Jonker, who earned her 1,100 career victory May 11. “So, kudos to her.”
The Hudsonville senior dominated the tournament, starting all four games in four consecutive days and finished with three complete game shutouts and an MVP trophy.
“Our whole team should have got it, because I had success off defense and Cory (DeLamielleure) did a great job behind the plate,” Dornbos said after CMU beat Northern Illinois 4-2 to win the MAC Tournament. “It wasn’t just me, it was everyone.”
Her tournament numbers are outstanding.
In four games, Dornbos was 3-0 with a 0.29 ERA, 24 1/3 innings pitched, 13 hits allowed, nine strikeouts, three extra base hits allowed and held opponents to a .159 batting average.
One of those victories came in a 1-0 pitchers duel against Kent State’s Emma Johnson, the 2013 MAC Pitcher of the Year.
This type of performance is not foreign to Dornbos. Dating back to high school, she was an all-state pitcher at Unity Christian High School, and in her freshman year at CMU, Dornbos was named to the MAC All-Freshman Team.
Dornbos has been especially dominant in MAC tournaments. The six-foot tall right-hander was 3-1 with a 0.42 ERA in the 2012 tournament, where CMU lost in the championship game to Miami.
Her final numbers in four years of MAC tournaments are impressive. In 15 games, Dornbos went 7-2 with a 0.95 ERA in 73 1/3 innings.
The softball field hasn’t been the only place where Dornbos has been clutch.
The health fitness major graduated with a 3.98 GPA, was named Academic All-MAC in 2011 and 2012 and was named to the Capitol One Academic All-District V first team in 2013.
Dornbos made a name for herself at CMU and finds herself throughout the program's record books, leaving behind a legacy of postseason success next year's pitchers hope to model themselves after.
