By MIKE POTTER : The Herald-Sun
mpotter@heraldsun.com
Apr 19, 2007 : 12:20 am ET 

Don't blame some of the softball coaches around the CIAA if they're happy N.C. Central will be out of the league next season. 

When the Eagles move to NCAA Division I in the fall, they will be other people's problems. 

Larry Keen's program has become something of a mini-dynasty in the conference, winning 60 of its last 62 games against CIAA opposition. 

And the reigning conference champions (29-9, 20-0 CIAA) will be solid favorites when they take the field today at noon against Shaw (7-17, 7-11) in the first round of the league tournament at the Petersburg (Va.) Sports Complex. NCCU won its two regular-season meetings against the Bears by a combined score of 29-1. 

NCCU, which finished with a perfect conference record for the first time in school history, has gone 14 games without allowing more than two runs in a contest. 

The Eagles, who were upset in the 2005 tournament after winning the Western Division, will be looking for back-to-back titles for the first time since 1998-99 under current NCCU senior women's administrator and associate athletics director Ingrid Wicker-McCree and then Gia Wilkerson. 

Since Keen took over the program in 2002, there has been improvement each season. 

His first team went 4-32 after forfeiting five games. But since then the overall records have been 13-12, 17-20, 26-18, 35-16 and then this year's mark, which probably will give NCCU its first at-large bid to a Division II softball regional if the Eagles falter in Petersburg. NCCU is fifth in the latest NCAA Division II Mid-Atlantic Region poll, and eight teams will be invited to the regional. 

If the Eagles win the conference tournament, they will give NCCU's overall athletic program new records with five CIAA championships including four women's titles in the same academic year. 

"I'm hoping we get in, but I want to win the tournament to make sure we get a bid," Keen said. 

NCCU has won with balance, with seven players honored as either first- or second-team all-conference or on the all-rookie team. 

"We had a group of freshmen who came in and looked to the veterans for guidance," Keen said. "The veterans accepted them pretty quickly, and the freshmen we brought in really knew how to play." 

Third baseman Sophia Blue, catcher Francheska Pittman and pitcher Stacey Greene -- all sophomores -- were voted to the first team, while senior shortstop Asha Sutton and freshman utility player Michelle Ishida were named second team. 

Ishida, center fielder DeSanbra Franklin and pitcher Kristen Schooler were named to the all-rookie unit. 

"I think we're better than last year's team," said Sutton, who is hitting .416 with six homers, 46 RBIs and 17 steals. "Coach really recruited a mature group of freshmen this year, and they fit in with everybody else." 

Led by Blue with a .531 average that includes 14 triples and four homers along with 45 RBIs, the Eagles are hitting .383 as a team to .233 for their opponents. They have 146 extra-base hits to 54 for the opposition, 164 steals to 44, a team ERA of 2.42 to the opposition's 9.37, and a fielding percentages of .941 to .904. They have pitched nine shutouts and been shut out once. 

"One thing we have is good chemistry in the infield," Blue said. "If you don't have that, you make mistakes and then your pitcher might lose confidence. Errors are contagious, and if the defense falls apart, everything can go downhill." 

During the season, NCCU won close games with Eastern Division champion Bowie State (10-9 and 4-3 at home on March 22) and Virginia State (4-0 and 4-2 on the road on March 31). But the other CIAA games all were pretty comfortable wins. 

"Maybe some teams think they can't win when they play us," said senior second baseman Lakeshia Sheppard, who is batting .418 with two homers, 31 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. "But we usually get our opponents' best effort. Most of the teams in the [CIAA] seem to get ready for us more than any other team."