Whiteside headed to SAC Hall of Fame

Posted: Mar 31, 2016

ROCK HILL, S.C. – Former Carson-Newman softball pitcher Marci Whiteside (ne' Mitchell) has been tabbed for induction into the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame, the league office announced Thursday morning.

Whiteside will be formally inducted into the SAC Hall of Fame during the league's annual Hall of Fame banquet in Asheville, N.C. on June 8 at the Renaissance Hotel. She is the 14^th individual affiliated with Carson-Newman to receive the honor from the league.

"I'm truly honored, and it brings back lots of really good memories with the girls on the team and the coaches too," Whiteside said. "I'm overjoyed to get to join my head coach and continue to represent Carson-Newman softball, it really does mean so much to me."

Whiteside starred as a pitcher for Vickee Kazee-Hollifield from 2000-03. In an award-packed career, she was named the league's freshman of the year in 2000 and the conference's player of the year in both her junior and senior campaigns.

"Through all 31 years of Carson-Newman's softball history, we've been blessed with great pitching," Kazee-Hollifield said. "When I think of Marci, I think of one of the smartest pitchers we ever had.

"She's a true leader. I never had to push a button to jump start her. She just had it in her to bring it every game. Every single day, every single game, every single practice, she came to work. She wasn't just book smart, she is genuinely the smartest pitchers out there. What we did when she was in the circle, speaks volumes."

The Lithonia, Ga.-native was a four-time All-South Atlantic Conference first team honoree and was tabbed the conference's Female Athlete of the Year in 2003. She is currently one of only two student-athletes in the league's history to win the President's Award as the top scholar athlete in the conference, and the Athlete of the Year honor in the same season, doing so in 2003. She was also a two-time winner of the President's Award.

Whiteside ended her career with Carson-Newman as one of the greatest pitchers in the program's 31 year history. She is second all-time in the league and first in Carson-Newman history with 41 career shutouts.

She hurled 18 no-hitters in her career, which ranks second all-time in NCAA Division II history. Her sophomore campaign saw her throw 14 shutouts, four no-hitters and two perfect games.

"The first perfect game I threw, I didn't realize what I had done," Whiteside said. "Coach Kazee asked if I knew what had happened. I told her yeah, I had thrown a no-hitter. She told me I had thrown a perfect game, which at the time, I didn't know what that was. She didn't want to jinx me midway through the game and tell me what I was actually doing. I quickly learned what a perfect game was after that."

The 14 shutouts from her sophomore season are good for third on the SAC single-season list The two perfect games she tossed that year came within a week of one another. She is one of 13 Division II athletes all-time with multiple perfect games.

Whiteside finished her career with 105 complete games, 714 strike outs and an earned run average of 1.53. She earned All-Region honors twice in her career and was named an Academic All-American three times at Carson-Newman.

She graduated with a 4.0 GPA and a degree in mathematics from Carson-Newman.

Whiteside is the fifth member affiliated with the Carson-Newman softball team to be inducted. She joins fellow pitchers Carol Zachary Mitchell and Heather Randolph, shortstop Sammi Hatcher Chafin and her head coach Vickee Kazee-Hollifield.

She will head into the Hall of Fame with former Lenoir-Rhyne men's basketball player Roman Davis, former Catawba men's basketball player Andre Godfrey and Newberry distinguished alumnus Eric Wells.

Carson-Newman in the SAC Hall of Fame

Class of 1999-200

Albert R. Sloan – College Administrator

Cordell Maddox – President

Class of 2002-03

Todd Collins – Football

Class of 2003-04

Heather Randolph – Softball

Class of 2005-06

Boyce Green – Football

Class of 2006-07

Ken Sparks – Football coach