In this Celebrate. Recognize. Inspire. series relive the first league tournament championships among our women's programs,
and get to know more about a featured student-athlete from those respective title teams.
On May 4, 1997 Cleveland State won its first-ever Midwestern Collegiate Conference (later renamed the Horizon League) Softball Tournament title, marking the first of what would become numerous women’s tournament titles in Horizon League competition. Â
After finishing regular season play with a 30-8 overall record – one of just seven 30-win campaigns to date – the Vikings earned the No. 2 seed in the 1997 MCC Tournament, finishing with an 11-3 record against conference opponents.Â
Cleveland State opened MCC Tournament play with a 7-3 win over No. 3 Green Bay, before picking up a 1-0 victory against No. 6 Wright State and a 3-1 win over top-seeded UIC to earn a spot in the MCC Championship contest.
In Cleveland State’s first MCC/Horizon League Championship game appearance, the Vikings notched their 34th win of the season, capturing their first-ever tournament title with a 2-0 victory over third-seeded Northern Illinois, earning the team’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.Â
During the 1997 tournament run, the Vikings were led by MCC major award winners Amy Kyler (Pitcher of the Year) and Tenille Whiteside (Player of the Year), along with All-Conference honorees Amy Johnson, Amy Jauert, Kara Justice, and Carrie Liptak. In addition, Kyler, Jauert and Whiteside were named to the 1997 All-Tournament Team, including an MVP honor for Kyler.
Cleveland State would go on to host Florida A&M in a three-game NCAA Tournament Play-In series – a series in which the Vikings went 2-1 – before facing Michigan and Michigan State in the 1997 NCAA Tournament to become the first women’s team at CSU to appear on the national stage.
The 1997 championship would be the first of two Midwestern Collegiate Conference/Horizon League tournament titles for the Vikings (2009), making softball one of four women’s sports at CSU to have multiple tournament championships.Â
As a senior in 1997, Amy Kyler was part of a Cleveland State team that would make a place for itself in the CSU Record Book, capturing the program’s first-ever conference tournament title and the department’s first team championship during the Midwestern Collegiate Conference/Horizon League era.
Kyler graduated as the program record holder in every single pitching category (ERA, Innings Pitched, Wins, Winning Percentage, Appearances, Strikeouts), and still ranks in the top-two in four of those categories; ERA (1st – 1.35), Innings Pitched (2nd – 728.1), Wins (2nd – 68), and Strikeouts (2nd – 909).  Kyler’s 0.35 ERA during the 1997 campaign is still tops among league players, while her 1.35 career ERA continues to be one of the best performances in league history.  Â
During the 2007 MCC Championship campaign, Kyler was the pitcher of record for all four victories, and finished the season with a 24-5 mark. Kyler posted a then CSU single-season record with her 24 victories, while she also had a season-best 325 strikeouts, including an NCAA record 26 in the MCC Semifinal victory over UIC.Â
A three-time All-League honoree and 1997 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Pitcher of the Year, Kyler played professionally for the Carolina Diamonds and Akron Racers following her time as a Viking, and was inducted into the Cleveland State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.
After leading the Vikings to the 1997 Midwestern Collegiate Conference Tournament title as a four-year starting pitcher, Kyler returned to her alma mater as head coach in 2018.Â
In her first five years at the helm of the Vikings, Kyler has turned the Cleveland State softball team into a Horizon League contender once again. After continually building since her first season as head coach in 2019, Kyler and the Vikings posted one of the program’s best seasons in recent history last year, finishing with 22 wins and an appearance in the Horizon League Tournament for the first time in six years.
Being a student-athlete at Cleveland State allowed me to...develop diverse relationships and afforded me the opportunity to grow and be successful as a student-athlete in a remarkable athletic environment. I continue to have lifelong friendships with those I encountered at CSU, and continue to have success because of my time at Cleveland State. I will always be a Viking and Bleed Green!
Â
