May 27, 2008
Stanford, Calif. - If you were to ask the members of the Stanford softball team who their funniest teammate is, or quirkiest, goofiest or most original, they would all smile and likely give you the same answer: Missy Penna. While off the field, Penna is known for her lighthearted attitude and her amusing comments, when she steps between the lines, Stanford's junior pitching ace is the most focused player on the field.
Penna's focus has carried the Cardinal to one of its best seasons ever, and, on her back, the team finished the 2008 season with a 49-15 record, matching the second-highest win total in school history.
Off the field, Penna enjoys hiking, biking and doing just about anything outdoors. Over the summer, she hiked 90 miles of the Appalachian Trail with two of her sisters and a friend. The foursome spent 10 days on their adventure.
"We generally hiked between 10-12 miles a day depending on the incline of the trail," says Penna. "Life was simple. We would wake up with the sun, hike for most of the day, and sleep when the sun went down. Ten days and 90 miles later, we made it to the North Carolina border, which was our planned destination. Before we left the trail for civilization, I looked north along the trail I knew wouldn't end until Maine and thought, `Someday.'"
Penna is not only one of the best performers on the field, but she is an all-star in the classroom. Recently named to the ESPN Academic All-District First Team, Penna is in contention to become Stanford's second-ever Academic All-American. A civil engineering major, she hopes to co-term in the department once she finishes her undergraduate career.
"I was first interested in civil engineering because I really like math and science," she says. "I thought it would be fun to be part of the design and construction of structures."
From her first pitches of the season, it was clear that Stanford's pitcher had something special in store for the 2008 season on the field as well. On Feb. 8, Penna stepped on the field for the season-opener and threw a 14-strikeout no-hitter. The next day, she shutout another opponent. The next day, yet another. By the time the weekend was complete, Penna had thrown 21 shutout innings, without allowing a single walk, and given up just five hits to hold opponents to a .076 average and a 0.00 ERA. She finished the weekend with 27 strikeouts, and was named USA Softball's National Player of the Week, just the fourth Stanford player to ever earn a national weekly honor.
It was eight games and 42 strikeouts later before someone finally scored on Penna, and by that time she had the Cardinal cruising. Behind Penna, Stanford recorded its best start in school history, winning 15 games and stunning No. 6 Oklahoma along the way.
By the time Pac-10 play rolled around, Penna was among the three winningest pitchers in the nation and had helped the Cardinal to its best preseason winning percentage ever (.941). Individually, Penna was also gunning for some school records.
Penna was phenomenal throughout the conference season, and by the time it was over, she had led Stanford to a fourth-place finish and a winning record in arguably the nation's toughest softball conference. In her final weekend, Penna brought her very best. In one thrilling night, Penna struck out a school-record 17 batters, broke the school's single-season strikeout record, matched the school's single-season win record and carried the No. 8/8 Stanford softball team to a 2-1, ten-inning upset of No. 2/2 Arizona State at Farrington Stadium in Tempe.
Two weeks ago, at the NCAA Regional, Penna simply put the team on her shoulders and carried it forward. After the Cardinal suffered a frustrating loss to UMass in its first game of the regional championship, Penna stepped up and no-hit the Minutewomen, striking out nine in her fourth complete game in less than 72 hours. If that wasn't enough, she also became the first pitcher in school history, and the eighth in the Pac-10, to record 400 K's in a single-season.
"She is definitely a clutch player," says teammate Rosey Neill. "She knew what she had to do and the adjustments she had to make and did a good job of going out there and getting them. If her drop wasn't working, she used her screwball and curveball. She held her own and did a good job of making something work every inning. You have to say a lot for her endurance, she pitched every inning of the series."
Entering last weekend's NCAA Super Regional, Penna sat atop the Stanford charts in single-season wins. Unfortunately, the Cardinal's season came to an end with two losses to No.3 Texas A&M. Despite the disappointing finish, Penna recorded her 900th career strikeout becoming only the second pitcher in school history to reach that mark - and she's only a junior.
Penna is known around the Stanford dugout for another quality as well - her optimism. No matter the obstacle, Penna has confidence that her team can find a way to come out on top. With Penna in the circle, Stanford has a lot to look forward to next season.