Francis Marion University athletic director Gerald Griffin has
announced that former four-time women's softball All-American
Kristi Anderson and former two-time track
All-American Randy White will be inducted into the
FMU Athletic Hall of Fame on Feb. 18, 1995.
Anderson, a native of Florence and a graduate
of South Florence High School, was a catcher on the Lady Patriot
softball team from 1986 to 1989. She also served as a student
assistant coach for softball in 1990 prior to receiving the B.S.
degree in elementary education. She is now a mathematics
teacher at Ronald E. McNair Junior High School in Lake City and the
girls' volleyball and softball coach at Lake City High School.
She helped lead FMU to three NAIA Softball World Series
(1986-88) and a four-year record of 142-35. The Lady Patriots
finished seventh in the nation in 1986 with a 40-11 record and the
following year compiled a 42-4 mark, but lost 1-0 to Kearney
State College in the 1987 national championship game. FMU
entered the 1988 campaign ranked first in the NAIA Top 20
pre-season poll and finished the year with a 33-8 record.
At the 1987 national tournament, she tied the series records for
hits (10) and doubles (4). She earned national tournament
All-Tournament Team recognition in 1986 and 1987.
She did not miss a game during her career (172 games), and
finished with cumulative totals of .410 batting average, three home
runs, 128 runs batted in, 120 runs scored, and 19 stolen bases in
19 attempts. Behind the plate, and occasionally as an
infielder, she recorded a .967 fielding percentage and threw out 33
of 98 would-be base stealers. As a freshman, she drove in a
team-record 41 runs. In 1987, she finished 16th in the nation
in batting (.450) and drove in 28 runs, and the following year
batted .423 with 30 RBIs and was named her team's Most Valuable
Player.
Anderson earned second-team NAIA All-America honors as a
freshman and first-team honors each of the next three years.
At the time, she became only the fourth player to ever earn NAIA
All-America softball honors four times.
