KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Oregon Tech won its first-ever NAIA Softball National Championship with a 1-0 shutout of top-ranked California Baptist on May 25. The event was hosted for the first time by the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Sports Commission, in conjunction with the University of Mobile (Ala.), from the Gulf Shores Sportsplex.

Head coach Greg Stewart was awarded the 2011 Coach of the Year for his accomplishments. The Owls went 42-13 overall and became the first team in the Cascade Collegiate Conference to win the national championship in the 31-year history of the event. Oregon Tech went 3-0 to win Pool B and out-scored its opponents 12-0 to advance to the double-elimination bracket. After falling 7-0 in the first championship game to California Baptist, the Owls rode the arm of Jackie Imhof in the second championship contest. She pitched a complete-game, four-hit shutout as she struck out seven Lancer batters.

Imhof, a senior pitcher from Portland, Ore., was named the Tournament MVP. She allowed just four earned runs in 47 1/3 innings for a 0.59 ERA. Her highlight came when she tossed the tournament’s only perfect game against Midland on May 20. She went 6-1 in eight appearances with a tournament-tying high 60 strikeouts and set a tournament record with five shutouts.

Judy Barber of William Carey (Miss.) and Kim Frazier of Lubbock Christian (Texas) provided the offensive fireworks in the tournament. Barber posted a championship-record 14 RBIs, and tied Frazier for the 2011 lead in total bases (21). She went 9-for-18 (.500) at the dish, knocking out four home runs, which is one shy of the tournament record. Frazier hit .500 (8-for-16), tallied seven RBIs and blasted four round-trippers, including two against Simpson (Calif.) on May 19.

There was a strong combination of hitting and pitching. In 63 games of the event, which included 48 pool-play contests, there were 32 shutouts. That tally set an all-time championship record. Conversely, there were nine occurrences of teams scoring at least 10 runs, which tied the national record.

Overall, there were 25 team and individual records either tied or broken. Oregon Tech and California Baptist each tied the all-time mark with five pitching shutouts. California Baptist set a tournament record with 16 doubles and 110 total bases. The Lancers, who were ranked No. 1 the entire season, out-scored their opponents 41-5 during the championship.

The 2012 NAIA Softball National Championship is scheduled for May 17 – 23 in Gulf Shores, Ala.

For more information on the National Championship, including results, recaps and photos, click here.