IOWA FALLS, IOWA -- It was on this date (May 27) 45 years ago that the Ellsworth CC softball team made history, becoming the first softball national champion crowned by the National Junior College Athletic Association.  The NJCAA sanctioned a national tournament for the first time in 1977 and the Panthers won all three games they played in the 8-team tourney that was played in Fort Dodge to take the trophy back to Iowa Falls.

ECC had posted a 9-1 record in their conference which included Webster City, Waldorf and Marshalltown.  They then claimed the Region 11 tournament title to qualify for the first-ever nationals.

Coach Dick Larson's squad opened their tourney run with a 9-4 victory against Northeastern (Colo.) with Kris Lehman providing a 2-run homer in the Panthers' win.  The opponent in the semifinals was Spoon River (Ill.) and Ellsworth dispatched them with ease, rolling 10-0. 

That set up a matchup with Jackson (Mich.) in the title game.  ECC got a 1st-inning run when Gloria Anderson singled home Kim Randall.  The Panthers tacked on a pair of runs in the 2nd on run-scoring hits by Anderson and Carol Faris.  Ace pitcher Lori Stielow made those runs stand up with a complete-game performance in the circle, the potential tying run thrown out at 3rd base to end the game.

Stielow pitched 19 innings in the national tournament and walked only one batter while winning all three games.  The Alden native will be inducted into the NJCAA Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame later this year.

Anderson was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player and was selected to the All-Tournament team along with Stielow and Teri Kirk.  The Panthers finished the spring campaign with a 23-3 record after going 14-3 in the fall.

The 1977 ECC softball squad was inducted into the college's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.  Their championship run came months after the Panther football team won its own national title in 1976.

Ellsworth made a return trip to the softball national tournament the next year, in 1978, and won three of their five games, bowing out in the consolation semfinals.