Kathleen Dreitlein, who will serve as the Lady Raptors’ 2008 softball captain, enters the season with her name among the program’s career leaders in numerous categories. Defensively, she is the all-time Rutgers-Camden leader in double plays (19) and is second with 1,007 putouts, needing 363 to tie the program mark set by Mo Baney last season. She also enters the year with a .985 fielding percentage, the sixth highest among all players with 100 or more career chances.

        Offensively, Dreitlein owns a .310 career batting average and is tied for second in career HBP (nine, one shy of the record), is fourth in home runs (12), fifth in both runs (79) and sacrifices (11), sixth in hits (126),  doubles (29, needing 10 to tie the record) and total bases (195), tied for sixth in walks (47) and seventh in games (138), at bats (407) and RBIs (79).

        Dreitlein leaped into the all-time program record book with a huge junior season in 2007. She hit .346 with 10 doubles, seven home runs, 29 RBIs, 30 runs and single-season program defensive records of 403 putouts and 10 double plays. The big year earned her All-New Jersey Athletic Conference Second Team honors and recognition on the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) East Region Second Team.

        Dreitlein collected her 100th career hit – a fifth-inning single – in the opener of a doubleheader against New Jersey City University (March 31, 2007), making her only the seventh player in program history to reach the century mark. Two weeks earlier, in a game against Hilbert College (March 15, Game 1), she slugged two home runs to tie a single-game program record. She had four RBIs in that game and finished the doubleheader going 4-for-6 with three runs, five RBIs and 10 total bases.

        Dreitlein’s sacrifice fly capped a four-run Raptor rally in the bottom of the seventh inning April 24 as Rutgers-Camden stunned Rowan, 6-4, in the opening game of a doubleheader. Later in the season, her home run in the second inning plated the Raptors’ first two runs as they went on to record a 4-1 victory over Rowan to win the NJAC Championship (May 6).

        Dreitlein was among the NJAC leaders in numerous categories last season, including the defensive “triple play” of leading the conference in total chances (416), putouts (403) and double plays (10). She also was second in the conference in HBP (4), tied for third in home runs (7), fourth in plate appearances (160), seventh in total bases (78), eighth in runs (30), ninth in RBIs (29), 10th in hits (47), tied for 10th in both at bats (136) and doubles (10), and 11th in slugging percentage (.574).

        Dreitlein notched 15 multiple-hit games in 2007, including a 4-for-4 game against Rowan (April 24, Game 2). She also had eight games with two or more RBIs.

        Dreitlein’s junior season followed a breakout 2006 campaign as a sophomore first baseman, when she finished second on the Lady Raptors in batting (.360), hits (54), on-base percentage (.449) and putouts (317) while leading the club with 15 doubles, one shy of the single-season school record. She also was third on the team in home runs (4), total bases (81) and slugging percentage (.540), fourth in walks (21) and tied for fourth in runs (32).

        Not only did Dreitlein’s big season help Rutgers-Camden win the 2006 NCAA Division III national title, but it also earned the slugging first baseman numerous individual awards. She captured honors on the Louisville Slugger/NFCA East Region First Team, was named to the All-NJAC First Team and captured a berth on the NCAA East Regional All-Tournament team.

        Dreitlein was named NJAC Player of the Week and the school’s Raptor of the Week on April 17 and the ECAC Metro Division III Player of the Week April 18 after hitting .615 (8-for-13) with four runs, four doubles, six RBIs and one walk in four games. That was part of a nine-game hitting streak from April 4-18. Prior to that streak, she had an eight-game streak, helping her hit safely in 17 of 18 games (26-for-55, .473, 17 runs, 16 RBIs, 10 doubles, one home run, eight walks) from March 17-April 18.

        Among the 2006 NJAC leaders, Dreitlein tied for fourth in both doubles and HBP (4) and was fourth in both putouts and total chances (334) in 2006. She had 11 multiple-hit and 10 multiple-RBI games on the year.

        Dreitlein’s monster season came after a dedicated winter training routine in which she was named as a member of Team Conditioning Systems’ 12th annual All-Strength Team.

        Dreitlein was consistent throughout the season, never going more than one game without a hit. She went 3-for-3 with one run and one RBI in a win over Mount St. Joseph (March 13), one of her three three-hit games on the season. She also had three hits against William Paterson (3-for-4, Game Two April 1) and Ramapo (3-for-4, one run, two RBIs and one double in Game Two, April 15). Overall she went 5-for-7 with two doubles, one run and three RBIs in a doubleheader sweep over the Roadrunners that day.

        One of Dreitlein’s biggest games came in the NCAA East Regional final against Rowan May 14. Her fifth-inning RBI double broke open a scoreless game and sparked the Raptors to a 5-0 win and a trip to the College World Series. She added a season-high 16 putouts at first base.

        As a freshman, Dreitlein finished second on the team and in the NJAC (to teammate Baney) with 287 putouts and set a single-season program mark with seven double plays. She also had 306 total chances to place second to Baney in the NJAC, while her seven double plays tied for fifth in the conference.

        Dreitlein set a single-game school record with 23 putouts in a 15-inning marathon against William Paterson University (Game Two, May 7, 2005). She also tied a single-game mark with six at bats in that contest.

        Earlier in the season, Dreitlein tied another school mark with two triples in a game against St. Thomas Aquinas (Game One, March 15), in which she went 2-for-4 with three RBIs. That contest was one of six multiple-hit games Dreitlein enjoyed as a freshman, including a 2-for-3 game against Rutgers-Newark (Game One, April 9) in which she had a double, her first collegiate home run and four RBIs. She also scored two runs.

        Dreitlein broke into collegiate ball with a bang, going 3-for-4 with four runs, four RBIs, two doubles and two walks in the season-opening doubleheader sweep against Neumann College March 7. She also stole two bases in the nightcap.

        Overall, Dreitlein hit .207 with 17 runs, 16 RBIs, four doubles, two triples and a home run in 2005. She hit .385 (5-for-13) with runners on third base and less than two outs, .333 (2-for-6) with the bases loaded and tied for second on the team in two-out RBIs (9).

        In addition to her three softball letters at Rutgers-Camden, Dreitlein joined the Lady Raptors’ volleyball team late in the 2006 season. She competed in 15 games over five matches, collecting six kills and eight blocks.

        Dreitlein earned four basketball letters and three letters apiece in both softball and soccer at Governor Livingston High School. As an All-Mountain Valley Conference soccer star for the Highlanders, Dreitlein was a three-year starter as a goalie. During both her sophomore and junior years, she was named as a member of the New Jersey Girls Soccer Coaches Association’s North 2 All-State team. During her three-year softball career, Dreitlein earned a pair of Second Team All-Union County honors.

        Dreitlein holds her “F” class certification as a soccer coach and serves as a volunteer assistant coach for a pair of girls’ teams in Cinnaminson, working with both U-9 and U-4 squads.

       A Psychology major at Rutgers-Camden, Kathleen is the daughter of Ray andCarol Dreitlein of Berkeley Heights.