TACOMA, Wash. - Throughout the spring semester GoLutes.com will highlight the five individuals and two varsity four crews from the PLU Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2020 that will be inducted on March 12. Today's installment features softball standout Janelle Thorson (Gunter), who graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor's of Business Administration with a concentration on Marketing.
The spring of Janelle (Gunter) Thorson's sophomore year of college was miserable.
Coming off of a magical freshman season helping lead the softball team to the national tournament with a dominant year of pitching, the sky seemed to be the limit.
Until she found out early in that sophomore season that she had tendonitis. The doctor's plan: anti-inflammatories and a brace worn 24 hours a day.
"I attended every practice and game," she said. "I took part in the conditioning and every aspect that I could. I also helped put on and take off the infamous tarp, raked the infield and performed countless reps of pitching motions with the rubber resistance band that I connected to the fence.
"All while longing to be able to join my teammates on the field."
While Thorson sat on the sidelines, the Lutes missed out on the national tournament.
When she came back as a junior, though, she made sure that not only was she not going to miss any more time, the Lutes weren't going to be missing any more national tournaments.
She won 22 games in the circle as a junior, earning Northwest Conference Player of the Year accolades and first-team All-America honors from the NAIA and NSCA. The Lutes finished fifth at the NAIA National Championships.
"I ultimately felt partly responsible for being out the year PLU didn't earn a trip back to nationals," she said. "I think that was one of the biggest drivers in motivating me to come back with a vengeance. Fortunately, pitching had always come natural to me. So, like riding a bike, once I was able to come back, I really only had to focus on fine-tuning my mechanics and rebuilding strength."
Thorson's senior year was even better than her junior year.
She threw three perfect games. Won a school-record 30 games. Her 258 2/3 innings pitched remains a single-season school record, while her 209 strikeouts is the second most in a single season in program history.
Her dominance led the Lutes to a 20-game winning streak and a third-place finish at the 1997 NAIA National Championships.
She was named second-team All-America by both the NAIA and the NFCA, was the NWC Player of the Year for a second consecutive year and was named to the NAIA All-National Tournament Team.
"You can't win games without a great team to help you make outs and produce runs," she said, "and without great coaches who provide tough love and the glue that holds the team together."
Thorson spends her days now as a self-described Chaos Coordinator. She works full time as a Project Controls Analyst at Energy Northwest in the Tri-Cities in Eastern Washington.
Her husband Shane and she have two daughters, Chloe a sixth-grader and Isabelle who is in Pre-K.
"PLU not only gave me a great education, it provided an avenue to extend my softball career and became my home away from home," Thorson said. "The bond I shared with my teammates and coaches will always hold a very special place in my heart. The memories I made while at PLU will last forever."
