Kearney, Neb. - Starting in May 2014, a new feature called "Loper Reconnection" will profile former UNK student-athletes. Student Andrew Hanson asks the chosen Loper a series of questions.

The second subject is former softball player Darcie Berry. Wrestler Brian Hagan was featured previoulsy.
 
The third baseman was a 1999 first-team All-American, the only Loper to earn that award at the Division II level. Inducted into the UNK Hall of Fame in 2010, she finished her career at .387 with 48 home runs and 171 RBI's. An unprecedented four-time first-team All-RMAC pick, she still ranks in the UNK top 10 in virtually every offensive category.
 
Name: Darcie Berry
Hometown/High School: Griswold, Ia./Griswold
Years: 1997-00
Sport: Softball
Current Residence: Des Moines, Ia.
 
 
Darcie Berry has been hitting home runs for a long time, from growing up in Griswold, Ia., to playing with the U.S. Select team in Germany, and every point in between.
 
The University of Nebraska at Kearney's most prolific softball home run hitter, Berry ranks near the top of every batting statistic in the UNK record books. There's one category, though, where Berry made her living during her time as a Loper – belting out home runs – 48 of them to be exact. The total is still a school record, despite vast improvements made in bats since Berry's playing days.   
 
Since graduating from UNK in 2000, she's taken her talents from the softball field to the business world, where she currently works as a private business loan underwriter for Wells Fargo.
 
Berry attributes a Southwest Iowa connection to how she became a Loper. "I actually was recruited kind of through word of mouth by an old teammate of mine, Laura Espenmiller," she said. "Laura went to high school in Logan, which was about 50 miles away, and she had always read about me in the newspapers that were covering Southwest Iowa. She gave my name to Coach (Dan) Simmons, and he got in contact with me."
 
When Berry finally arrived on campus at the start of the 1996-97 school year she entered a new environment – a winning one.
 
In high school, her teams were nothing special. "Our teams never stood out, we weren't ever state champions or anything like that," she reflected.
 
Berry's teams at UNK, on the other hand, were exceptional.
 
During her time as a Loper, the UNK softball teams won four Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season titles, three RMAC tournament titles and advanced to three Elite Eight's, finishing as the 1999 national runners up.
 
At first, Berry felt uncertain about how the transition from small-town softball to one of the top teams in NCAA Division II would go.
 
"It was overwhelming; I wasn't sure how I was going to fit in with the team," Berry recalled. "You could definitely see the increase in the level of play coming from high school into the college level."
 
The transition went better than she could have imagined, though.
 
During the 1997 season, the infielder was named the RMAC Freshman of the Year and was a first-team All-RMAC selection, an honor she would receive every year she suited up for the Lopers.
 
After going 0-2 at the Elite Eight in 1997 and 1998, Berry and the rest of her teammates reached the national championship game in 1999 – a matchup against Humboldt State (Calif.).
 
The magic of the 45-4 season that saw UNK go undefeated in conference play, ended in a 7-2 defeat -- a loss that stirred mixed emotions.
 
"It was very exciting to get runner-up, but at the same time it was also very disappointing because we had the team to win the national championship that year," Berry reflected. "It was a couple plays here and there that made a difference in the game.
 
"I wish we could've had another shot to play that team again because I think we were pretty evenly matched, but I'm not going to dwell on the fact because getting second in the nation is a very high honor."
 
The 15 home runs she hit in 1999 earned her a spot on the first-team All-American team.
 
In addition to her success on the field, Berry excelled in the classroom as well. A three-time Academic All-RMAC honoree, she also was a two-time Academic All-American.
 
Right after graduation, Berry played on a U.S. Select team that spent two weeks playing in Europe.
 
The team first stopped in Amsterdam, where there was some good competition, and then headed down into Germany. It was then the experience changed.
 
While the teams that they played in Amsterdam were fairly competitive, Berry said, "In Germany the level of competition was a lot less. They almost made us feel like we were the U.S. Olympic team."
 
The games were played on soccer fields, and instead of an outfield fence, there were five-gallon buckets lining the way. Berry's U.S. squad was the only team that stayed in a hotel as the rest of the squads camped in tents.
 
"We actually put on a clinic for them. They overwhelmed us with support and appreciation," Berry explained.
 
Several team members gave away things like batting gloves, bats, or shoes to the opposing players, including Berry.
 
Although the competition wasn't as great as Berry had hoped for, she still came away with a memorable trip. "The experience was definitely wonderful," she said.
 
When Berry returned from her trip, she put her Business degree to use, working in Kearney until 2006 when she returned to Iowa to be closer to family. That was when she started working for Wells Fargo.
 
Today, she has risen from a Level I underwriter to Level IV, and she is also working on getting her Master's degree in Accounting at Drake University. Even though her softball career has come to an end, Berry continues to hit home runs in whatever field she's in