From April 12 to May 12, 2004, the Clinton Lady Maroons softball team was unblemished. It wasn’t that they hadn’t lost a game in that month. Or that they were winners of 20 in a row. It was the number of runs they gave up in the 91 innings played. Zero.
A sixth inning Mahomet-Seymour run during a 4-1 Clinton win on May 12 ended a streak of 91 scoreless innings by the Clinton pitching staff. On the mound for all 91 was Kamren Ferguson.
The 2004 season was a banner year for Lady Maroon fans and Ferguson was the unquestioned leader of a bunch that went 27-3 and won a regional title.
“That was a pretty special team we had in 2004,” Ferguson said. “Most of the players on our team were seniors so it was good to have a great final year before we all moved on to college.”
The memorable moments from that year will not soon be forgotten. Clinton fans remember the 11-3 win over defending state champion Olympia, the 8-1 win over Maroa-Forsyth, Kamren’s 17-strikeout performance against St. Teresa, her 18 K game against Fisher and her April 21 no-hitter against Sullivan. Not to mention the fact that the IHSA had the Lady Maroons ranked as high as second in the state.
“It was amazing to coach a group like that,” Clinton head coach Emily Starkey said. “What an amazing feeling it is to walk into a game with so much talent and know that Kamren is just going to mow down innings.”
91 consecutive scoreless innings was the stat of the year. At times during the streak, Kamren would be ill, but still go out there and dominate.
“There were at least two instances where she had the flu and pitched through it because I allowed it,” Starkey said. “She would go behind the dugout and get sick, and then come out and pitch. Even when she had bad days, her teammates were there to pick her up.”
While ill for a game against MacArthur, Kamren gave up a hit to the Generals’ leadoff hitter, but then allowed nothing the rest of the way in a 3-0 win.
The Lady Maroons came short of their ultimate goal in 2004, losing a tough 3-2 contest to Midwest Central in the sectional semifinals. Kamren did her best to keep the state title alive, belting a game-tying two run homer in the sixth.
“I think we could have went further than we did,” Starkey said. “We had a freshman step up in the regional, but we couldn’t get pat Midwest Central. That was a special group to coach and they all fed off Kamren’s greatness.”
As special as the 2004 season was, Kamren’s most cherished moment of her Clinton career came during her junior year when the Lady Maroons defeated the undefeated, 30-0 Monticello Sages in the final Okaw Valley Conference Tournament title game ever played.
Starkey remembers the situation vividly. “It was the Okaw conference championship in 2003, the last time the tournament was played. We had never ever won that tournament, ever. The only two school names that were on that trophy were Warrensburg and Monticello. We had went over there that day and they had just written an article in the Decatur paper about Monticello and the fact that they were 30-0. Well we walked over there and beat them. The really amazing thing was that there were really bad storms that day and it started to rain as the game started. We gave up five runs in the first inning to a very talented team. But we came back to beat them 6-5. It was all Kamren. Her pitching, great defense and timely hitting.”
“It was an amazing day. We were all jumping up and down. It was a sweet win for all of us.”
During her senior year, Kamren announced she would be attending Western Illinois University and pitch for the Leathernecks, then of the Mid-Continent Conference.
“I liked the school in the smaller town, everyone seemed like they meshed well together and it seemed like a good team to play for,” Kamren said on choosing Western. “I wasn’t really considering any other school.”
Ferguson immediately made an impact in her freshman year at the University, striking out six batters in the Metrodome Classic in Minnesota. But a season ending knee injury would shelve her for 2005. She came back to earn all-conference honors in her redshirt freshman season in 2006 and was named the Mid-Continent Pitcher of the Year in 2007.
Kamren was ready to have her best year at WIU in 2008, but again suffered a season ending injury.
While many college athletes would call it a career after two season ending injuries, Kamren and Holly Van Vlyman, her coach at Western Illinois were determined to get her to pitch for four full years.
“The motivation to comeback was to help my team win conference championships as much as I could,” Kamren said.
“We wanted to make sure she pitched four full years,” Van Vlyman added.
Unsure of whether or not she would be able to play in 2010, Kamren entered the 2009 season as if it would be her last.
“Towards the beginning of the season I was thinking this might be the last time I play here or the last time I would pay there,” Kamren said. “It was kind of sad, but I did the best I could.”
Ferguson would get the sixth year of eligibility, but not before being named Summit League Pitcher of the Year, throwing 171 strikeouts and posting a conference-best 1.35 ERA.
“I was really excited to get a sixth year to play with my teammates for another year,” Kamren said. “Getting the extra year was great because I really wanted to come back and help the team win the conference.”
The Leathernecks won the 2009 regular season Summit League title, but lost in the conference championship to North Dakota State, a team that went on to compete in the NCAA Regionals. “They did well and we were cheering them on,” Kamren said.
But this year, Kamren and the Leathernecks are hoping to appear in an NCAA Regional themselves. They are off to a good start. The team boasts an 18-10 overall record and the Leathernecks are right in the thick of the Summit League race.
“We expect to finish at the top of the league.” Kamren said. “We have 10 starters returning from last year so we want to finish as good as we did last year, if not better. Our goal is to get to the NCAA Regionals.”
If the team does make it to the Regional, it will be on Kamren’s arm.
“She is very important to our success,” Coach Van Vlyman says. “She has gotten better every year since she has been here.”
“Her pitch movement, change of speeds, and leadership makes her the complete package on the field. She can look at her teammates in the eye and tell them ‘we are going to win this game’.”
After years of softball success, Kamren’s career will end at the conclusion of the Leathernecks’ season. She will soon graduate with a degree in Graphic Communication and minors in Law Enforcement and Sociology.
It will be remembered as a great career that featured many teams, many moments and great games.
Kamren began her softball career playing for the Clinton Gold at age 11. Before and during her stint with the Lady Maroons, she played for the Peoria Rage and the Central Illinois Girls Softball Rebels. For one summer, she was a pitcher for the Puerto Rican national team during the Pan-American Games.
“I got to play with a lot of people and learned a lot from each of the teams I have played with,” she said. “It was good to play with a lot of different people from different places.”
Kamren’s Clinton legacy
The Lady Maroons finished both Kamren’s junior and senior seasons with an impressive 27-3 record. In her first year as the full-time starter, the team was 18-10.
“I remember becoming the head coach in 2001 and as soon as I saw Kamren throw as a sophomore, I knew we were going to be very talented,” Starkey said.
Starkey was right. The Lady Maroons were very talented those three years. And Ferguson has brought that talent to Western Illinois and flourished there as well.
Whether you look at her individual achievements over the years, her dominance at Clinton, or her impressive accomplishments at Western Illinois, Kamren Ferguson is without a doubt, a Clinton legend.
Photo: Kamren Ferguson (22) cemented her name as one of the best softball pitchers in Clinton history back in 2003 and 2004, and she is still competing at a high level for Western Illinois, hoping to lead the Leathernecks to a Summit League title in 2010.
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