Westfield native Donna McLean was an All-America and All New England softball player at Westfield State College from 1984-87. A double threat as a pitcher and power hitter, McLean still holds 22 school records. 

The pitcher/outfielder made an immediate impact in her first softball season at Westfield State when she garnered second team All America accolades by hitting .419 with a school-record 35 RBI, seven home runs and five triples. 

A four-time all-conference and All New England selection, McLean led the Owls to an NCAA Tournament berth in 1985 and the 1987 ECAC championship. She holds career hitting records for doubles (26), triples (12), home runs (12), and RBI (98). McLean’s career batting average is .387, with a season-best .448 in 1987 when she pounded a school record 17 doubles. She also displayed outstanding speed by stealing 56 bases in 62 career attempts. 

McLean holds nearly every Westfield State pitching record, including inning pitched (174), strikeouts (121), and victories (16) in a season (1985), and inning pitched (456), victories (39) and 
strikeouts (354) in a career. 

McLean also played three years of basketball at Westfield State and was the team’s second leading scorer behind WSC Hall of Fame inductee Beth Hennessy. 

McLean gained recognition as an outstanding athlete at Westfield High School, where she earned All-State honors in softball and basketball. But she began making a name for herself as a talented 10-year-old when she was the first girl to play in the Westfield Little League boys’ program in 1975. She proved that she belonged when she was selected to the Little League All-Star team in 1977. 

Despite ending her collegiate career 18 years ago, McLean still excels on the softball diamond as a star right fielder for the national champion Brakettes, a semi-pro fastpitch team from Stratford, Conn. She has played for the nationally acclaimed Connecticut club for the past 13 years with a career batting average of .296 in 617 games. The veteran player was a first-team All American during the Brakettes’ 2004 championship run and a second-team All American in 2000. 

During her first tour of duty with the Brakettes in 1987-89, McLean set a team record with 10 RBI in a game when she also hit for the cycle. She is among the career leaders in games played, hits, runs scored, doubles and triples. 

A graphics art major at Westfield State, the Torrington, Conn., resident is employed as a supervisor for the advertising research department at Nielsen Media Research in Shelton, Conn. Also, she has served as an assistant softball coach at Stratford High School for the past two years, and was an assistant coach at the University of Bridgeport from 1996-99. 
2005