April 30, 2004
Chicago, Ill. - There may be no more mythic feat in sports than the home run. The perfect combination of power, timing, skill and luck, home runs are revered, and often retold in epic fashion with the situation grander and the ball soaring farther and higher with each retelling.
On a damp Thursday afternoon at Flames Field, a crowd of just over 200 fans saw UIC senior Amanda Rivera create her own story to be remembered and retold with one swing of the bat.
In the blink of an eye, Rivera sent an offering from DePaul All-American pitcher Sarah Martz rocketing over the leftfield fence and into history, as her 50th career home run came to rest where few, if any, softballs have ever traveled.
"When she is focused and locked in at the plate, she is a scary hitter," UIC Co-Head Coach Tom Gray said," This season she has made a conscious effort to come to the field every day that focused."
With the memory of that home run still fresh in the minds of Flames fans, it seemed the right time to look back at all 50 long-balls the greatest power hitter in UIC history has ever delivered.
The first of Rivera's career came on February 3rd, 2001, in her fourth career game versus UC-Riverside at the Long Beach State Tournament. She did it in front of her friends and family back in her native Southern California.
Her first game-winning home run also coincided with the first of six career homers against Cleveland State, as she helped the Flames avoid defeat with a three-run, walk-off blast in the eight-inning on April 22nd, 2001.
The six home runs versus Cleveland State is the most versus any opponent Rivera has faced, and ironically she faces those same Vikings this weekend in a three-game series.
On March 21, 2004, Rivera reached her first career goal by breaking the UIC career home run record set by former All-American Stefanie Christoferson. Rivera did it in memorable fashion with No. 38 coming as a game-winning three-run shot versus #10 Stanford.
On April 25, 2004, Rivera set another UIC record, this time reaching the school single-season homer record with her 16th of the year with a fifth-inning solo homer at Detroit.
The most memorable of the bunch is up for debate. It might be the game-winner at Cleveland that gets longer each time someone recalls it. Or it could be the laser shot off the scoreboard versus Youngstown State in Dayton, Ohio, back in 2002 that set the tone for the Flames' offensive explosion en route to the Horizon League Tournament title.
Let the debate roll on as we look back at all 50 of Rivera's career home runs.
Rivera's Career Home Runs
# 1 vs. UC-Riverside - 2/3/01 (First Career HR)
2 vs. Bethune-Cookman - 2/10/01
3 vs. Florida A&M - 3/10/01
4 vs. Tenn.-Martin - 3/24/01
5 at Eastern Illinois - 4/9/01
6 at DePaul - 4/18/01
7 at Cleveland State - 4/22/01 (Walk-Off Game-Winning HR)
8 Northern Illinois (GM 1) - 4/25/01 (First HR at Flames Field)
9 Northern Illinois (GM 2) - 4/25/01
10 Valparaiso - 5/2/01
11 South Florida - 5/7/01
12/13 vs. Cleveland State - 5/10/01 (MCC Tournament; First Multi-HR Game)
14 vs. New Mexico State - 2/1/02
15 vs. Rhode Island - 2/16/02
16 vs. Western Illinois - 2/17/02
17 vs. Utah - 2/24/02
18 vs. Drake - 3/1/02
19 vs. Hofstra - 3/7/02
20 vs. Tenn.-Chattanooga - 3/10/02
21 vs. Fordham - 3/21/02
22 at Cleveland State - 4/15/02
23 Purdue - 4/16/02
24 Wright State - 4/22/02
25 vs. Youngstown State - 5/9/02 (Horizon League Tournament First Round)
26 vs. Cleveland State - 5/10/02 (Horizon League Tournament Second Round)
27 vs. Butler - 5/11/02 (Horizon League Tournament Title Game)
28 vs. IPFW - 2/21/03
29 vs. Nevada - 2/22/03
30 at Santa Clara - 3/22/03
31 at Loyola - 3/30/03
32 Cleveland State - 4/18/03
33 vs. Long Beach State - 1/30/04
34 vs. Santa Clara - 1/31/04
35 vs. Texas State - 2/21/04
36 vs. Long Island - 3/4/04
37 vs. UC-Santa Barbara - 3/21/04
38 at Stanford - 3/21/04 (Breaks UIC career HR Record)
39 Loyola - 4/10/04
40/41 at Butler (GM 1) - 4/12/04 (Homers Twice in the same inning)
42 at Butler (GM 2) - 4/12/04 (Homers for the third time in four at-bats)
43/44 Valparaiso (GM 1) - 4/19/04 (Third Career Multi-HR Game)
45 Valparaiso (GM 2) - 4/19/04
46 at Detroit (GM 1) - 4/24/04
47 at Detroit (GM 2) - 4/24/04
48 at Detroit - 4/25/04 (Breaks UIC single-season home run record with 16th of the year)
49/50 DePaul - 4/29/04 (Fourth career multi-HR game)
