ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Celebrating 25 years of women's sports in the Missouri Valley Conference, Missouri State Athletics Hall of Famer Barb Gaines represented the Missouri State softball team on the MVC Softball 25-Year Anniversary Team, announced by the league Thursday.
 
Gaines put together an outstanding career for the SMS softball Bears, starring as an infielder from 1990 to 1993. Gaines became the first MSU softball All-America pick as a senior in 1993. She was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America Third Team after authoring one of the most outstanding careers in the program's history. Gaines was inducted into the Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000.
 
A native of St. Louis, Mo., Gaines became the first softballer in the combined history of the Gateway/Missouri Valley Conferences to win all-league honors four years in a row. Gaines closed her career with five SMS single season records and eight career marks.
 
She still holds the school career records for hits (252), batting average (.403) and total chances (1,287), is second in at-bats (626), ranks third in stolen bases (58) and putouts (1,013), and is fourth in runs (113). In her freshman season of 1990, Gaines batted a team-high .354 and led the club in runs, hits, walks and at bats. Gaines led the 1991 squad with a .388 batting average, paced the team in at bats, runs, hits, stolen bases and fielding average, and was selected to the all-Midwest Region second team.
 
During her junior year, she set team single season records for hits (75), at bats (180), runs (39) and batting average (.419), finishing 19th nationally in hitting. She became the first SMS softball All-America as a senior in 1993 when she was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America third team.
 
She enjoyed a brilliant senior year, ranking among the national top 10 in hitting most of the year on her way to a school record .442 mark. She also led the Valley in hits (69). Following the season, she was named to the Academic all-MVC first team. She was voted Missouri Valley co-MVP after hitting .507 in 18 league games.
 
She was named to the SMS All-Decade team in 1991-92 in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the Gateway Conference. Gaines received the SMS Outstanding Female Athlete Award in 1992 and 1993, becoming the first person to earn that honor in back-to-back years. On April 20, 2013, she became the first player to have her jersey retired by the Missouri State softball program.
 
Team composition for each sport has been determined by a 25-person committee (two representatives from each MVC institution and a panel of five voters from the Conference office).  The team composition includes years in which league teams competed under the MVC umbrella during the past 25 years (1992-2017) and does not include competition from the current season.
 
Missouri Valley Conference Women's Softball 25-Year Team
Tara Oltman* – Creighton, 2007-10
Renae Sinkler – Creighton, 2007-10
Dani Tyler – Drake, 19922-95
Jessica Huff – Evansville, 1998-2001
Heather Stella – Illinois State, 1996-99
Kara Nelson – Illinois State, 2007-11
Barb Gaines – Missouri State, 1990-93
Lindsay Wood Stanford – UNI, 1999-2002
Amy Harre – Southern Illinois, 2002-05
Erin Stremsterfer Campbell – Southern Illinois, 1998-2001
 
*denotes No. 1 choice in balloting
 
The Missouri Valley Conference was founded in 1907 and is the nation's second oldest Division I athletics conference. Women's sports were incorporated into the MVC in 1992, having previously competed under the Gateway Conference banner from 1982-92.