A Youngstown, Ohio, native, Barb Nick played both basketball and softÂball for the Penguins between 1979 and 1983, earning eight letters when the final gun had sounded on her brilliant collegiate career.
Earning letters while excelling in sports came rather easily to her as she earned eight letters at nearby Ursuline High School as a member of the basketball and track and field squads (she earned four in each sport), then chose to atÂtend Youngstown State University
upon graduation to play both basketball for than Head Coach Joyce Ramsey, and softball for first-year head mentor Bill Wolf.
She helped the Lady Penguin cage team to a combined 54-38 overall mark during their transition from a Division II entry, to their formative years in the Ohio Valley Conference and Division I status, scoring 154 career points and grabbing 72 caroms in 74 total games as one of the team's valuable "super subs."
It was on the softball diamond, however, that she is most remembered and where she was able to really make an impact. The team was making the transition from slo-pitch to fast-pitch status, and upon her arrival, became a member of a team that was set to defend their two consecutive OAISW (Ohio Association of Intercollegiate Sports for Women) state titles on the fast-pitch side of the ledger.
They were the 1978 and 1979 Ohio State Slo-Pitch Champions under then Head Coach Pauline Saternow, and when she was forced to the sideline due to illness prior to the season, Bill Wolf (former cager under Dom Rosselli and current Penguin assistant cage coach) took over for the remainder of the season and with the help of a freshman named Barb Nick, proceeded to lead the team to their third straight OAISW crown and their first of the fast-pitch variety. They were 14-6 overall.
She holds the record for most hits in a game (four, done on two separate occasions), most home runs in a career (five) and most RBI's in a game (six), and is still second in most triples in a season and career, as well as home runs in a season. With 33runs batted in, that places her sixth on the all-time list as well.
With a .481 batting average for a season, she set the standard by which future Lady Penguin softball players will be judged while she is still tops in highest career batting average (.359), highest slugging percentage in a season (.730) and highest slugging perÂcentage in a career (.508).
She earned her AB degree in Health and Physical EducaÂtion in 1984.
Currently employed by George Tablack in the city of Youngstown's auditor's office, she and her husband David reside in Youngstown.
She has a stepson, David, also.
