Junior transfer Lindsey LaChiana knew that she wanted out of Loyola even before Ramblers softball coach Jamie Gillies resigned last season.

“There were a lot of reasons I left,” LaChiana said, “but in general I didn’t like Loyola, and there were some teammates I didn’t get along with.”

LaChiana weighed her options, and in the end, NIU softball coach Donna Martin became the recipient of the 2003 Co-Horizon League Pitcher of the Year and Loyola’s record holder for most strikeouts (206) in a season.

“She throws harder than [NIU senior pitcher Kathy] Dearborn,” Martin said, “but she’s also pretty accurate.”

LaChiana’s 233 innings pitched and strikeout record were second in the Horizon League. The Oak Lawn native also finished with a 1.89 era and pitched 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in Loyola’s 4-0 loss to UIC May 16 in the conference championship game.

NIU’s new pitching coach Keith Berg said LaChiana is currently its No. 1 pitcher.

“She’s very driven,” Berg said. “She has the tenacity to carry this team as far as it can go.”

Berg replaces assistant Ali Peltz, who left to pursue her master’s degree.

Hailing from Salinas, Calif., Berg will be in his first year of coaching softball at the collegiate level. The 42-year-old said he has coached teams against international competition and had numerous pitchers go on to play in the PAC-10 conference.

“I have the experience to work at the college level,” Berg said.

LaChiana said she respects Berg because he critiques everything and is all about perfection.

If anything, NIU took Berg’s words to heart this fall, going 8-3-1 in their fall slate of games.

The Huskies opened with a 2-2-1 record after games on Sept. 18 and 19 at the Chicagoland Fall Classic in Orland Park, with one of their wins coming against Loyola.

LaChiana held her former team to one run and four hits over seven innings to earn the win. NIU was behind until it exploded for six runs in the top of the sixth inning behind Dearborn’s three-run triple.

Martin said she will look to Dearborn, as well as junior Kelly Drozd and fifth-year senior Megan Meyer, to lead NIU’s group of seven newcomers in 2005.

The team will be losing Amy Krahula, Annie Johnson and Kelly Redican to graduation. However, Lacey Gones, Kristen Kratky, Kara Schuur and Amy West also are leaving the team.

Martin would not comment on their departure.

Meyer returns to the team after receiving a medical redshirt for missing last season with a knee injury and Drozd was third on NIU this fall with her .314 batting average.

As for Dearborn, the Geneseo native led NIU with a .429 batting average during the fall season as it finished by winning six of its last seven games and the Stone City Collegiate Fall Fling in Joliet with a 4-1 record.