Karen Dromerhauser-Velardo

Induction Year: 2017

Category: Softball

Location: Bay Shore

She played softball at Bay Shore Hig School from 1992 to 1995.  According to her coach, Jim McGowan, also a SSHOF Inductee, she was the, ‘most prolific power hitter that Bay Shore ever produced, and possibly the best that Long Island has ever seen.’

She was a lefty catcher who players very rarely ran on.  She was a .489 hitter and batted .550 in 1994.

Bay Shore’s all-time leader in RBIs (202), home runs (38), doubles (30) and triples (19), She was a four-time All-County and All-State player and Bay Shore’s first All-American.

She went on to play softball at Molloy College and holds every significant offensive record at the school and was inducted into their Hall of Fame.

Among her achievements are the following Molloy All-Time records: First in slugging percentage (.827), first in doubles (49), first in home runs (27), first in RBI (183), second in batting average (.472), second in on base percentage (.510), second in fielding percentage (.963), third in hits (221), third in at bats (468) and third in triples (18).  In 1997, Karen was selected as the New York Collegiate Conference Rookie of the Year.  That same year, Karen was second in the NCAA for most home rums and led the NCAA with the most RBI.

Karen was selected to the NYCAC All-Conference team four consecutive years and finished her intercollegiate playing days among the All-Time NCAA leaders in the following categories: Sixth in slugging percentage (.827) and ninth in batting average (.472).  In 2000, Karen was selected to the North Atlantic Region All-Star team.  Upon graduation in May of 2000, Karen was selected to represent the United States in a Pre-Olympic tournament in Australia.  In the final game of the tournament, Karen hit a walk off grand slam for the United States.

After graduation, Karen worked at CBS Television as a Sales Assistant for Primetime Television and was a Production Coordinator for CBS’ the NFL Today Show.

A player for the USA International Softball Team and MVP in a title game, she was also a member of the 2015 New York State High School Hall of Fame.

Karen lives in Florida.