The Cal 100: No. 32 -- Michele Granger

Ace left-hander set NCAA records at Cal, then won the 1996 Olympic gold-medal game while 3 months pregnant.

We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.

No. 32: Michele Granger

Cal Sports Connection: Granger was a four-time All-American for the Bears, pitching 25 no-hitters and setting an NCAA record for career strikeouts.

Claim to Fame: While secretly 3 months pregnant, she pitched the U.S. to a 3-1 victory over China in the gold-medal game of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

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The first time I saw Michele Granger pitch was on a fall morning in the early 1990s. I walking through the south entrance of Memorial Stadium on a rainy day and she was throwing to her catcher, sheltered from the elements.

Two things jumped out:

First, her ball actually whistled as it left her hand and jetted 43 feet to the catcher. And then, in an instant, THWACK! as it hit the glove.

I was impressed, maybe even a little intimidated.

The last time I saw Granger pitch was in front of a capacity crowd of 9,000 at Golden Park Stadium in Columbus, Georgia. It was the gold medal game of the first Olympic softball tournament in 1996. Granger was in the circle for Team USA against China.

She pitched 5 2/3 innings, striking out eight and allowing one unearned run in a 3-1 victory.

The Chinese had to be impressed, maybe even a little intimidated.

And they didn’t even know Granger was three months pregnant with her first child at the time.

Almost no one knew, in fact. Only her husband and her doctor.

Michele Granger / Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

“It wasn’t going to be a physical factor for me, and I didn’t want it to be a factor (with anyone else),” she told me in a 2004 interview for the Oakland Tribune. “I didn’t want it to affect decisions about playing time … about whether (they) would have started me in the gold-medal game.”

Granger — the greatest softball player in Golden Bears’ history and one of the most dominating pitchers the NCAA has seen — is No. 32 in The Cal 100.

She was spectacular from the start, even as a 14-year-old, when she pitched the Santa Monica Raiders to an 18-and-under national championship.

When she was 16, Granger threw a no-hitter and a perfect game for Team USA at the age-group world championships. A year later, she helped the U.S. win gold at the Pan American Games.

In the meantime, Granger was too much for opponents while pitching for Valencia High School in Orange County. From 1985-88, the 5-foot-11 left-hander threw 36 no-hitters, struck out 1,635 batters — including 21 in a seven-inning game twice — fashioned a ridiculous 0.10 earned run average.

Michele Granger was dominant during her Cal career / Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

There was no letup when she got to Cal, earning first-team All-America honors four times while compiling a record of 119-52 with 94 shutouts, 25 no-hitters, five perfect games and an 0.46 ERA. Her no-hit totals and perfect games remain Pac-12 records more than 30 years later.

Her 1,640 career strikeouts sprinted past the existing NCAA record of 1,234. Among those, she whiffed 484 batters in 321 innings as a senior.

"She throws harder than any woman in the country—probably in the world," former Arizona coach and 2004 U.S. Olympic coach Mike Candrea told Sports Illustrated in 1993. "I wish to hell we had her.”

At least a couple of other Cal star athletes — Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray of the basketball team—got it in their heads they they could turn on Granger’s best stuff. "They think they can take me deep," she told SI. "I told Jason I won't throw to him. He's worth too much now. He could sue.”

Granger almost gave up on softball after graduating, frustrated the sport wasn’t added to the Olympics. Things changed when the Games were awarded to Atlanta and softball was part of the program.

She helped the U.S. to a world championship in 1994 and a Pan American gold in ’95.

After her playing days, Granger, now 53, raised four kids coached high school, junior college and at both Cal Poly and Tennessee, where she worked with pitchers.

On Nov. 9, 2006, Granger was honored three times in the same day, inducted into the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame, the USA Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame and the International Softball Federation Hall of Fame.

But the Olympics was her peak experience. She pitched the first game in Olympic softball history, and was 2-0 in three appearances, striking out 25 batters in 16 innings and allowing just two earned runs.

The gold-medal triumph was the final game of her career.

“Obviously,” she said, “it’s something I’m going to remember forever.”

-- No. 33: Kevin Moen & Gary Tyrrell

Cover photo of Michele Granger courtesy of Cal Athletics

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo