BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- Bridgewater State University softball coaching legend Dee Dee Enabenter has been elected to the inaugural class of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Hall of Fame.

Enabenter is one of six individual inductees in the inaugural hall of fame class. She is joined by the three original founders of the MASCAC, Paul Bogan, Howard Smith and James Sullivan; Salem State's three-time women's basketball All-American, Evelyn Oquendo; and Westfield State hockey stand-out, Peter Laviolette. The 1980 Worcester State women's basketball squad was also selected in the team category.

Dee Dee was both an outstanding student-athlete and coach at her alma mater. From 1980 to 1983 she played on the Bridgewater State basketball and softball teams, captaining both her senior year. In 1984, she became the Bears' head softball coach, a position she held for 16 years through 2000. She is presently the softball team's all-time winningest coach with an overall record of 429-153-3 (.736).

During Dee Dee's tenure, the BSU softball team made 13 postseason appearances, including 12 trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament, with 1994 being the top season in program history as the Bears advanced to the NCAA Division III Championship finals after capturing the Ithaca Regional title. The Bears would fall to Trenton State in the national championship round, 6-5. Dee Dee was named the National Softball Coaches Association (NSCA) Division III Coach of the Year for the outstanding 1994 campaign.

Bridgewater State would also capture back-to-back New England Regional championships in 1998 and 1999 and advance to the finals. In her final season at BSU in 2000, the softbal coaching staff was named the New England Region Coaching Staff of the Year by National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).

A three-time MASCAC Coach of the Year (1998, 1999, 2000), Dee Dee was selected to coach the Nigerian national team in the 1995 African Games in Botswana, Africa.

Following the 2000 season, Dee Dee left her alma mater to purse her lifelong dream of coaching at the Division I level at San Jose State University in California. She guided the Spartans to a school-record 36-win season in 2005 and was named the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Coach of the Year in 2006. After six seasons at San Jose State, Dee Dee moved back to New England to become the head coach of the Brown University softball team. She coached the Bears for six seasons from 2007 to 2012.

The inductees will be recognized at a formal MASCAC Hall of Fame induction during the 2017-2018 academic year. The induction which will be coupled with a MASCAC athletic championship or event at the site in which the individual competed, coached, or served as an administrator.