Jackie Rice pitched for elite-level softball teams for two decades, including the 1964 Erv Lind Florists national champions, before beginning a long career as coach and administrator at Western Oregon University.

As a player, Rice is best known as the star pitcher for the Erv Lind Florists in 1963 and ’64. She took over the primary pitching duties in 1963 after Louise Mazzuca, who pitched the team to the national final in 1959 and ’60, moved to the Whittier Park, Calif., Gold Sox. In the 1964 national tournament, Rice pitched four shutouts and the team won its second championship.

In 1969, she moved to California and pitched the Orange County Lionettes to the 1969 national championship. That team played in the first international championship tournament, losing 1-0 to the host Japanese team in the final. Following the 1969 season, Rice, who had completed a degree from the University of Oregon in 1962, moved to Western Oregon State College in Monmouth and coached teams in softball, track and field and field hockey.

She was inducted to the ASA Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1989. She is also a member of the Western Oregon University Hall of Fame and the NAIA District II Hall of Fame.