(Editor's note: This is the second in a series of feature profiles on this year's Hall of Fame and Wall of Honor selections that will be posted every Thursday, leading up to the Nov. 22 Hall of Fame banquet.)

 
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
           
With the trademark dark sunglasses and a locker stuffed with hair products, Lisa Ferguson had a distinctive look that made her a memorable presence in the softball circle.
           
But, it also left her open to good-natured ribbing from Baylor softball assistant coach Mark Lumley. "He always made fun of my hair, and he still tries to tease me," she said.
           
Her pitching was no laughing matter, though. She led the Lady Bears to four NCAA regionals and their first Women's College World Series appearance as a senior in 2007, when she was 26-8 with a 1.96 ERA, nine shutouts, four saves and 189 strikeouts in earning first-team All-Big 12 honors.
           
"We had a lot of young girls that just walked in and believed that we could do it," she said of making it to the World Series, "so it really helped the rest of us believe we could do it. We just came together and played."
           
Now Lisa Ferguson Murphy, the former pitching ace will be inducted into the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame at the Nov. 22 banquet and will be honored with the rest of the 2019 class the next day at the Baylor-Texas football game at McLane Stadium. 
           
"My teammate, Chelsi (Lake Reichenstein), got elected last year, so it's really cool to know that I'll be able to join her," Murphy said. "We actually haven't been able to make it to a football game in the new stadium, so we are really excited about going to a football game and getting to see everybody and spend a weekend in Waco."
           
Murphy and Reichenstein were part of a 2003 signing class that helped put Baylor softball on the map.
           
"It really made us appreciate it, because I got in the year after they had a really tough season just because all of their pitchers were hurt," Murphy said of a 2003 season that saw Baylor finish 31-29 overall and 3-15 in the Big 12. "It made us appreciate earning it and keeping it through the four years."
           
With veteran pitchers Katie Decker and Tessa Lynam still bothered by injuries, Murphy became a solid No. 2 pitcher as a freshman in backing up Cristen Vitek. Two games into her college career, she threw a no-hitter with six strikeouts in a 2-0, eight-inning win over Auburn at the Getterman Classic.
           
"At 18 years old, I don't think I understood how big of a deal that was," she said. "I didn't understand how much higher that level of play was. I knew it was hard, but I was so young and naïve that I was just like, 'Yeah, all right, we got a no-hitter. Cool.' I just remember I didn't have a lot of strikeouts, so it was a whole team effort."
           
After three regional appearances, and coming one win shy of the World Series in 2005 with a Super Regional loss to California, Baylor put together one of the best seasons in program history in 2007. The Lady Bears won their first and only Big 12 championship, swept through a regional in Hempstead, N.Y., and beat Michigan in the Super Regional to earn their first trip to the World Series in Oklahoma City.
           
"We came out that first night and run-ruled (Michigan, 9-0), so it really set the table for the next day, even though we lost the next game," said Murphy, who pitched two shutouts in the Super Regional. "It just made us believe that we belonged in the World Series. It was unbelievable winning that game and knowing we were going to get to play with the last eight teams in the country."
           
As the No. 8 seed, Baylor was paired against top-seeded Arizona in the opening round of the World Series, but had beaten the Wildcats twice during the regular season. Head coach Glenn Moore said at the time that it was "probably the best weekend in Getterman Stadium history."
           
"As tough as that seed looked to everyone else in the country, in our heads we were like, 'Well we beat them twice this year, so we belong,''' Murphy said.
           
Locked in a pitchers' duel with Arizona's Taryne Mowatt through the first eight innings, Murphy gave up a walk-off homer to Kristie Fox in the bottom of the ninth as the Wildcats advanced with a 2-1 win and went on to capture the national championship.
           
"I didn't think it was out at all, and it was such a bad pitch," she said. "She hit it, and it was just one of those that kept going. That's a moment that still pops in my head from time to time."
           
Two days later, Murphy got the win in a 7-4 victory over Texas A&M in a loser's bracket game before the Lady Bears were eliminated by Northwestern, 7-0.
           
"We had a good camaraderie with A&M. We always wanted to beat them, they always wanted to beat us, but we really liked each other," she said. "We wanted to win and not go home, but we hated that we had to knock them out to stay in."
           
As for the trademark shades, Murphy said she was told early on by a family doctor that she needed to wear a hat or sunglasses every time she was in the sun because of her fair complexion. But, she didn't wear them until college "and it really got hard to pitch into the sun without sunglasses."
           
"As a kid, that doesn't really sink in," she said. "It just kind of started, and then it became a thing, so it just made it fun."
           
After graduating from Baylor, Murphy spent three years as the pitching coach at the University of North Texas and now does private lessons as a pitching coach in Fort Worth.
           
"I have some girls that get a little emotional at times, and I'll tell them, 'Maybe you should wear sunglasses, that way the hitter can't see what you're thinking,''' Murphy said. "It's harder to see emotion, and you can't read the eyes or see what I'm thinking unless my whole face shows it."
           
More than a decade later, Murphy still holds the school's all-time record with 19 saves and ranks top five in career wins (82, 2^nd), strikeouts (610, T-4^th), shutouts (29, 3^rd), complete games (64, 3^rd) and ERA (1.80, 5^th).
           
Lisa and her husband, Duncan Murphy, have a 4-year-old daughter, Cora, and live in Fort Worth.
           
Murphy is part of the 2019 Hall of Fame class that includes former All-Americans Ryan Baca from men's golf and Lauren Hagans Paquette from track & field, football's Steve Beaird, John Adickes and Robin Jones, baseball's Josh Ford and Curtis Jerrells from men's basketball. Additionally, Mark Hurd and Jody Conradt will be added to the Wall of Honor. 
           
The Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, in the Brazos Room at the Waco Convention Center. Tickets cost $50 per person, with table sponsorships also available for $600 (green) and $800 (gold), and can be purchased by contacting the "B" Association at 254-710-3045 or by email at Tammy_Hardin@baylor.edu.