Gardner was a right-handed pitcher for the Michigan Wolverines softball team from 1985 to 1988 and for the Raybestos Brakettes from 1994 to 1995.
That year, she compiled a 0.94 earned run average against Big Ten Conference opponents and was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and Michigan's Most Valuable Player; she was also named to the NFCA All-Mideast Region team in 1988.
The Brakettes dominated the sport, winning 34 national championship games from 1958 to 1993 in the Women's World softball tournaments.
In a 2000 profile on the Brakettes, The New York Times wrote that pitchers Joan Joyce, Bolster and others "made the team virtually unbeatable.
[5] On August 3, 2023, Gardner was announced as part of the five-member Class of 2023, to be inducted into the Nevada Athletics Hall of Fame.