The ACU softball team put another season in the books with their final game of the season against the Houston Baptist Huskies.
The team completed their first three game conference series sweep, taking each game in convincing fashion.
Senior pitcher Emily Seidel finished her final season with the Wildcats strong.
“The sweep of the Huskies meant everything to us,” said Seidel, “Getting a sweep was kind of a fairy-tale ending for me, especially being the winning pitcher and getting a hit in my last game ever. I don’t think I could’ve ended my career in a better way.”
Seidel ended the year with 90 strike outs this season, sixth most in the Southland Conference.
With the early ruling of sophomore pitcher Hannah Null being out for the entire season, Seidel had to step up not just for Null but also for her teammates. She was also second in conference with 186 innings pitched.
Head coach Bobby Reeves had another weapon in his arsenal with junior transfer pitcher, Julia Montoya.
Montoya closed her season strong with two wins in the doubleheader sweep against the Huskies. She relived Seidel in the first game and started the second game, totaling 9.2 innings in which she allowed just one unearned run.
Montoya, like Seidel stepped up for her team when it was needed. She’s pitched her way out of several jams throughout the season including this weekend when she got ACU out of a hole in the fifth inning of game one.
Freshman infielder, Peyton Hedrick closed her first season for the ‘Cats with outstanding numbers and was even named a finalist for the NFCA Freshman of the Year award. She was named First-Team All-Conference with a batting average of .432, 12 home runs, a slugging percentage of .800 and 45 runs batted in, all ranking in the top ten in the conference.
She was one of eight freshman Bobby Reeves utilized this season in a majority of his lineup. Despite such a young lineup with inexperience at the collegiate level, ACU finished their second year in Division I with the leagues fifth-highest batting average at .288. They also tied for the third-lowest amount of errors with 57.
Sophomore outfielder, Taylor Brown was another key player for Reeves. Brown, who was named to the Second-Team All-Conference along with Alyson Bishoff, broke the school record for triples slamming out 11 this season. Holly Neese was named to the honorable mentions list for All-Conference.
Brown was the first Southland player to rip 10 or more triples since 2002.
Though the girls may have finished this season with a 14-33 record overall and a conference record of 8-19, the tenacity and effort ACU put into this season was more than that. With the switch to Division I still fresh, the transitioning period is still occurring but Seidel couldn’t be more proud of her team.
“My teammates are so talented, and I can’t wait to see what they accomplish next year,” Seidel said, “I think this team has an amazing future ahead of it. And I’m going to take away a ton of life lessons about staying tough and fighting through hard situations.”
