Season Review: Softball team was off to great start in abbreviated 2020 campaign
By Tim Glon
ADA — The Ohio Northern softball team was riding a 4-game winning streak when its 2020 season was ended prematurely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Fourth-year head coach Jackie Price had guided the Polar Bears to a 7-3 record during its 10-game annual spring break trip to Clermont, Fla.
Northern won its final four games, defeating Concordia (Minn.) 2-0, Saint Joseph's (Maine) 13-5, Roanoke (Va.) 6-5 and Chatham (Pa.) 21-1 and was riding a wave of confidence and momentum as the team headed back North.
That was all the softball that was going to be played unfortunately as the Ohio Athletic Conference and the NCAA canceled the remaining spring seasons on March 12.
"I was very disappointed to see the season come to an end early, especially after spring break," Price said. "I felt like we had something special going this season. We had great leadership from our upperclassmen and had a lot of the young kids starting to step up. I truly believe this season would have been an entire team effort because of the amount of talent we had in each position. I was sad to see the season end after our awesome spring break trip but I am excited to see what's in store for 2021."
Senior Gabby Stewart (Union, Ky./St. Henry) was named First Team Academic All-America in voting conducted by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Stewart, a catcher majoring in nursing, was hitting .393 with three home runs and nine RBI through 10 games this season.
The OAC did not give out All-Conference awards due to the abbreviated season, but five Polar Bears received Academic All-Conference accolades.
Senior Alicia Swierz (Deerfield/Southeast) and sophomores Abby Elliott (Loveland/Ursuline), Amanda Hish (Gainesville, Va./Patriot), Rachel Hish (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) and Stacey Walters (Sunbury/Big Walnut) all earned the honor.
Senior Brady Guest (Convoy/Crestview) was named the OAC Hitter of the Week on March 9, leading the team with a .517 batting average and 11 RBI during the spring break trip.
Swierz hit .387 with a team-best seven runs scored and seven RBI in nine games and senior Jordan Cloonan (Kirtland/Cornerstone Christian) hit .462 in five games.
In the circle, a balanced group of three pitchers shared time with solid results.
Freshman Allie Bican (Solon) was 1-1 with a 2.28 ERA and a team-best 23 strikeouts in 27.2 innings, Walters was 3-1 with a 3.96 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 23 innings and sophomore Kaitlyn Hagarty (Akron/Revere) was 3-1 with a 4.20 ERA and seven punchouts in 16.2 innings.
The NCAA has allowed all spring sports student/athletes a fifth season of eligibility, opening the door for any or all of ONU's nine seniors to return in 2021.