Softball places fifth in HCAC preseason poll

CARMEL, Ind. – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) announced the results of the Softball preseason poll, with Transylvania University voted to finish first in the 2022 season and the Yellow Jackets picked to finish fifth.

The Pioneers took first in a vote of league coaches, with 60 points and five first-place votes. Mount St. Joseph University finished in second with three first-place nods, en route to 57 points. Anderson University snagged third with 48 points, while Hanover College (40) placed fourth. Defiance placed fifth with 39 points.

Five Yellow Jackets, including reigning HCAC Player of the Year senior Kalin Hubble, were named to the Players to Watch list. Hubble is joined on the watchlist by senior Sophie Moller and junior Marissa Roberts both of whom were named First Team All-HCAC last season. Also earning spots on the watchlist were junior Josilyn Guzman, who earned Second Team All-HCAC honors last season, and graduate student Taylor Biggs, who got an honorable mention all-conference nod in 2021.

Hubble was voted the HCAC Player of the Year and First Team All-HCAC last season after leading Defiance in batting average (.437), home runs (nine), doubles (16), extra-base hits (26), total bases (100), walks (10), runs batted in (45), on-base percentage (.475) and slugging percentage (.794). Last season she set single-season school records for doubles and RBIs, and broke the Yellow Jackets' career mark for homers (now at 21). Heading into the 2022 season Hubble is ninth in program history career runs with 85 and tied for seventh in RBIs with 87.

Moller batted .350 with three doubles, two homers, and 32 RBIs in 2021 while drawing nine walks with only seven strikeouts in 137 plate appearances. She led DC in putouts with 171, making only three errors in 198 total chances for a .985 fielding percentage. Moller also tied for the team lead in sacrifice hits with seven. She threw out 15 base runners trying to steal, topping the conference, and ranking among the HCAC leaders in sacrifice flies, sacrifice bunts, and RBIs.

Roberts broke the Defiance's single-season hits in 2021 with 58. She also posted a .423 batting average with 11 doubles, a .451 on-base percentage, and a .504 slugging percentage while pacing the squad in plate appearances (145), at-bats (137), and runs scored (36).

Guzman stole a team-best seven bases while hitting .350 with six doubles, three home runs, nine walks, and 19 RBIs. She registered a .405 on-base percentage and a .475 slugging percentage during the 2021 season.

Biggs led Yellow Jacket hurlers in pitching appearances (24), starts (19), wins (eight), saves (one), innings (116.2), strikeouts (87), and strikeouts per game (5.22). Last season she was among the best in the conference in strikeouts looking with 33. Entering the 2022 campaign she is tied for first program history in career saves with four, is sixth in career strikeouts with 167, and is tied for ninth in career wins with 20.

Defiance finished 16-21-1 overall and an even 8-8 in conference play (tied for fifth place) in 2021, just missing out of an HCAC Championship tournament bid a tiebreaker.