Sam Catron has had a career to remember for the Hillsdale College softball team.
The fifth-year senior is having her best season yet in a year she never expected to be playing.
Catron was set to exhaust her eligibility and graduate last spring, but the cancellation of the Spring 2020 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic gave her an extra season to play, and she's making the most of it.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference office announced that Catron had been named the league's Softball Player of the Week for the first time in her career.
Catron had a wild week to help lead the Chargers to a 4-1 record on the back half of their spring break trip, sweeping Erskine 12-4 and 9-7 on Monday and taking two wins in a three-game series against Flagler later that week.
The senior from Medina, Ohio hit .527 across the five games with two doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs to lead the Charger bats, including at least one hit in all five contests.
In the doubleheader against Erskine, Catron provided the go-ahead runs in the top of the sixth inning with a two-run home run in the Chargers' 12-4 game 1 win, and hit another two-run home run in the top of the fifth in the second game to spark six unanswered runs in a 9-7 victory as well.
Catron is having an excellent season so far, posting the best on-base percentage (.403) and slugging percentage (.594) so far while matching her career high in home runs (4) in just 22 games. For her career, she's already in the top ten all-time at Hillsdale in doubles (9th, 36), home runs (9th, 13), RBIs (10th, 86) and walks (9th, 46) with half of her final season still to be played. She also has a chance of making the top 10 in total hits as well this season with a strong finish.
Catron and the Chargers open G-MAC play this weekend with a doubleheader at Lake Erie on Saturday.
Photo by Kasidy Carson