A historic season for Hillsdale College softball senior Sam Catron is beginning to earn some large-scale recognition from national organizations.
Catron became just the third Charger softball player in the last decade to earn first-team All-Midwest Region honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association on Wednesday as national awards season kicked off for the sport.
The senior second baseman from Medina, Ohio is having a final season to remember for the Chargers in 2021, batting .400 and finishing in the top-10 all-time in Charger history for a single season in six offensive categories.
Catron hit 20 doubles, tying Brecken Libbe's single-season school record set in 2008, and also finished the season with the second-most home runs (14), runs scored (52) and RBIs (47) all-time in Hillsdale history. She also finished third in slugging percentage for a single season (.787) and in the top 10 in single-season hits (64) as well, and her .984 fielding percentage and 90 assists rank her among the best defensive second basemen in the region as well.
Her excellent 2021 has Catron in rarified company on the Chargers' all-time career lists as well. She's in the top 10 in five categories on Hillsdale's career lists, including second in home runs (23) and doubles (50), and fourth in RBIs (118).
Catron joins former teammates Bekah Kastning (2017) and Katie Kish (2018) in being named first-team All-Region by the NFCA.
The Chargers had two other players earn second-team All-Midwest region honors. Senior Madison Stoner earned a second-team nod as the team's catcher, after a season where she led the Chargers in batting average (.460) and on-base percentage (.517), and finished in the top 10 in the G-MAC in seven offensive categories, and in the top five in six.
Both Stoner's batting average (.460) and slugging percentage (.708) rank in the top 10 all-time for a single season in Charger history, as does her eight home runs.
Junior outfielder Renee Bielawa earned second-team honors as well for Hillsdale. Bielawa batted .369 with 13 doubles, two triples, four home runs and 39 RBIs, finishing the season in the top 10 in the G-MAC in five offensive categories. She also was a strong defender in left field, finishing with a .949 fielding percentage and 35 putouts on the season.
More honors could be in store for the Chargers later this month, as the NFCA has yet to name All-American honorees, and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association has yet to announce its All-Region and All-American honorees as well.
The Chargers also are under consideration for a potential NCAA Division II tournament bid that could extend their season. Hillsdale will find out whether or not it's in the field at 10 p.m. on Sunday, May 16.