NFCA 2021 NCAA DII All-American Teams
D2CCA 2021 NCAA DII All-American Teams
A year ago, as she informed Hillsdale College head coach Kyle Gross she was returning for a fifth year with the Charger softball program in the spring of 2021, senior Sam Catron set a lofty goal for herself -- to play at an All-American level in her final season.
Mission accomplished.
Catron was named a 2nd team All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association on Tuesday afternoon, and a third team All-American by the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association on Wednesday afternoon, becoming just the fourth player in program history to earn All-American honors, and the first to earn All-American status from both of the top awards organizations in the sport in the same season. She joins Hillsdale College Athletic Hall of Famer Renae Schaffner, a 1989 NAIA second-team All-American, Jessica Guertin, a 2010 Daktronics third-team All-American, and former teammate Katie Kish, a 2018 NFCA second-team All-American, on the list of Charger softball players to earn an All-American honor.
The senior second baseman from Medina, Ohio had an unforgettable and record-setting final season for the Chargers in 2021, batting .385 and finishing in the top-10 all-time in Charger history for a single season in seven offensive categories.
Catron broke the single season school-record with 50 RBIs, surpassing Jessica Guertin's mark of 49 set in her All-American season in 2010, and also hit 20 doubles, tying Brecken Libbe's single-season school record set in 2008. She also finished the season with the second-most home runs (14) and runs scored (52) in a single season in Hillsdale history, and ranks third in single-season at bats (174) and in slugging percentage for a single season (.741), while also finishing seventh in single-season hits (67) as well. While her bat got most of the attention, her .978 fielding percentage and 100 assists rank her among the best defensive second basemen in the country as well.
Her excellent 2021 has Catron in rarified company on the Chargers' all-time career lists. She's in the top 10 in five categories on Hillsdale's career lists: second in home runs (23) and doubles (50), fourth in RBIs (121), fifth in walks (52) and sixth in total hits (187).
Along the way, she helped lead the 2021 Charger squad to one of its best seasons in school history. Her walk-off single in a 1-0 extra-inning win over Ohio Dominican in the NCAA Tournament secured the 2021 team's 33rd win, the third best mark in program history and its best record since 1991. That victory also gave Hillsdale just its fourth NCAA tournament win in program history, and secured the deepest run in an NCAA Regional bracket since the Chargers joined Division II in 1990.
That the honor comes in a year when her softball career was already supposed to be over makes it even sweeter. An incoming freshman in 2016, Catron was originally supposed to graduate in 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced the sudden cancelation of the 2020 campaign and seemingly ended Catron's career early.
The cancelation also created an opportunity, however. The NCAA extended a waiver to all spring sports athletes affected by the cancelation, allowing them to return for an extra season of eligibility. Catron made the tough choice to put her post-collegiate plans on hold and play one more season of softball with the Chargers in 2021, determined to make the most of the opportunity.
Now, a year after she made the choice to return, it's clear Catron has done just that, and both her and the Charger softball program are reaping the benefits.
Catron graduated from Hillsdale College earlier in May with a dual major in Exercise Science and Sports Management, and has accepted a position as the Administrative Assistant for Gateway Sports Complex in Cleveland, Ohio. No matter where her life takes her from here, she'll always have a place at Hillsdale -- both in the softball program's record books, and in the memories of those who got to follow her amazing final campaign.
Photo Credit: Ashley Cefali/Grand Valley St. Athletics