The last six years have been an amazing run for the Hillsdale College softball team, with four NCAA DII Tournament appearances, three G-MAC Tournament championships and a G-MAC regular season title.
Despite all that success, however, what's to come for the program could be even more amazing.
The Chargers return all but one player in 2024 from a 2023 squad that won 35 games, the most by a Hillsdale softball team in over three decades, won the G-MAC Tournament crown and reached the NCAA DII Tournament. With so much talent back, Hillsdale is setting ambitious goals for what could be a special season if everything comes together.
For the Chargers, it all starts with a pitching staff that could be the best in the Midwest at the NCAA DII level, and possibly the nation. Hillsdale has one of the country's top pitchers in junior Joni Russell, a consensus All-American and the G-MAC Pitcher of the Year in 2023 who finished in the top five in the nation in both ERA (0.76) and strikeouts (268).
Along with Russell, Hillsdale has a second pitcher who would be the unquestioned ace on many of the teams the Chargers will face this year in senior Erin Kapteyn, a two-time All-G-MAC honoree with 13 wins and a top-notch 1.95 ERA in 2023. Junior Emma Vis and sophomore Mackenzi Maxson are also quality pitchers and add depth to a staff that set a G-MAC record for team ERA with 1.71 in 2023.
The big key for the Chargers' hopes of an unprecedented season in 2024 lie in an improved offense to pair with the team's excellent pitching. Hillsdale does have one major loss to graduation to overcome in G-MAC Tournament MVP Jenna Cantalupo, but the rest of the lineup returns intact.
The Chargers got stronger at the plate as the season wore on and are hoping to carry that momentum into 2024. Four-year starter Hannah Holtman is one of the team's top bats at shortstop, while fellow seniors Grace Wallner and McKenna Eichholz are also dependable producers at the plate.
Hillsdale is hoping for continued development from a large sophomore class led by returning starters Emma Sather, Taylor Lewis and Maggie Olaveson, all of whom showed promise in 2023 and now have a year of experience to build on as hitters in 2024. The Chargers also return position players with significant experience at the plate in juniors Vis, Hannah Hoverman and Ashley Strick, and are hoping for a healthy return from Kay Suganuma, who missed almost all of last season with injuries but who will provide an injection of speed on the basepaths for the Chargers if she can return in 2024.
Reinforcements are also arriving in the form of a three-player freshman class who will compete for early playing time and could help shore up the lineup for the Chargers as well.
Hillsdale opens the season on Feb. 9, with five games against three teams at the Tusculum Kick-Off in Greeneville, Tennessee. The Chargers will also play five games in the Rosemont Dome Invite on Feb. 23-25 in Chicago, Illinois, make a trip to Springfield, Illinois for the UIS Invite on March 1 and 2, and take their annual Spring Break trip to Florida to play 10 games in six days from March 10-16.
The Chargers likely will be among the favorites to win the G-MAC title in 2024 but will have tough challenges from defending regular season champion Ohio Dominican, as well as strong Trevecca Nazarene and Findlay squads who were in contention last season and bring much of their talent back. Along with those four, Cedarville, Tiffin and Northwood also return significant talent and can't be counted out either. A potential wild card is newcomer Thomas More, which was a solid NAIA squad last season and joins the G-MAC for the 2024 campaign.
You can find the complete 2024 Hillsdale College softball schedule here.
Photo by Emma Purdy