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Rio Grande placed nine players on the All-River States Conference Softball teams. Senior pitcher Madi Ogden (upper far left) was named both Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year, sophomore Nigella Reck (lower far left) was named Newcomer of the Year and head coach Chris Hammond (lower far right) was named Coach of the Year.
Rio Grande placed nine players on the All-River States Conference Softball teams. Senior pitcher Madi Ogden (upper far left) was named both Pitcher of the Year and Player of the Year, sophomore Nigella Reck (lower far left) was named Newcomer of the Year and head coach Chris Hammond (lower far right) was named Coach of the Year.
Posted: May 01, 2025

RedStorm dominates All-RSC softball awards

Rio Grande/RSC Sports Information
     SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. - After dominating the rest of the River States Conference on the softball diamond this season, the University of Rio Grande also enjoyed the spoils of its efforts by winning all of the league's major awards in the sport.
     The RedStorm swept all of four of the conference's top individual honors and had nine players recognized on the 2025 All-RSC Softball teams, which were announced on Thursday night following the first day of play in the River States Conference Softball Championship at Little Creek Park.
     The all-conference teams - and the individual award winners - were determined through balloting of the league's head coaches.
     Rio Grande and Indiana University Southeast, the top two seeds in the tournament, led the way by placing nine players on the All-Conference teams. The RedStorm led all schools with six first teamers, while the Grenadiers followed with five.
     St. Mary-of-the-Woods had eight selections, while both Oakland City and Shawnee State saw seven players honored.
     The All-Conference teams, which consisted of 20 first team selections, 16 second team selections and 15 third team selections, were rounded out by six players from IU Columbus, four players from WVU Tech and one player from Midway University.
     Rio Grande senior Madi Ogden was named both the Pitcher of the Year and the Player of the Year.
     The Williamsburg, Ohio native has been one of the top pitchers in the nation this season and currently leads all NAIA pitchers in earned run average (0.73) and strikeouts (240), all while posting a record of 20-5. She also has been named the NAIA Pitcher of the Week three times, including each of the last two weeks.
     Ogden also enters the conference tournament hitting .314 with two home runs, 10 doubles, 32 runs batted in and 30 runs scored for the regular season champion RedStorm.
     After arriving from Huntington University, sophomore Nigella Reck became a breakout player for Rio Grande and was honored with the league's Newcomer of the Year award.
     The Covington, Ohio native is hitting .306 with 32 runs batted in and 28 runs scored. She was also one of the hardest players in the league to strike out after going down on strikes just five times in her 175 plate appearances during the regular season.
     The conference Coach of the Year recipient was Chris Hammond from the University of Rio Grande.
     The RedStorm, who are ranked 25th in the latest NAIA Coaches' Top 25 poll, enter the RSC Championship with an overall record of 41-9 and a 27-5 mark in league play.
     Hammond, who is in his 10th season at Rio Grande, has guided the RedStorm to five seasons of 40 wins or more during his tenure and takes a career record of 369-139 into the tourney.
     Joining Ogden and Reck from Rio Grande on the first team was junior infielder Gabby Adams (Grove City, OH), junior outfielder Kayla Sedgwick (Richwood, OH), senior designated player Megan Bazler (Portsmouth, OH) and sophomore outfielder Maddie Engler (Crestline, OH).
     Junior catcher Natalie Bates (Vandalia, OH) represented the RedStorm on the second team, while senior pitcher Hannah Beers (Springfield, OH) and junior pitcher Meg McCallum (Belmont, Ontario, Canada) were third team selections.
     Adams is batting .410 with seven home runs and 59 runs batted in. Her home run total is tied for the conference lead and her RBI figure led the league.
     Sedgwick finished second in the league in both hitting (.422) and runs batted in (40). She also had two home runs, two triples and a team-high 17 doubles.
     Bazler batted .404 and was fifth in the conference with 33 RBI, while Engler hit .384 and led Rio by drawing 29 walks.
     Bates committed just two errors on the season, despite serving as the RedStorm's full-time catcher following an injury to Bazler. She currently sports a .993 fielding percentage.
     Beers finished the regular season with a 9-1 record, a save and a 3.76 earned run average in 18 appearances, while McCallum posted a 6-2 mark with a save and a 2.37 ERA in 20 appearances.
     Joining Rio's six representatives on the All-RSC First Team were pitchers Madison Shipley of Oakland City and Emma Davis from IU Southeast; catchers Sierra Dunnagan from Shawnee State and IU Southeast's Lillian Mackey; infielders Mackenzie Hale of Shawnee State, IU Southeast's Kaitlyn Leister and Hannah Wissel from Oakland City; outfielders Jenna Christopher of Shawnee State and Sofia Guy from IU Southeast; utility selection Cameryn Davidson from Shawnee State; and at-large picks Hallie McCracken and Kinsly Heichelbech of Oakland City, Josie Lemmons of IU Southeast and St. Mary-of-the-Woods' Jaidyn Fuller.
     The 2025 River States Conference Softball Championship will resume on Friday and conclude on Saturday, with the winner of the tournament earning the league's automatic bid to the NAIA Opening Round, which begins at sites across the country beginning May 12.
     A complete list of all-conference selections can be found at http://www.riverstatesconference.com