Softball Boasts 12 Big South End-of-Season Awards Including Three Players of the Year and Coach of the Year

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Big South Conference announced Tuesday afternoon that Grace Bechtol, Cassi Barbato, Dakota Redmon, Rachel Smith, Kelley Feigen, Morgan Cooper and Kevin Fagan have all been announced to the conference's end-of-season awards lists. The awards were highlighted by Redmon's Pitcher and Freshman of the Year, Barbato's Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Fagan's Coach of the Year awards.

Capping a spectacular debut season, Redmon earned nods to the Big South's first-team, all-freshman, Pitcher of the Year and Co-Freshman of the Year awards. Redmon is the first Highlander to win multiple "of the Year" awards since Melissa Pickel won Freshman and Player of the Year during the 1995 season. The Stokesdale, N.C. native is the first Highlander to win Pitcher of the Year since 2012 and first Freshman of the Year since 2009.

Redmon was the Highlanders' ace in the circle all season long leading the Big South in conference play for ERA (1.44), strikeouts (55), innings pitched (78.0), complete games (11) and opponent batting average (.186). The freshman racked up six weekly awards during the season and earned recognition from the NFCA by being selected as a national Freshman of the Year Top-25 Finalist.

Barbato put a bow on her senior season earning nods to the conference's first-team, all-academic team and the Scholar-Athlete of the Year honor. The Milford, Ct. native has achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA through her collegiate career while helping lead Radford's offense with 19 RBI, 19 runs, a .280 average and has walked more times than she's struck out in each of the last two seasons. Her 10 career sacrifice flies currently rank top 10 in program history. Graduating with her degree in exercise, sport and health education this spring, Barbato has earned multiple Big South, Radford and NFCA academic awards throughout her career with more to come.

Rounding out Radford's major award winners was head coach Kevin Fagan who was voted the Big South Coach of the Year by the conference's coaches. Fagan becomes the fourth coach at Radford to earn the recognition and the eighth overall naming. In his first year at the helm, he has orchestrated an incredible turnaround season culminating in the team's first Big South regular season title since 2012.

Fagan has led the Highlander to multiple notables in year one including the program's first-ever series victories over USC Upstate and Longwood. In the nonconference slate, Radford picked up key victories over Louisville, Charlotte and UNC Greensboro to bolster the team's top-100 national RPI ranking. Radford has also checked in at 25th in the last three straight D1 Softball mid-major polls.

Joining Redmon and Barbato on the Big South's first-team all-conference list was sophomore outfielder Grace Bechtol. In a breakout year offensively, Bechtol led the Highlanders' offense throughout conference play to impressive numbers. She would end conference play hitting .353 with 11 RBI, 16 runs scored, seven doubles, seven walks to just two strikeouts, all while also swiping bases at a perfect 7-7 clip. Manning center field and also filling in at third base and shortstop when needed, Bechtol was perfect in conference play with no errors while committing just two overall on the season.

Earning the second-team all-conference nod was another senior leader for Radford in Rachel Smith. Continuing to be one of the Highlanders' most electric bats, Smith took another step forward this season leading Radford in just about every statistical category. The Reidsville, N.C. native overall hit .312, scored 33 runs, drove in 31 runs, slugged nine home runs, five triples, three doubles, 15 stolen bases while drawing a career-high 21 walks. In Big South play, Smith led all Big South shortstops in runs, triples, home runs, RBI, total bases and slugging. The honor marks two straight years for Smith appearing on the Big South's all-conference awards list.

Joining Smith on second-team all-conference was catcher Kelley Feigen who bolstered Radford's offense and defense all season long. Transferring into the program this season, Feigen helped guide Radford's pitching staff to a 3.24 ERA while committing just one total error on the season. Offensively, she was a reliable bat in the middle of the order hitting .274 with 13 runs scored, five doubles, a home run, 19 RBI and four sacrifice flies. Base runners beware, as Feigen was also able to cut down eight runners attempting to steal in the regular season.

Rounding out Radford's presence on the second-team all-conference list was sophomore pitcher Morgan Cooper. The end-of-season award is the first in Cooper's career after an impressive 2025 campaign that saw her set new career bests for ERA (3.12), wins (10), complete games (11), shutouts (3), innings pitched (119), strikeouts (79) and opponent batting average (.246). Cooper earned two Big South Pitcher of the Week awards this season thanks to her dominance in Big South play and her power victory over Louisville that set the tone opening weekend.

Radford is in the middle of preparing for the ultimate test of the season, the Big South Tournament, which begins this upcoming Wednesday, May 7th in Clinton, S.C. As the #1 seed, Radford will await the winner of game one and will play on Thursday, May 8th at 2:30 p.m. All the action is set to be streamed on ESPN+.

2025 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE SOFTBALL AWARD WINNERS

FIRST-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF - Taliyah Thomas, USC Upstate
OF - Denver Lauer, USC Upstate
OF - Grace Bechtol, Radford
1B - Carson Shaw, USC Upstate
2B - Cassi Barbato, Radford
SS - Abby Polk, USC Upstate
3B - Charlee Yourman, Charleston Southern
C - Brooke Bennett, Longwood
P - Dakota Redmon, Radford
P - Sierra Maness, USC Upstate
DP - Megan Powell, Winthrop
DP - Sophia Kardatzke, USC Upstate
UTL - Carsten Sandvig, Charleston Southern

SECOND-TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
OF - Weslin Jones, Charleston Southern
OF - Amie Johnson, USC Upstate
OF - Tia Beckham, Winthrop
1B - Kendall Owens, Presbyterian
2B - Avery Jefferson, Longwood
SS - Rachel Smith, Radford
3B - Alanna Deal, USC Upstate
C - Kelley Feigen, Radford
P - Morgan Cooper, Radford
P - Er'ron Burton, Longwood
DP - Maryanna Guy, Longwood
UTL - Kasey Wolfe, Presbyterian

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-CONFERENCE
Avery Drake, OF, Longwood
Jordyn Dimond, OF, Charleston Southern
Sophia Pisacano, OF, Longwood
Trina Van Dyke, OF, Gardner-Webb
Mallory Fletcher, OF, Presbyterian

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Dakota Redmon, P, Radford
Sophia Kardatzke, DP, USC Upstate
Brooke Bennett, C, Longwood
Baxleigh Arnette, SS, Presbyterian
Lauren Spainhower, OF, Gardner-Webb
Sophia Pisacano, OF, Longwood
Katie Beck, OF, Winthrop

ALL-ACADEMIC TEAM
Blakley Kingsmore, Charleston Southern
Araceli Pesqueira, Gardner-Webb
Maggie Chapin, Longwood
Peyton Duncan, Prebyterian
Cassi Barbato, Radford
Amie Johnson, USC Upstate
Grayson Buckner, Winthrop

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Megan Powell, DP/P, Winthrop

PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Dakota Redmon, Radford

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
Tia Beckham, OF, Winthrop

CO-FRESHMEN OF THE YEAR
Dakota Redmon, P, Radford
Sophia Kardatzke, DP, USC Upstate

COACH OF THE YEAR
Kevin Fagan, Radford

SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Cassi Barbato, Radford

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Players Mentioned

#13 Cassi Barbato: C/IF; 5' 7"; Senior; L/R

#11 Grace Bechtol: IF; 5' 4"; Sophomore; R/R

#1 Morgan Cooper: RHP; 5' 3"; Sophomore; L/R

#6 Rachel Smith: IF/OF; 5' 7"; Senior; R/R

#18 Kelley Feigen: C; 5' 9"; Sophomore; R/R

#15 Dakota Redmon: RHP/IF; 5' 10"; Freshman; R/R

Players Mentioned

#13 Cassi Barbato
: 5' 7"; Senior; L/R
: C/IF

#11 Grace Bechtol
: 5' 4"; Sophomore; R/R
: IF

#1 Morgan Cooper
: 5' 3"; Sophomore; L/R
: RHP

#6 Rachel Smith
: 5' 7"; Senior; R/R
: IF/OF

#18 Kelley Feigen
: 5' 9"; Sophomore; R/R
: C

#15 Dakota Redmon
: 5' 10"; Freshman; R/R
: RHP/IF

Radford University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned