PORTSMOUTH — Saying that the Shawnee State University softball program was a milestone maker this past year is understating the point.

In Kristen Bradshaw’s first season as the head coach, her, assistant coaches Carrie Kyne and Jenna Jones and each of the 21 players on the 2024 roster got to party like it was 1999.

SSU put together its best season in 25 years — en route to a memorable first season under Bradshaw that featured a 36-11 record and a litany of memories that will not only last a lifetime, but also provides for an excellent building block as the softball program gears up for Year 2 of the Bradshaw era during the 2024-25 academic year.

Finding a way

Through unrelenting faith and trust in one another to come up with the big hit or the necessary play, the Bears came through time and again.

With a 21-3 start to the year from Feb. 21 to March 29, Shawnee State set the tone for what ended up being an historic season through this stretch — as the Bears accumulated seven mercy-rule victories and six come-from-behind wins during this stretch of time alone.

The Bears outscored their opponents 71-1 through the first eight games of the year, then won five additional games that were decided by three runs or less — in an 18-day span from March 11 to March 29.

SSU hit a tough spot — as most teams usually do — from April 6 to April 13, going 3-4 over those seven contests, but broke through in a major way as the Bears won eight games in a row, and nine of 10, to finish out the regular season.

The last win of the regular season for the Bears proved to be, without question, the most satisfying.

After falling behind by a 3-2 count in the bottom of the eighth inning against Rio Grande, Shawnee State rallied as a two-out wild pitch allowed Cassie Berry to score and tie the contest at three runs apiece.

Cassie Berry

Two innings later, Berry provided the game-winning basehit, as her single through the left side of the infield in the bottom of the 10th frame brought home Brittani Wolfenbarker — and sent the Shawnee State side into a frenzy as the Bears clinched their first conference championship of any kind since 2010 by clinching the River States Conference’s East Division crown.

Brittani Wolfenbarker

Then, during the conference tournament, Shawnee State won its first three games — including two through walkoffs — to advance to the RSC Championship Series.

SSU won both of its contests on May 3 via walkoffs, as Berry brought in Wolfenbarker again — with an RBI-double in the bottom of the seventh frame to help Shawnee State claim a 1-0 victory over Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.

Later in the same day, SSU — which was facing Midway (Ky.) for the second time in the RSC Tournament — also eliminated the Eagles, as Jenna Christopher’s grounder allowed Amariah Hoerner to score with the latter sliding under the tag to give the Bears a 4-3 walkoff triumph.

It was Shawnee State’s third walkoff victory in six days.

Shawnee State would ultimately finish the tournament as the RSC Tournament Runner-Up.

Berry, Dunnagan, Hale set standard

en route to first-team all-conference honors

As a result of its team success, Shawnee State dotted the RSC’s all-conference lists with eight honorees total, including three — Cassie Berry, Sierra Dunnagan and Mackenzie Hale — who earned First-Team All-RSC accolades.

In addition to her previously mentioned walkoff RBI-singles, Berry posted the lowest ERA by a Shawnee State pitcher in a season (1.90) since 2010 (Katie Daniel, 1.66) — and notched over 100 hits for her career, batting .314 (116-369) at the plate.

Berry was one of only three pitchers in the RSC to post an ERA under 2.00, and the West Portsmouth native and Notre Dame High School graduate finished fifth in the RSC in strikeouts per seven innings (5.28).

Dunnagan, who posted a terrific freshman season, led Shawnee State in hits (63), walks (14) and RBI (45) and finished second or tied for second on the SSU roster in batting average (.423), runs (42) and home runs (two).

Dunnagan finished with the best batting average among all underclass letter winners in the RSC, and also produced the most hits and RBI among all underclass letterwinners in the RSC as well.

The freshman finished third in RBI and fifth in batting average among all conference players.

Finishing off her junior season in strong fashion, Hale hit .329 with 13 doubles, two home runs and 39 RBI, the latter trio of marks either tying for or sitting second on the Shawnee State roster.

Against conference opponents, Hale was money — raising her average to .366 when facing off against RSC competition in the regular season.

Hale committed just four errors in 270 defensive chances for a .985 fielding percentage.

Wolfenbarker, Belo-Diaz, Christopher,

Lockwood add in Second-Team All-RSC honors

Wolfenbarker, who hit a team-best .437 and finished third in the RSC with that respective batting average, finished third on the roster in both RBI (30) and doubles (nine), while serving as a crucial component at the No. 9 hole position offensively — adding in more walks (11) than strikeouts (10) to boot.

Defensively, Wolfenbarker committed just one error in 56 defensive chances while playing in right field.

Christopher, who added in a .352 batting average, posted a team-high five triples and nabbed three inside-the-park home runs as the leadoff hitter for a Shawnee State lineup that finished 13th nationally in batting average (.341).

The Huntington, W. Va. native led Shawnee State with 13 stolen bases, finished second in hits (56) and third in runs (40).

Belo-Diaz, who finished with a .307 batting average, finished with more walks (10) than strikeouts (six) while Lockwood, who hit .286, went 18-for-56 (.321) over the last month of the season.

A terrific offensive and defensive leader, Spears finished as the team leader in doubles (14) and runs scored (47), while tying Christopher for the team lead with three home runs.

Playing two different positions (catcher and third base), Spears committed just one error in 170 defensive chances for a .994 fielding percentage, the best mark among all Shawnee State players who played on an everyday basis.

Kristen Bradshaw

Bradshaw stirs the drink

The 2024 calendar year was a special one for Shawnee State head coach Kristen Bradshaw before the season even began — as Bradshaw was inducted into the Wright State Athletics Hall of Fame for her efforts on the softball diamond, where she was recognized for a career that included First-Team All-Horizon League selections as a sophomore and a senior and a Second-Team All-Horizon League selection as a freshman and a junior.

She batted over .300 in three out of her four seasons at Wright State, and hit for an average of .331 for her career with 83 extra-base hits — including 24 home runs — to go along with 162 RBI for her career, all while also stealing 83 bases — including 38 in her senior season — and scoring 173 runs, along with drawing 97 free passes in her four years for the Raiders.

However, Bradshaw’s coaching acumen is just as strong as her collegiate playing career was, and that was certainly on full display in 2024, where SSU ripped off winning streaks of 10, seven, four and eight games in a row.

Assistant coaches Carrie Kyne and Jenna Jones have been vital to the SSU program in various areas, with Kyne being a past all-conference player and an alum of the SSU program who played on the 1999 unit — that was the last group to win at least 31 or more contests before this year’s group accomplished the same achievement.

Academic successes

In all, the program continued its strong tradition of standing tall in the classroom.

A total of 18 players of the 21 on the roster finished with cumulative grade point averages above 3.0, and of those 18 players, 10 of them finished with cumulative GPAs above 3.5.

Overall, the Shawnee State softball team posted a GPA of 3.31.

Additional

A strong recruiting class with an excellent blend of local and regional talent will join the returning crop of Bears for the 2025 season.

That class will be profiled later in the summer months.

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