Big South Announces 2025 Softball Annual Award Winners
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Winthrop senior designated player
Megan Powell (Eden, N.C.) and Radford freshman
Dakota Redmon (Stokesdale, N.C.) have been voted Big South Softball Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, by the league’s head coaches, it was announced this afternoon. Redmon and USC Upstate’s
Sophia Kardatzke (Jacksonville, Fla.) shared Freshman of the Year honors, Winthrop’s
Tia Beckham (Greenville, S.C.) earned Newcomer of the Year honors, and Radford head coach
Kevin Fagan was voted Big South Coach of the Year. Radford’s
Cassi Barbato (Milford, Conn.) was voted Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.
Powell is the first Eagle to be voted Big South Player of the Year since 2009. One of the top hitters and pitchers in the conference, Powell completed the regular-season with a team-best .317 batting average while hitting nine home runs, driving in 32, slugging .568 and recording a .418 on-base percentage. During the 18-game Big South season, Powell ranked fourth in the league with a .373 hitting clip, was tops with a .492 on-base average and sixth with a .642 slugging percentage. In the circle, Powell was 14-11 with a 2.16 earned run average (second overall in the Big South) with 116 strikeouts in 146.0 innings pitched. Her .197 batting average allowed also ranked second in the league, and she was first in batters struck out looking (53), and second in fewest hits allowed per game (5.18). A three-time Big South Pitcher of the Week honoree in 2025, Powell went 7-4 with a 1.77 ERA in conference games to earn her second consecutive First-Team All-Conference honor. Powell collected three first-place votes and 13 points in the Player of the Year voting and finished ahead of Radford’s
Rachel Smith (two first-place votes and nine points) and USC Upstate’s
Taliyah Thomas (one first-place vote and eight points) for the league’s top honor.
Redmon is the second player in Big South history to be voted Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year in the same season. She is also Radford’s first Pitcher of the Year honoree since 2012, and the Highlanders’ first Freshman of the Year selection since 2009. Named a Top 25 Finalist for the NFCA National Freshman of the Year Award, Redmon was Radford’s ace this season as she went 16-8 overall with league bests of 123 strikeouts and 19 complete games, plus a 2.45 ERA in a league-high 166.0 innings pitched. A three-time Big South Pitcher of the Week and Freshman of the Week honoree this season, Dedmon was the league’s top pitcher during the conference campaign with a 9-2 mark and 1.44 ERA, as well as first during the Big South season in wins, innings pitched (78.0), strikeouts (55), batting average against (.186). She completed all 11 of her league starts. Redmon received the maximum six first-place votes and 18 points in the Pitcher of the Year voting, ahead of USC Upstate’s
Sierra Maness (12 points and the remaining first-place vote), and Winthrop’s Powell (nine points).
Kardatzke, Upstate’s first Big South Freshman of the Year since 2021, is also a Top 25 Finalist for the NFCA National Freshman of the Year Award, and was a seven-time Big South Freshman of the Week honoree in 2025. She paced the conference in overall batting average with a .393 clip as well as her 66 hits. In addition, she had 54 runs scored, a league-high 13 home runs, was fourth with 14 doubles, second with 49 RBI, stole 20 bases and amassed 122 total bases for a Big South-leading .726 slugging average. Kardatzke hit .339 in 18 Big South games with six home runs, 18 runs scored, 20 RBI, 40 total bases and a .645 slugging percentage. In Freshman of the Year balloting, Redmon and Kardatzke tied with three first-place votes and 15 points each.
Beckham is the second Big South Softball Newcomer of the Year, which was added in 2024 to recognize the top non-freshman transfer playing in the Big South for the first time. She finished the regular-season as Winthrop’s leader and ranking among the conference’s Top 10 with 37 RBI (fourth in the Big South), .586 slugging percentage (fourth), 82 total bases (fifth), 11 doubles (tied-sixth) and 10 home runs (third). Beckham had nine multi-hit games and 11 multi-RBI games, in addition to hitting .356 with runners in scoring position. She hit .302 against Big South opponents with four home runs, 18 RBI and a .642 slugging mark. Beckham also batted .286 with 4 runs, 2 doubles, 2 HR and 8 RBI vs. the four other teams that qualified for the conference tournament. In Newcomer of the Year voting, Beckham received five first-place votes and 11 points, ahead of Longwood’s
Morgan Strickland and Radford’s
Isabel Harrison, who each finished with five points and one first-place vote.
Fagan earns Big South Coach of the Year honors in his first season leading the Highlanders, which featured the program’s first outright Big South regular-season championship since 2012 and the No. 1 seed in this week’s conference tournament. Fagan guided Radford to a 14-4 league record -- the school’s most Big South wins since 2014 (14 wins) and doubling last year’s conference win total -- as well as winning all six conference series, two of which were 3-0 sweeps. Radford’s 29 overall victories is its most since 2018 (36), and featured non-conference wins over notable programs Louisville, East Carolina, Charlotte and Campbell. In conference games, Radford had the top ERA (1.79), fielding percentage (.971), opponent batting average allowed (.193), innings pitched (125.0), fewest hits allowed and per game (88, 4.93) and fewest runs allowed (38). Fagan collected the maximum six first-place votes and 18 points in the voting, ahead of Longwood head coach
Dr. Megan Brown (11 points, remaining first-place vote) and Charleston Southern’s
Christi Musser and USC Upstate’s
Chris Hawkins, who tied with five points each.
Barbato is the Highlanders’ first Big South Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year recipient since 2021. The All-Conference infielder is a 4.0 student studying Exercise, Sport and Health Education. Barbato finished the regular-season with a .280 batting average, 10 doubles and 19 RBI, along with more walks (12) than strikeouts (8).
The conference also announced the 2025 All-Conference, All-Freshman and All-Academic teams, which are listed below. The All-Conference and All-Freshman teams are voted on by the head coaches, while the All-Academic Team consists of one student-athlete from each institution that meets the criteria and is nominated and selected by the league’s sports information directors.
2025 BIG SOUTH CONFERENCE SOFTBALL AWARD WINNERS
First-Team All-Conference
OF – Taliyah Thomas, Jr., USC Upstate
OF - Denver Lauer, Sr., USC Upstate
OF – Grace Bechtol, Soph., Radford
1B – Carson Shaw, Jr., USC Upstate
2B – Cassi Barbato, Sr., Radford
SS – Abby Polk, Soph., USC Upstate
3B – Charlee Yourman, Jr., Charleston Southern
C – Brooke Bennett, Fr., Longwood
P – Dakota Redmon, Fr., Radford
P – Sierra Maness, Soph., USC Upstate
DP – Megan Powell, Sr., Winthrop
DP – Sophia Kardatzke, Fr., USC Upstate
UTL – Carsten Sandvig, Soph., Charleston Southern
Second-Team All-Conference
OF – Weslin Jones, Sr., Charleston Southern
OF – Amie Johnson, Jr., USC Upstate
OF – Tia Beckham, Soph. Winthrop
1B – Kendall Owens, Sr., Presbyterian
2B – Avery Jefferson, R-Fr., Longwood
SS – Rachel Smith, Sr., Radford
3B – Alanna Deal, Sr., USC Upstate
C – Kelley Feigen, Soph., Radford
P – Morgan Cooper, Soph., Radford
P – Er’ron Burton, Sr., Longwood
DP – Maryanna Guy, R-Soph., Longwood
UTL - Kasey Wolfe, Soph., Presbyterian
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Avery Drake, OF, Gr., Longwood
Jordyn Dimond, OF, Soph., Charleston Southern
Sophia Pisacano, OF, Fr., Longwood
Trina Van Dyke, OF, Soph., Gardner-Webb
Mallory Fletcher, OF, Sr., 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, Presbyterian
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-Freshman 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