It was a season to remember for the Dakota Wesleyan Tiger softball team, notching one of the best seasons in program history. A season that included tons of broken individual and team records.
How It Started
The team was hot from the start, winning 13 of their first 16 games. With two of those early losses being by just one run. Including going 24-6 in their first 30 games.
It was a season that might not have been expected but certainly was earned. Led by head coach Tommy Downs and his staff. It was his third year at the helm for the Tigers and in the two seasons prior, they broke nine school records. This season, they broke even more.
The Records Broken
For the Tigers, they started hitting new records in late-March. It began with an individual milestone, as senior McKinnely Mull broke the record for most runs in a career. Surpassing the old record of 117 and ending the season with 152; 59 of which came in this season alone. She also posted the most: triples in a season (10), most RBI’s in a season (57), most stolen bases in a season (34), highest stolen base percentage in a season (.970), highest slugging percentage in a season (.844) most RBI’s in a career (149), most home runs in a career (35), and most hits in a career (222).
Seniors Jaden Warner and Peyton Bagley joined in on the broken record parade as well. Warner tallied 236 putouts in a season and 829 putouts in a career, as well as the highest fielding percentage in a career (.985). Bagley posted the most hits in a season (74) and the most runs in a season (61).
Even the freshman, Kassidy Lopez, tied the record for the highest fielding percentage at 100%. On roughly 50 attempts, Lopez did not commit a single error. Another freshman, Ally Ernsberger, added a record herself by finishing the season with the most pitching wins in a season with 20.
As far as the team records go, the first one set was all-time stolen bases on March 31. They ended with a final stolen base total of 95. As the season continued, so did the records. They also had the most home runs in a season (50), most runs in a season (331), most triple in a season (18), most hits in a season (496), highest stolen base percentage in a season (.948), most wins in a season (34), highest slugging percentage in a season (.541) and highest batting average in a season (.347).
Season Awards
DWU has 12 athletes named to the 2025 NBA Daktronics Scholar-Athlete list. Those include Hailey Keefer (English Education), Mull (Biochemistry), Warner (Business Administration), Bagley (Biochemistry), McKenna Thompson (Communications), Khasidy Hodge (English Education), Sophie Wietzema (Business Administration), Jordyn Blogg (Nursing), Keirstyn Krcil (Accounting), Elle Feser (Graphic Design), Macy Moore (Nursing) and Baylee Browen (Finance).
Including various Tigers earning All-Conference honors. They had five players get tabbed Honorable Mention – Blogg, Wietzema, Warner, Liliana Arreola and Alessandra Circua. Second team honors went to Moore and Ashlen Johnson. Then first teamers were Bagley, Mull and Ernsberger. Ernsberger was also named the Freshman of the Year and Mull was named Player of the Year in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.
Looking Ahead
DWU finished their strong season with a four seed in the GPAC Tournament and a final overall record of 34-16. Though they didn’t win the GPAC Tournament overall, they did manager a win and set the stage/standard going forward for this Tiger softball program. In Downs’ first year, they had just nine wins. Year two they doubled that and won 18, then proceeded to added 14 additional wins this season. The future is bright, and the Tigers are ready for what comes next.