ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - Henderson State was picked eighth in the 2025 GAC Softball Preseason Poll released on Tuesday.
The Reddies claimed their spot by receiving 43 total votes from the conference's coaches.
Southern Nazarene topped the poll with 119 total votes and nine first-place votes. Southern Arkansas tallied 102 votes and one-first place vote to take second. Harding followed close behind in third with 100 total votes and a single first-place vote. Oklahoma Baptist placed fourth with 95 votes and the remaining first-place vote.
No. 5 Southeastern Oklahoma State (83 votes), No. 6 Arkansas Tech (72 votes), and No. 7 Arkansas-Monticello (58 votes) rounded out the list of teams with 50 or more votes.
In 2024, the Reddies finished 22-30 overall and 13-20 in conference play to earn their first Great American Conference Tournament bid since the 2018 season. The team featured three all-conference selections, including returners Hilary Akers and Brooke Johnson. Akers was one of only 12 players in the conference to hit above .350 for the season (.353). Johnson was top 10 in the league in earned run average and picked up GAC Elite Scholar Athlete honors.
Presley Applegate led all qualified pitchers in the league with a 1.74 earned run average a year ago. She and teammate Katelyn McMahan were tied for second in the conference with three saves. Pitcher Meagan Allen's opposing batting average of .240 was good for sixth in the GAC.
HSU enters a new era in 2025 under the leadership of head coach Joel Worthington. During his final season at Lane College in 2024, Worthington helped the Dragons achieve a 32-15 record and their first conference title game appearance in program history. His 2023 and 2024 teams both led NCAA Division II in batting average. Worthington, originally from McCalla, Alabama, was named the 2023 SIAC Coach of the Year after leading his team to a school-record 35 wins.
Assistant coach Danni Ryan also joins the staff after teaming up with Worthington in his last three seasons at Lane. A former pitcher at Division I Idaho State, Ryan coached back-to-back SIAC Pitchers of the Year in 2023 and 2024. In the year between her graduation from ISU and the start of her tenure with the Dragons, Ryan coached at the Los Angeles Dodgers Training Academy's Softball University while serving as an assistant coach at Hillcrest Christian School in her native Thousand Oaks, California.
Graduate assistant Abby Burch played four seasons at Harding, where she led the nation with 19 saves in 2023, received two All-GAC selections and one All-Region selection, and set a new school record with 30 career saves.
Joining the returners mentioned above is a core led by seniors Justine Burch, Erika Bittinger, Jordyn Holland, Makenna Keeton, Addison Tidwell, Janasia Jones, and Makenna Denofrio.
Henderson opens the 2025 season with a 2 p.m. game against Christian Brothers at Dee White Field on Friday, January 31. The Reddies begin conference play at home versus Southeastern Oklahoma State on February 22 and 23.
