University of Delaware Athletics
Morgan Hess Named CAA Preseason Player of the Year, Softball Picked To Finish First in Preseason Poll
1/31/2025 2:00:00 PM | Softball
RICHMOND, Va. - University of Delaware softball's Morgan Hess was named CAA Preseason Player of the Year and the program was picked to finish first in the Preseason Coaches Poll, as announced by the conference on Friday, January 31, 2024. Including Hess, Delaware had seven total players earn Preseason All-CAA honors - Gianna Costaro, Katie Scheivert, Sydney Shaffer, and Billie Kerwood, while Mary Beth Cahalan and Chloe Blantz received Honorable Mentions.
Hess was named as the utility/pitcher selection in her first season with Delaware after transferring from Presbyterian. Hess was a First-Team All-CAA selection and First-Team NFCA All-Northeast selection in 2024 and enters 2025 as the ninth-best ranked player in D1Softball's pitcher/utility rankings. She hit .300/.327/.521 with 14 doubles, one triple, five home runs, 24 RBIs, and 19 runs scored. In the circle, she went 14-6 with a save and a 2.33 ERA, six complete games, and two shutouts. In 126 innings, she allowed 109 hits, 56 runs, 42 earned runs, 38 walks, 66 strikeouts, and a .229 batting average against. Hess ranked fourth in the CAA in doubles, fifth in wins, sixth in slugging percentage, and ERA, eighth in batting average against, ninth in shutouts, and 10th in home runs and innings pitched. For her career, she is a .317/.379/.656 hitter and has pitched to a 2.54 ERA in 79 games with 31 complete games. At Presbyterian, she was a two-time Big South All-Conference selection and the all-time Presbyterian College home run leader. She led the conference in home runs in 2022 and 2023 and set single-season Presbyterian College records in batting average, RBI, total bases, home runs, and slugging percentage in 2022.
Last season, Costaro was selected to the CAA All-Rookie team, earned two Rookie of the Week selections, and received one Player of the Week honor.. She had a team-leading seven home runs in 52 games and hit .276/.424/.493 with eight doubles, 38 RBIs, and 29 runs scored. She ranked third in CAA in RBIs, fifth in home runs, seventh in OPS (.917) and walks (25), and ninth in on base percentage. She helped Delaware secure its first-ever Big 12 win in program history, hitting two home runs in two games against Iowa State, including a game-tying, two-out, two-strike, three-run homer in the seventh inning to complete a 6-1 comeback. Her 38 RBIs were tied for eighth-most in a single-season in program history. She also began her career reaching base safely in 29 consecutive games.Â
Scheivert, another former All-Rookie selection, is a career .309/.369/.376 hitter with 92 hits, 13 doubles, two triples, and a home run in 102 games. She has also gone 26-for-29 in stolen bases in two seasons. She has started in every game of her career, first in left before moving to second base and has a .984 fielding percentage with just four errors in two seasons. Last year, she hit .329 with runners on base and .310 with runners in scoring position. She caught fire early in conference-pay, hitting .386/.439/.474 in 21 games from March 8-April 13.Â
Shaffer was named as the utility/non-pitcher selection after a breakout 2024 season. She was a Second-Team All-CAA pick after hitting .347/.457/.537 with 15 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 33 RBIs, and 19 runs scored. She ranked first in the CAA in doubles, walks, on base percentage, third in OPS (1.019), fifth in slugging percentage, tied for sixth in RBIs, eighth in batting average, and tied for eighth in total bases (79). She hit .402 with runners on base and .375 with runners in scoring position. She is a career .316/.467/.488 hitter in 90 games. Her 15 doubles were the fourth most in program history for a season.Â
Kerwood, a transfer from Monmouth, owns a 3.33 ERA for her career in 443.1 innings with 459 strikeouts and 22 wins. She pitched to a 3.26 ERA in 169.2 innings in 2024 with 167 strikeouts, 19 complete games, and three shutouts with the Hawks. She ranked third in the CAA and 25th nationally in complete games, third in the CAA and 49th nationally in strikeouts, fourth in the CAA and 23rd nationally in games started with 29, fourth in the CAA in innings pitched, and fifth in the CAA strikeout-to-walk ratio at 2.61. In CAA play, she pitched to a 2.70 ERA and struck out 103 hitters in 103.2 innings. Earlier this week, Kerwood was selected as the Preseason Pitcher of the Year by D1Softball.Â
Cahalan joins Delaware for her final season after beginning her career at Dartmouth. She was a Second-Team All-Region selection and First-Team All-Ivy selection in 2024 after hitting a team-high .369 with 10 doubles, two triples, and four home runs as a catcher. She also ranked second in the Ivy League and 25th nationally with 13 baserunners thrown out. For her career, she is a .300/.409/.481 hitter in 108 games, including hitting .369/.457/.604 last season.Â
Blantz also had a breakout year last season as she hit .277/.365/.434 with 12 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 25 RBIs, and 31 runs scored while stealing nine bases in 10 tries last season. She was a CAA Player of the Week selection in February. She hit .327 with RISP and was tied for seventh in CAA in doubles. Blantz had multiple clutch hits for Delaware last season, including a walk-off against Monmouth on April 14 and a tie-breaking three-run double over Towson on April 27. She has started in all but one game for her career.Â
Delaware earned six first-place votes and 113 points, ahead of UNCW's (106 points) and Campbell's (96) two first-place votes. Hofstra and Elon each received one first-place vote each. Delaware is the only team with more than three players on the Preseason All-CAA Team, having five. In total, Delaware's seven selections are also the most of any team, with Elon next closest with five.Â
The Blue Hens are coming off a season in which it set program records for wins in a season (39) and conference wins in a season (21) while tying its program record for longest win streak (13) and longest conference win streak (10). UD has won at least 25 games in a program record four-straight seasons. The Blue Hens led the CAA in average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, runs scored, doubles, and ERA in 2024. Their 1.98 ERA was ninth best in the NCAA. Delaware was also top five in the conference in home runs, shutouts, triples, walks, and stolen bases. Delaware has been ranked top five in the CAA in average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, and ERA for five-consecutive seasons.
2025 CAA Preseason Coaches Poll
Team (1st)            Points
Delaware (6)              113   
UNCW (2)                106   
Campbell (2)              96    
Stony Brook               87    
Hofstra (1)                83    
Elon (1)                   82    
Towson                  55    
Monmouth               47    
Drexel                   36    
North Carolina A&T        31    
Hampton                 31    
Charleston               25
TICKETSÂ
Delaware Softball will celebrate its 50th season as a program during the 2025 season, as presented by Delaware State Parks. Season and single game tickets for the 2025 season are on sale now. The upcoming season will feature cutting-edge renovations, including a state-of-the-art Daktronics videoboard, turf playing surface, LED lighting, and more. Season tickets are now 50% off the single-game rate—just $94 for access to the entire season with general admission seating.
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