University of Delaware Athletics
Softball Has Four on NFCA All-Region Team, Program Record Three Receive First-Team Honors
5/15/2025 2:00:00 PM | Softball
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Delaware softball had a program record-tying four players named to the National FastPitch Coaches Association East All-Region Team, as announced by the organization on Thursday, May 15, 2025. The Blue Hens saw a program record three players - Billie Kerwood, Sydney Shaffer, and Morgan Hess - receive First-Team honors, while Mary Beth Cahalan received Third-Team honors.Â
Kerwood became the second Delaware player to earn a conference Pitcher of the Year, joining Emily Winburn in 2022. In her first and only season with the Blue Hens, Kerwood went 23-10 in 194 innings with a 1.59 ERA, 250 strikeouts, 13 complete games, four shutouts, and has held opponents to a .190 BAA. Kerwood's 23 wins and 250 strikeouts set a program record for a season, and her 250 strikeouts put her 10th on the all-time Delaware leaderboard and were the eighth most in a season in CAA history. She became the first CAA pitcher to lead conference in ERA, wins, and strikeouts since 2017, and also led in innings pitched, complete games, and BAA and was second in shutouts. Nationally, Kerwood ranks sixth in strikeouts, 10th in wins, 11th in ERA, 14th in innings pitched, 19th in hits allowed per seven innings, 24th in WHIP, 29th in strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 51st in shutouts. Her 15 strikeouts against Monmouth on April 25 tied a season-best for a CAA pitcher and tied a program record for strikeouts in a conference game. On April 18 against Hampton, she threw the program's 19th-ever no-hitter. Kerwood was even better in conference play, pitching to a 16-3 record with a 1.27 ERA in 110.2 innings, 163 strikeouts, and four shutouts. From April 12-19, she pitched 17.1 consecutive scoreless innings.
Shaffer became the third player in program history to earn a conference Player of the Year award, joining Lauren Mark (America East, 1999), and Laura Streets (CAA, 2004). Shaffer put together one of the greatest seasons in Delaware history, as she set single-season records for home runs (18), RBIs (57), total bases (125), batting average (.421), on base percentage (.540), slugging percentage (.888), and OPS (1.428). In UD single-season history, Shaffer had the second most runs scored (49) and walks (38), fourth most hits (64), and fifth most doubles (14). She is first in the CAA in home runs, walks, total bases, slugging percentage, OPS, second in RBIs and on base percentage, third in average, runs scored, and doubles, sixth in hits. In conference play, Shaffer hit .425/.529/.975 with 31 runs, 34 hits, 11 doubles, 11 home runs, and 19 walks in 27 games. Nationally, Shaffer is 18th in slugging percentage, 19th in home runs and total bases, 25th in on base percentage, 51st in RBIs, 52nd in walks per game, and 54th in average. In eight games against Power Conference opponents, Shaffer hit .375/.464/.792 with three home runs and 10 RBIs. She was tied for the most CAA Player of the Week awards with three, leads the CAA in multi-RBI games with 16, and is second in the CAA with 21 multi-hit games. Her overall OPS and CAA-only OPS is the best by a CAA player since 2021. Shaffer is now the second Delaware player in program history to earn an All-Region honor at the designated player - utility/non-pitcher position (Mariah Kondravy, 2016). She was also a CAA All-Tournament selection after going 3-for-6 with a home run and four walks in three games.Â
Hess earned her second consecutive First-Team All-Region selection at the utility/pitcher spot - the eighth player in program history with multiple All-Region honors and the third player in program history with two First-Team All-Region honors (Emily Winburn - 2023, 2024 and Hanna Garber - 2021, 2022). Hess was a First-Team All-CAA selection for the second straight-straight year. As a two-way player, Hess hit .346/.411/.608 with 36 runs scored, 53 hits, 12 doubles, eight home runs, and 39 RBIs. In the circle, she went 11-5 with a 2.53 ERA, 73 strikeouts, a .207 BAA, seven complete games, and six shutouts. In CAA-only games, she is hitting .434/.467/.807 with 24 runs, 36 hits, eight doubles, seven home runs, and 30 RBIs while going 6-1 in the circle with a 1.87 ERA in 48.2 innings pitched, 36 strikeouts, four complete games, and three shutouts. In the CAA, she ranks first in shutouts, third in BAA and WHIP, fourth in home runs, fifth in wins, sixth in ERA, seventh in RBIs and total bases, eighth in slugging percentage, OPS, and complete games. Hess had three CAA Player of the Week honors, tied for most in the league. Nationally, her six shutouts are the 11th most in the country. On April 26 against Monmouth, she threw her second career no-hitter, becoming the third player in program history with multiple no-hitters. She has earned an All-Conference selection in every season of her collegiate career - two at Presbyterian and two at Delaware.Â
Cahalan earned her second career All-Region honor, as she was a Second-Team selection at Dartmouth last year. Cahalan was the CAA Defensive Player of the Year, Delaware's fourth consecutive Defensive Player of the Year honoree, and the first CAA catcher to earn the award since 2016. Cahalan guided a pitching staff that led the CAA with 18 shutouts (fourth nationally) and a 2.07 ERA (fifth nationally). She has allowed just 17 stolen bases while catching nine for a 52.9 percent caught-stealing rate and has committed just one error. According to D1Softball, she ranks sixth in the country in framing runs saved and 21st in defensive runs saved and defensive wins above replacement (both second among catchers). Offensively, Cahalan hit .323/.391/.542 with 25 runs scored, 50 hits, 13 doubles, seven home runs, and 45 RBIs. In CAA-only games, she was fifth in hits (35) and total bases (61), sixth in doubles (8), home runs (6), and slugging percentage (.685), and seventh in OPS (1.111). Cahalan's six RBIs on March 9 against Drexel were tied for the most by a CAA player this season and tied for third most in a game in program history. Cahalan was the first Delaware catcher to be an All-Conference selection since Anna Steinmetz in 2019 and first to earn First-Team honors since Steinmetz in 2018. She is the third catcher in program history to be named to an All-Region team, joining Steinmetz (2016, 2018, 2019) and Halle Kisamore (2022). She was also a CAA All-Tournament selection.Â
Delaware had a historic season in 2025 that led to its third CAA Regular Season Championship in four seasons. The Blue Hens set program records in home runs, doubles, strikeouts, conference wins, consecutive conference wins, run-rule victories, and consecutive run-rule victories in a season. Its 23 conference wins were the most ever by a CAA team. Delaware has had four All-Region honors for the fourth consecutive season. Its three First-Team All-Region selections are a school record, as UD previously had two First-Team honors last season for the first time (Winburn, Hess). Among teams in the reconfigured East Region, Delaware's three First-Team selections are tied for Duke for the most of any program - more than Virginia, North Carolina, Connecticut, and North Carolina State. The four total selections are tied with Virginia and Connecticut for third-most among the programs represented, behind only Duke's eight and North Carolina's five.Â
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