Article by Luke Paider. Photo by St. Cloud State Athletic Department.
The St. Cloud State Softball team had a couple of goals coming into their 2025 season, which included “proving to people who they are and showing them what they can do.”
Mission accomplished. The squad is turning some heads with their play in non-conference action finishing the stretch with an incredible 21-7 record. The Huskies are firing on all cylinders getting top notch play from leaders like Maggie Fitzgerald all the way down to freshmen Kaylee Collins and Morgan Honeycutt who are taking advantage of their opportunities.
The team’s record isn’t the only impressive thing the team has pulled off, it’s also how the team has won these games. It all started with the pitching staff. Emma Eickhoff has a 2.25 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP in 13 starts. That incredible start is matched by Macey Clark who’s rattled off a 2.18 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP in her 13 starts. With these aces in the circle and some fine tuned batting the Huskies have recorded four shutouts and three wins by 10 runs or more. Capped off by a run differential of 190-83 through the first 28 games.
St. Cloud sent a clear message that these Huskies mean business. Sophomore infielder Brooke Holmes credited their success to their belief in each other.
“We all trust each other and have confidence in each other.” On top of that belief St. Cloud has put an emphasis on playing clean games defensively and taking professional at bats.
Brooke Holmes herself is part of a group of Sophomore Huskies that have taken a big jump and deserve plenty of credit for the rise of this Husky team. A team that finished with 30 wins a season ago and is now only nine away from that total at the beginning of NSIC play.
Holmes’s batting average has risen over .200 points and has already hit twice as many home runs as she did in her freshman campaign with six. In fact Brooke Holmes hitting has been so impressive her current hitting percentage of .479 stands over 40 points above the single season Husky record held by Vanden Langenberg at .435.
Holmes said, “Trusting the hours we’ve put into the cage,” has really been a key to her success this year.
And she’s not alone. Bree Beck who hit under .200 last year is hitting over .300 and Bethany Weiss is hitting over .350 in their second seasons with the Huskies.
Another unique factor to this St. Cloud team is just how close they are away from the diamond.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been on a team that’s this close,” said Holmes.
That chemistry is paying dividends for the Huskies and yet the team isn’t satisfied with what they’ve done. The Huskies were ranked No. 7 in a preseason poll in the NSIC and the team looks to prove doubters wrong in the upcoming conference season.
Holmes put the future quite simply “We will be successful if we stick together as a team and continue playing how we are.”
The Huskies will look to catch their level of play and knock the conference season out of the park. St. Cloud State will be back in action at the Husky Dome on March 23 against Winona State.
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