Photo Credit: gousfbulls.com
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USF Bulls softball will start its 2025 season next month. Ken Eriksen has been the softball coach for USF for 35 years. He played baseball for the Bulls from 1981-1984. The program has been very successful with him at the helm having made 17 NCAA tournament appearances total, and Eriksen has been with them for 16. The last appearance the Bulls made was in 2021 and they made the College Softball World Series in 2012. Eriksen has some great players returning in 2025 like pitcher Payton Dixon, IF DaNia Brooks, and IF Kathy Garcia-Soto. The softball team went 34-22 with a 24-13 home record, 10-8 away, and 0-1 neutral. One of the biggest wins was defeating the Florida Gators 7-4. The last game was in the first round of the AAC Championship and it was a loss to the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes.
Ken Eriksen got nine new players signed from five different states. Eriksen says this might be a top-three recruiting class at USF in the past 30 years. He also said that the talent from the top to bottom who have signed will help the team become a legitimate postseason threat. The new players bring speed, power, and all three facets of the game. Let’s start with Cali Chapman. She comes from Houston, Texas, and was part of the Athletics Mercado Academy Herrera. This past season, she had a .593 batting average, seven home runs, scored 16 runs, and had 18 RBIs. She is also a fast and powerful outfielder and has direct lineage to the USF Bulls softball team. Her mother Christie Chapman-Rogelstad played with the team in 2006 and she led them to a super-regional that year.
Sydney Schaffer is from Jupiter, Florida, and played at Palm Beach Gardens High School. Schaffer is a pitcher and in three years she had 340 strikeouts in 284 innings pitched. At the Rock Gold Perantoni Academy, she had a sub 3.0 ERA. She will be a big addition to the pitching staff to go along with the ace of the staff, Payton Dixon. The next player up is utility player Kacey Wilkes. She comes from Gaither High School in Tampa, Florida. In her last high school season, she had a .469 batting average and a .500 on-base percentage. Wilkes can play catcher and in the infield. Another catcher is Abbie DeWaters who is also from Florida in the city of Hobe Sound. DeWaters played at South Fork High and earned a spot on the All-State Team in three straight years. She was the team’s MVP after leading the team in RBIs.
Another pitcher is Amelia Jacob who comes from Bridgewater, Connecticut. Jacob played at Shepaug Valley High School. In 361 innings, she struck out 817 hitters and had an 0.87 ERA. Jacob was also part of the Empire State Huskies 18U team. Eriksen added another utility player in Ava Galligani. She is from White Plains, New York. Galligani had a .432 batting average, a .554 on-base percentage, and a .753 slugging percentage. Alexa Galligani, Ava’s sister, said she can swing between the infield and outfield. This class is full of utility players and another is Lexi Beldowicz. She played at Paul J. Hagerty High School in Oviedo, Florida. Last season she had 76 hits with a .444 batting average. Beldowicz also played on 18U team. The next player is Elise McQuiston who played at the Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa, Florida. She is also a utility player and a left-handed hitter.
The last of this signing class in an OF Toryn Fulton. She hails from Franklin Regional Senior High School in Export, Pennsylvania. In her previous two seasons, she had 15 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, 59 RBIs, and 61 runs. This class has everything to offer. It will be exciting to watch and experience USF Softball. This team could be a menace to play against. This softball team has everything like speed, power, and pitching. The goal is for them to return to the ACC tournament, win it all, and make a World Series appearance.
What impact will these players make on the USF Bulls Softball team? Leave a comment below.
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