College Softball News – Guilford Lands Four on All-ODAC Softball Teams; Carver Named Player of the Year

FOREST, Va. — Guilford College’s Makayla Carver (Granite Falls, N.C./South Caldwell) and Natalie Conrad (Greensboro, N.C./Southern Guilford) earned top Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Softball honors Wednesday. Carver, a senior outfielder, became the Quakers’ first ODAC Softball Player of the Year. Conrad, a junior outfielder, shared the ODAC Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Softball Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award with the University of Lynchburg’s Taylor Belknap.

Makayla Carver - Guilford 2019
Makayla Carver – Guilford 2019

Carver, also a First Team All-ODAC pick, was one of the Quakers’ four all-league picks according to voting by the league’s head softball coaches. Conrad and Makayla Crawford (Rutherfordton, N.C./R-S Central) were second-team all-league honorees. Senior first baseman Katy Holt (Raleigh, N.C./Wake Forest) garnered third-team honors. Selections were based largely on statistics recorded in conference play.

Carver becomes Guilford’s first three-time, first-team All-ODAC softball honoree and is the school’s first four-time All-ODAC selection. She batted .455 in league play with two homers, 10 doubles, and eight RBI. Carver topped the ODAC in conference hits (30) and doubles (10), and was second in batting average. Overall, she hit .416 with 16 doubles, 22 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 11 tries. She also pitched in six late-season games and recorded a 3-2 record with a 5.65 earned run average in 31 innings.

Carver had 15 multiple-hit games this season, including three with three hits. With only two errors in 35 games, she tallied a .964 fielding percentage. The 2018 National Fastpitch Coaches Association Third Team All-American set Guilford’s career records for hits (217), doubles (57), and stolen bases (59) this year. She graduates ranked second in school history with a .449 career batting average.

Natalie Conrad - Guilford 2020
Natalie Conrad – Guilford 2020

Conrad joins Laura Hall ’16 as Guilford’s two ODAC Softball Scholar-Athletes in the award’s history. Conrad boasts a 3.84 grade point average and majors in health sciences and biology. The two-time Academic All-ODAC pick is a five-time member of both the Guilford Student-Athlete Honor Roll and the dean’s list. On the field, she batted a team-best .430 with a school-record six triples, tops in the ODAC and 11th in NCAA Division III through games of April 29. Conrad led Guilford with 20 multiple-hit games and 58 hits, fifth-most in school history.

Makayla Crawford - Guilford 2019
Makayla Crawford – Guilford 2019

Crawford, a senior catcher, earned an at-large spot on the ODAC second team one year after receiving third-team all-league honors. She ranks seventh in the ODAC with a .406 overall batting average and hit .290 in the league. Crawford stands second among conference leaders with 56 hits and a school-record 58 RBI. Her 58 RBI and school-record six sacrifice flies both rank third in Division III. She had 18 multiple-hit games this year and posted three or more hits six times.

Crawford cranked out a team-high 10 home runs this season (3rd-best in school history) and exits as the program leader in career homers (31). She also set school standards for career RBI (140) and slugging percentage (.754). Her .418 career batting average and .460 on-base percentage both stand third all-time at Guilford.

Katy Holt - Guilford 2019
Katy Holt (Raleigh, N.C./Wake Forest)

Holt made the third team as an at-large selection. She hit a career-high .400 overall and .357 in ODAC action. Holt posted a .600 slugging percentage, ninth-best in the conference, with 12 doubles and 29 RBI, all career highs. With only four errors, Holt recorded a .985 fielding percentage and helped turn five double plays. She graduates as Guilford’s career leader with a .986 fielding percentage. Holt hit .356 in 117 career games with eight home runs and 68 RBI. Her 32 doubles stand ninth in school history.

Coach Dennis Shores’ Quakers logged a 26-15 overall record, 10-10 in the ODAC. The 26 victories rank fourth on the school’s single-season list. Shores may return as many as 17 letter winners next year, including Conrad.