Lawson Granted Hardship Waiver, Will Return In 2018
The Valparaiso University softball program has announced that Taylor Lawson (Tucson, Ariz./Sahuaro) has been granted a hardship waiver due to injury for the 2017 season. Lawson will return to the Crusaders for her additional season of athletic eligibility as a fifth-year senior in 2018.
“We are excited for Taylor to have the opportunity to play one more season of college softball,” said Crusader head coach Kate Stake. “Despite her injury, TK remained engaged with the team throughout the season and was a crucial component of the success that we enjoyed last year. We are looking forward to her return both to the lineup and to the outfield for us, and her veteran leadership will serve the program well as we prepare for our first season of MVC play.”
Lawson suffered a hand injury sliding back into third base in the Crusaders’ game at Alabama on March 8 which caused her to miss the remainder of the season. The injury occurred during Valpo’s ninth game of the season – well before the NCAA threshold of 30% of the season’s contests – and was a season-ending injury, meeting the criteria to be granted the hardship waiver.
Lawson has started 167 games in her first four years at Valpo, cementing herself as one of the top speedsters in program history. She will enter the 2018 campaign ranked third in program history with 45 career steals and just outside the program’s all-time top-10 with 87 runs scored.
A Second Team All-Horizon League honoree as a freshman, she stole 23 bases in 2016 as a junior – fifth-most in a single season in program history – and had already recorded four steals in the first eight games of the 2017 season before suffering the injury. Lawson has anchored the Crusaders’ outfield defense throughout her career as well as Valpo’s starting center fielder and has tallied 22 outfield assists.
With Lawson’s return, Valpo will welcome back 16 returnees from 2017’s 28-win squad as it heads into the Missouri Valley Conference for the 2018 season.
Monica Wright Promoted to Associate Head Coach
Valparaiso University softball head coach Kate Stake announced today that Monica Wright, the program’s pitching coach, has been promoted to associate head coach.
“Monica has showed such tremendous level of investment in our student-athletes and this program since she took this position at Valpo,” said Stake. “She is an excellent coach in the tactical sense, but more importantly she serves as a wonderful mentor and role model to the members of our team. This promotion gives Monica a title more appropriate to the weight and scope of her impact on this program.”
Wright joined the Crusader coaching staff in July of 2015, and the impact of her work with the Valpo pitchers has been immediate and impressive. Over the past two seasons, the ERA of Valpo’s pitching staff has dropped by over three runs per game, while opponents are hitting nearly 100 points worse than they were the season before Wright’s arrival. The Crusaders also issued nearly 40% fewer walks and allowed nearly 45% fewer home runs in 2017 as compared to 2015.
Wright guided Kenzie Grossmann in her first season as a Crusader in 2017 to a Horizon League-best 20 victories, as Grossmann finished the year 20-12 with a 3.05 ERA and 120 strikeouts. Grossmann’s 20 wins ranked third in a single season in program history, while she also cracked Valpo’s single-season top-10 in strikeouts. Wright also coached Taylor Weissenhofer to Second Team All-League accolades in 2016 as a senior as Weissenhofer closed out her career as the program's all-time leader in strikeouts. Weissenhofer was selected as the Pitcher of the Tournament at the Horizon League Championship that season as Valpo claimed the Horizon League title.
Prior to coming to Valpo, Wright spent four years as pitching coach at Bowling Green, where she led a pitching staff which posted a cumulative ERA of 2.55 over her tenure. In 2012, the Falcons finished the season with a 2.10 ERA, which ranked 32nd in the country, while the next season saw BGSU post a MAC-best earned run average of 2.17, good for 24th nationally. While at BGSU, Wright guided a pair of pitchers who finished their careers both among the Falcons’ top-10 winningest pitchers of all time.
