It takes nine players to cover an entire softball field, but sometimes it only takes one to ignite an entire team. To the rest of the world, senior second baseman Brandi Hahn was the clean-up hitter in the Colonels’ lineup, but to the rest of her teammates, she was the spark whenever the team needed a boost.
“As a player she definitely gave 100 percent,” head coach Jenny Parsons said.
Hahn had her best season statistically batting .353 from the plate with 55 hits, 42 RBI’s and 11 home runs, tying a Nicholls record for most home runs in a season with former Colonel Karen Allen.
Hahn would receive her first two post-season awards by being the only Colonel, and player from Louisiana, named to the BellSouth Southland Conference All-Tournament team and first team All-SLC. Hahn was also the first player since Dione Meier in 2003 to be named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-South Region team, along with being second team All-Louisiana as awarded by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.
Hahn did not expect for her numbers to be so high and believed her teammates had also out-performed their expectations.
“It was really inexperience, and it was just a blessing that I had the season I did,” Hahn said. “But I think that as a whole, we all hit extremely well, and it gave us a chance to win more games.”
Hahn finished her career with a .635 slugging percentage, second behind SLC Hitter of the Year Kat Harrell, but Hahn did not see herself as a power hitter.
“Really, my only object was to get runners in and to make sure if there were people on base to do whatever it took to get them in,” Hahn said.
After getting to the conference tournament for the first time since 2004, Hahn said that the atmosphere of the tournament changed from day to day and people could tell how hard each team worked to get there.
“Getting to the tournament is what you work the entire season for,” she said. “It wasn’t the ending we expected, but it was a great experience being there.”
Hahn is not the only senior that is leaving the team, designated player/catcher Meghan Mulcahy, centerfielder Teri Clouatre and Andrea Ground are the remaining seniors leaving the team. The seniors held a team meeting after the McNeese series outlining what the team needed to do win.
“We’ve been there, so we know what the tournament is like, and we felt like we needed to get there to show the rest of the team what they should want to accomplish in the future.” Hahn said.
Besides discipline and sportsmanship, one thing Hahn hopes to leave with is not just softball players, but Nicholls athletes. In order to get support, according to Hahn, players have to give support.
“You have to go to the football games and basketball games and show your support for your school, and you’ll be surprised how much of that support you’ll get back,” Hahn said.
