LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Lily Bell, a sophomore infielder on the Western Carolina University softball team, was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Mid-Atlantic All-Region third-team at second base, as announced by the association today.
Bell is the eighth different Catamount to earn all-region honors, collecting the recognition for the first time in her career. It's the third straight season that a Catamount was honored as senior pitcher Tessa Juett (2024), and Bailey Huneycutt (2021 & 2023) both were honored in the past two award cycles. Bell joins Juett, Huneycutt, Crystal Cyr (2016), Erin Foster (2012), and both Ashley Adams and Mendy McKenzie from the inaugural season in 2006.
A two-time first-team All-Southern Conference selection, Bell was one of just three All-Mid-Atlantic region players from the SoCon, joined by UNCG all-conference honorees in outfielder Grace Loftin (second team) and pitcher/utility Jorde Chartrand (third team).
A product of Woodstock, Ga., Bell replicated her efforts in 2025 with an encore season, finishing with a program-record 75 hits, seven more than the second-place individual. She did so on a conference record .455 batting average (75-of-165), surpassing the previous benchmark set by Nina Iduate of Georgia Southern, who hit .450 during 2010.
Bell's .455 average also broke a WCU program single-season record, a benchmark previously held by Brooklynn Brewington (.393, 64-of-163) during the 2023 season. Bell also set the program record for on-base percentage (.524), finished tied for second in runs scored (47), and third in the single-season record book for stolen bases (28), six off the single-season best – a mark she set in her freshman season with 34. Bell totaled a league-high 28 hits in league play and tied for the league top spot with a .444 batting average.
With teams entering the NCAA tournament regional play this weekend, Bell ranks among the nation's leaders in numerous categories. She is 12th in batting average (.455), 23rd in hits (75), 33rd in stolen bases (28), 36th in on-base percentage (.524), and 47th in toughest to strike out (23.6), all of which rank in the top two in the SoCon.
Bell was the model of consistency throughout 2025, tallying at least one hit in 40 of the team's 53 games, with 27 of those contests featuring multi-hit outings. She reached base safely in 48 of 53 games, including a 19-game reached base game streak, which was a team-best. She also finished the season on a seven-game hit streak that she will carry into 2026.
Through two seasons in the Catamount softball career record books, Bell holds the top spot in batting average (.419), on-base percentage (.474), stolen bases (62), and ninth in runs (88). She also has 147 hits over the past two years in Cullowhee, needing just seven hits in 2026 to reach a tie for 10th in the program's career record book.
The Mid-Atlantic Region consists of schools in the American Athletic Conference (Charlotte, East Carolina), Atlantic Coast Conference (Clemson, Virginia Tech, Louisville), Atlantic Sun (Bellarmine, Eastern Kentucky, Liberty, Queens), Atlantic 10 (George Mason), Big South (Gardner-Webb, Longwood, Radford), Coastal Athletic Association (Campbell, Elon, Hampton, N.C. A&T, UNCW), Horizon (Northern Kentucky), Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (Norfolk State, N.C. Central), Ohio Valley Conference (Morehead State), Southern Conference (UNCG, Western Carolina), Southeastern Conference (Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee) and Sun Belt (Appalachian State, James Madison, Marshall).
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Western Carolina National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Region Selections]
2025: Lily Bell – 3rd Team Mid-Atlantic
2024: Tessa Juett – 3rd Team Mideast
2023: Bailey Huneycutt – 3rd Team Mideast
2021: Bailey Huneycutt – 3rd Team Mideast
2016: Crystal Cyr – 2nd Team Mideast
2012: Erin Foster – 1st Team Mideast
2006: Ashley Adams – 2nd Team Southeast
2006: Mendy McKenzie – 2nd Team Southeast
