Cullowhee, N.C. – Lily Bell, a rising junior infielder on the Western Carolina softball team, was named to the D1 Softball Mid-Major Top 100 Player Rankings, as announced by the publication on Monday afternoon. Bell was tabbed 89th by the publication.
A two-time first-team All-Southern Conference selection, Bell was one of just four players from the Southern Conference, joined by Wofford all-conference pitchers Margaret Axelson (51st) and Abby Greenwood (86th), and Samford's all-conference utility player Olivia Shaw (55th), who rounded out the quartet.
The Mid-Major D100 aims to recognize the best players from outside the NCAA's Power Five conferences. Freshmen are ineligible for the rankings, but any other player currently on a non-P4 team is eligible, including transfers, as the Mid-Major D100 is a true top 100, and there are no ties.
The 100-player list features players from 24 mid-major conferences, including 18 leagues with three or more players, with the American Athletic Conference featuring 17 players. The list features 33 pitchers, followed by 20 outfielders and 11 first basemen, as Bell is one of only six primary second basemen to be included on the list.
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 with a SoCon-record .455 batting average (75-of-165), surpassing the previous benchmark set by Nina Iduate of Georgia Southern, who hit .450 in 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 conference play and tied for the league top spot with a .444 batting average.
Bell ranked among the nation's leaders in numerous categories in 2025, as she finished eighth in batting average (.455), 39th in base hits (75), 36th in stolen bases (28), 33rd in on-base percentage (.524), and 46th 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 hits 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 the team's 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), and stolen bases (62), and is 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 10th-place tie in the program's career record book.
Opening spring practice last week, the Catamounts prepare to open the 2026 season with a doubleheader on Wednesday, February 11, at 1 pm with in-state foe North Carolina A&T in Greensboro. Following the opening day twinbill, the Catamounts head to the Low Country Classic for a three-day five-game tournament with contests against Penn, College of Charleston, Akron, and UConn beginning on Friday, Feb. 13.
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