Spartanburg, S.C. – Led by NFCA All-Region third-team selection and two-time first-team All-Southern Conference selection, junior infielder Lily Bell was one of four players to earn Preseason All-Southern Conference honors as the league office announced its preseason honorary teams and predictions ahead of the 2026 softball season.

Bell was joined on the first team by junior utility Sydney Dirks, who also garnered second-team plaudits as the designated player. Junior infielder Maya McPherson and senior outfielder Rylee Butler were named to the preseason second team.

WCU's four selections mark the most Catamounts named to the league's preseason teams since 2023 and the most spots, five, since 2022, which set a program record.

The quartet leads an offensive group that posted the best team batting average (.282) since the 2006 debut season for the Purple & Gold, which saw the Catamounts finish at .283. WCU returns all seven of its qualified hitters from a season ago, led by Bell at .455. 

The Catamounts were also picked sixth in the 2025 SoCon Preseason Poll, voted by the league's coaches. Despite the middle-third prognostication, WCU was one of four teams to earn a first-place vote in the league's selections.

A product of Woodstock, Ga., Bell replicated her efforts in 2025 with an encore season, finishing with a program-record 75 base hits, seven more than the second-place individual. She did so with a program and SoCon-record setting .455 batting average (75-of-165), surpassing the previous benchmark set by Nina Iduate of Georgia Southern, who hit .450 in 2010.

Bell also set the program record for on-base percentage (.524), finished tied for second in runs scored (47), and was 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. She additionally 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 team-best 19-game reached base game streak. 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 scored (88). She also has 147 hits over the past two years in Cullowhee, needing just seven hits in 2026 to reach the program's Top 10 in the career record book.

Dirks, who's expected to see time across the diamond in 2026, finished 2025 second on the team with an impressive .309 batting average. She saw action in 51 games with 44 starts. The Mocksville, N.C. native finished with a team-best 10 home runs, as she drove in 30 and scored 25 runs, finishing second in both categories for the Catamounts. Her 10 homers marked the first Catamount to reach double figures since 2022 when Bailey Huneycutt (15) and Myra Twitty (11) both slugged double-digit dingers.

Dirks finished second on the team with 14 multi-hit games, including a career-best four against Tulsa in nonconference play, while also ranking second on the squad with nine multi-RBI games. Dirks garnered SoCon Player of the Week honors back in late April after going .700 (7-of-10) with a pair of homers against chromatic rival Furman.  

McPherson, one of two Catamounts to see action in all 53 games a season ago, finished with a .305 average, third on the team, while recording a team-high 51 RBIs on 50 hits. In totaling her team-best 51 RBIs, she also had 13 multi-RBI games, including a career-best six RBIs in last season's Catamount Classic against N.C. A&T. 

McPherson tied for fourth in the SoCon with a team-best 14 doubles, and was also tied for second in WCU's single-season record book for most doubles by a Catamount since Hunter Gibbons finished with 16 in 2017. The Lancaster, Calif. native finished 11th in the nation and set a program-record with six sacrifice flies. 

Similar to Dirks, McPherson garnered SoCon Player of the Week honors last March following a 10-for-22 (.455) performance at the dish, including two doubles and a homer to go along with tying for a national leading 16 RBIs. 

The final honoree for the Catamounts was Butler, who transferred from Samford ahead of the season and made an immediate impact in 2025. She recorded 37 hits with eight doubles, finishing third on the squad with three big flies as one of four Catamounts to record a grand slam, which came in nonconference play against Tulsa. 

The Tuscaloosa, Ala. native finished second amongst qualified WCU batters with a .376 on-base percentage as she drew 20 free passes, second on the team a season ago, as she also ranked fourth in the league with seven hit-by-pitches. Butler was a key piece defensively for WCU in 2025, tallying a .955 fielding percentage while recording numerous key catches to save runs throughout the season. She also finished the season with the second-longest reached base streak of 17 games. 

Tabbed as the preseason favorite by the league's head coaches, UNCG led the league with six preseason all-conference selections. The Catamounts had four players spanning five spots over the two 11-player rosters, with Samford infielder Olivia Shaw garnering SoCon Preseason Player of the Year honors. The conference's coaches picked Wofford's pitcher Margaret Axelson as the preseason Pitcher of the Year.

The Spartans took the top spot in the poll with 43 points and four first-place votes. Chattanooga and Samford both earned 37 points in the rankings, with the Mocs earning one first-place vote compared to two for the Bulldogs as the pair sits in a tie for second.

Wofford received 32 points and was slotted in fourth, followed by defending tournament champion Mercer (26) in fifth. WCU earned 24 points and a first-place vote to claim the sixth spot in the rankings, followed by ETSU with 17 points and Furman with eight points to round out the eight-team preseason poll.

The Catamounts open the 2026 season with a doubleheader on Wednesday, Feb. 11, against North Carolina A&T in Greensboro. Following the opening day, WCU heads to the Low Country Classic for a three-day, five-game tournament. The Catamounts will play Penn, host College of Charleston, Akron, and UConn beginning Friday, Feb. 13.

WCU opens its home schedule in doubleheader fashion against Winthrop on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the on-campus Catamount Softball Complex. Admission to each of WCU's home games throughout the 2026 season is free of charge, courtesy of First Bank.

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Preseason Poll
Team (First-Place Votes) Points

Preseason Player of the Year
Olivia Shaw, Samford, Jr., IF
 
Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Margaret Axelson, Wofford, Sr.
 
Preseason First-Team All-SoCon
P – Taylor Long, Chattanooga
P – Margaret Axelson, Wofford
C – Katie Campbell, Samford
INF – Macy Michael, UNCG 
INF – Olivia Shaw, Samford
INF – Katie Campbell, Samford
INF – Lily Bell, Western Carolina
OF – Kaylyn Belfield, UNCG
OF – Joi Hubbard, Samford
OF – Sydney Dirks, Western Carolina
DP – Sylvia Burroughs, Furman
 
Preseason Second-Team All-SoCon
P – Salem Ward, UNCG
P – Abby Greenwood, Wofford
C – Betsy Eatmon, UNCG
INF – Grace Jones, Mercer
INF – Hadley Gardner, UNCG
INF – Maya McPherson, Western Carolina
INF – Brianna Stanley, Wofford
OF – Samantha Beck, UNCG
OF – Rylee Butler, Western Carolina
OF – Rivers Sampson, Wofford
DP – Sydney Dirks, Western Carolina