With five NCAA Tournament appearances in the last eight years, winning has become the standard for Randolph-Macon softball. Even as the program–entering just its 25th season in 2023–has elevated itself to national relevance at the Division III level, the Yellow Jackets come into the 2023 spring season having accomplished a new milestone in 2022 with a NCAA Regional title won on their home field.

The victory last season held extra meaning for the upperclassmen, who had their seasons cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic in both 2020 and 2021.

“It was very exciting to experience that for the first time, even if it was as a junior,” Rilee Baughan ’23 said.

Baughan is a dual-threat pitcher/infielder for RMC, leading the Old Dominion Athletic Conference with 11 home runs. While Baughan added effective pitching to her power bat, recording a 3.26 earned runs average (ERA) in over 90 innings of work, the Yellow Jackets were led in the circle by pitcher Gracie Ellis ’25, who earned All-American status as a true freshman.

Ellis put up eye-popping numbers, striking out 244 batters across nearly 200 innings and compiling a 22-6 record with a 1.21 ERA. In addition to a long list of accolades that includes both ODAC Pitcher and Rookie of the Year, she threw two no-hitters, one of which was a perfect game, in her first season of collegiate softball. Beyond the box score, Ellis had an immediate impact on the team as a natural leader, even as one of the youngest members of the squad.

“She’s so tough and she’s so gritty,” head coach Kevin Proffitt ’86 said. “It set a nice tone for the rest of our kids.”

“She’s just an amazing player all the way around. She can hit, she can pitch, she could play any position that you put her in, very versatile,” Baughan said. “She’s very mature as a freshman and she’s one of the biggest reasons why we got to Regionals.”

Freshman Phenoms

Joining Baughan and Ellis as All-ODAC honorees were two more freshmen, Naomi Sadler ’25 and Amanda Lanyon ’25, both speedy outfielders who stole at least 20 bases at the top of the Yellow Jackets’ lineup. In fact, RMC started five freshmen throughout its postseason run.

Because he had a young team in need of experience, Proffitt accepted an invitation for the Yellow Jackets to play in the NFCA Leadoff Classic last spring, facing several opponents ranked in the top 25 nationally. When RMC won five of its six games at the tournament in Columbus, Ga., Proffitt knew he might have something special on his hands.

The momentum only grew. For Ellis, a game against Virginia Wesleyan in the ODAC Tournament where the Yellow Jackets were locked in on every pitch was the moment she felt the team’s potential.

“Everyone’s energy in that game, I feel like I’ll remember that forever,” Ellis said. “Everybody really came together and that’s when I knew that we were going to go far.”

Baughan also pointed to the team’s resiliency in guiding them to the postseason, noting “we had lots of ups and downs in our season, but I think we were so good because we were able to recover from the downs and we did a good job of lifting each other up.”

Despite not winning the conference championship in a competitive ODAC, RMC finished the regular season with 30 wins, including eight against ranked opponents, and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in school history, hosting the Ashland Regional.

Ellis guided the Yellow Jackets to a 2-1 win over Farmingdale State in a pitcher’s duel in the opening game before back-to-back victories over MIT punched RMC’s ticket to its second Super Regional appearance in four years.

Alumni Coaches

The sustained success over the past decade is due in no small part to the stability of the coaching staff, the majority of which is made up of RMC alumni. Proffitt, who played baseball for the Yellow Jackets in the 1980s, has been the head coach since the 2003 season. For the better part of two decades, he’s been joined by Dana Wood, a 1976 graduate of the College.

Chip Bailey isn’t an RMC alumnus, but he is an institution in the softball community in central Virginia and has been a crucial part of the Yellow Jackets’ consistency. The coaching staff is rounded out by Amanda Sopko ’15, who played for Proffitt at RMC and was a stellar second baseman and outfielder.

“I couldn’t do it without those three. Everybody offers their own piece and we all complement each other,” Proffitt said.

The players especially appreciate the perspective of Sopko, who was in their shoes just a few years ago, with Baughan saying “I think it shows how great this program is when somebody who used to play here came back and wanted to coach it.”

Bright Future

While the Yellow Jackets couldn’t replicate the 2019 run to the National Championship Series, falling in consecutive games to Eastern Connecticut State in the best-of-three Super Regional, the future remains bright. The young core from the Regional championship team remains intact, with offensive reinforcements arriving in the form of the 2023 freshman class.

“We have great kids in our program,” Proffitt said. “They’re really academically conscious and they’re very committed to the softball piece. We couldn’t ask for anything more in terms of how they represent the college.”