Fort Madison, IA- As college coaches look to fill out their recruiting class, Coe College’s Division-III softball program added a Crusader to their ranks as Emily Ross of Holy Trinity Catholic signed her National Letter of Intent Monday morning.
She admitted to proximity of Coe College—located in Cedar Rapids—was an important factor in her decision amongst other things,
“I’ve really enjoyed the coaches they are very nice and then also the girls are all very nice as well and just the atmosphere at Coe like where it is, where it’s located, everything like that was just perfect for me.”
Ross destroyed the ball in her first action at the varsity level last season. The junior finished the year with a top five slash line in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference South, going for a 0.519 batting average (3rd)/0.581 on-base percentage (3rd)/0.815 slugging percentage (5th).
Crusader head coach Loren Menke discussed how important she has been to her squad,
“What she means for our program, she means pretty much everything. She’s a great softball player. Beyond that, she’s a great person and she’s a great leader and the kids just look up to her and. It’s like having a second coach. Just she’s outstanding. I don’t know. I’ve heard countless kids say how they can’t imagine her not being on the team after this year. They all look up to her so.”
Ross belted two home runs to go along with 10 doubles to lead the team with 19 runs batted in. She was efficient on the base path and the field, stealing eight bases on nine attempts and committing zero errors at first base.
The Crusaders finished the 2024 season with an 8-12 record as the program restarted play in 2019. Ross will look to get some time in the outfield as well this season to supplement her travel ball play with the Iowa Gold out of Des Moines.
For Ross, this was the path she saw herself taking,
“It was always going to be [softball]. I’ve always loved playing softball and I’ve always known that I wanted to go play softball in college. That was a big thing for me.”
She will be studying accounting and business administration as a self-admitted math nerd.
The Kohawks finished with an impressive 34-11 record (12-4 in conference) for the 2024 season, falling to #7 Case Western Reserve University in the NCAA Super Regionals. Coe College ended the year with their second consecutive 30-win season and NCAA Regional Title.