STILL #PitcherU

Since the start of the 2018 season, the Sooner Athletic Conference has awarded the Pitcher of the Week award 97 times, and a USAO pitcher has earned the recognition 46 times. In other words, the Drovers have earned 47% of the weekly awards since 2018, and they have claimed EVERY SAC Pitcher of the Year award in that span. Emily Cerny claimed the conference's Pitcher of the Year award five times, followed by Sophie Williams for the last three seasons.

Nine different Drovers have earned the honor of SAC Pitcher of the Week since 2018, led by Emily Cerny's 20 awards. Sophie Williams has achieved the recognition 16 times, followed by Abi Gregory with three. Aubree Ferguson has earned the recognition twice so far in 2026.

Jayden Anderson (2026), Jordan Detherage (2018), Lyndie Ervin (2019), Summer Leitka (2019), and Randa Hatter (2019) each earned the award once.

Along with the accolades, the pitching staff has clearly played a major role in the team's success at the national level. Over the last seven seasons (excluding 2020 – COVID), USAO has made five NAIA World Series appearances and has placed in the top three on four occasions, including their NAIA National Championship in 2018. The Drovers have claimed six Sooner Athletic Conference championships (4x tournament champions, 2x regular season champions).

The USAO pitching staff has been a dominant force since the mid-2000's, having produced a team earned run average under 4.00 in 15 of the last 16 seasons. Additionally, they have not had a season with a team ERA over 3.00 since 2016, when the Drover pitching staff had a 3.02 ERA.

Since 2018, the pitching staff has produced a win-loss record of 420-69 (.859). Additionally, the unit has a sensational earned run average of 1.46, along with 3,466 strikeouts in 3,212.0 innings pitched. Furthermore, the team has recorded 35 no-hitters/perfect games and 175 shutouts in the last 489 games played. In that same span, the Drovers have only surrendered 669 earned runs.

This season, USAO's pitching staff has been one of the best in the NAIA once again, leading the country in strikeouts (304), while ranking third in wins (37) and earned run average (1.51).  

Aubree Ferguson has 21 appearances this season, the sophomore has allowed an earned run in only three of those contests, and she currently ranks second in the NAIA in earned run average (0.50). Ferguson owns an 18-2 record in 2026 and has claimed a pair of SAC Pitcher of the Week awards.

In two seasons, she has produced a record of 23-2 with a 1.23 ERA and 154 strikeouts in 148.0 innings pitched. 

Jayden Anderson set program record with 19 strikeouts in first career start against Tabor College on Feb. 9, 2024. The junior owns a career record of 35-6 record and a 1.72 earned run average, while striking out 251 batters in 273.1 innings of work. She is a two-time All-SAC selectee (1st team in 2025 and 2nd team in 2024). Last week, Anderson dealt her first collegiate no-hitter and was selected as the SAC Pitcher of the Week, as well as NAIA Pitcher of the Week.

Keylee Beckwith has appeared in 10 games this season and has produced a 5-1 record, along with a 2.45 ERA and has struck out 43 batters in 40.0 innings pitched.

In 12 appearances this season, Lakelynn Thompson owns a 6-4 record and has struck out 61 batters in 53 innings of work.

Gabby Toquothty, Laney Conrad, and Peyton Eaton have combined for 5.1 scoreless innings of relief this season, including eight strikeouts and zero hits allowed.

THE G.O.A.T WAS HERE…

Emily Cerny completed the greatest career in NAIA softball history in the spring of 2022 and became the first NAIA player to ever appear in the Women's Professional Fastpitch (WPF) as a member of the Oklahoma City Spark in the summer of 2023.

In her collegiate career, she climbed to the top of the list of nine different statistical categories in the NAIA record books. Cerny owns the NAIA record for most appearances (186), starts (158), complete games (132), wins (144), shutouts (68), innings (1,047.0), no-hitters (16), perfect games (7), and strikeouts (1,414).

Cerny earned the NAIA Pitcher of the Year award three times, SAC Pitcher of the Year award five times, four-time NAIA All-American selection, five-time All-SAC selections, and she was named the 2018 NAIA Softball World Series MVP as she led the Drovers to the national championship.

She is also the first woman with multiple Sooner Athletic Conference Female Athlete of the Year awards (2021, 2022).

As a Drover, she helped lead the team to four NAIA Softball National Championship tournament appearances, which includes the national championship in 2018, along with third-place finishes in 2019 and 2022. She helped lead USAO to a pair of SAC Championships, and the longest win-streak in NAIA softball history (59 games – 2018 to 2019).

Cerny concluded her sensational career with a record of 144-22, having won 86.7 percent of her outings, along with a 1.08 career earned run average.

The USAO softball team has announced that Emily Cerny will be the final player in program history to wear the jersey No. 1, and her number will be officially retired with a ceremony at a date yet to be determined. Cerny is seemingly a lock as a future NAIA Hall of Fame selection, adding on to her already incredible collection of hardware.

WHAT'S NEXT?

he Drovers now look ahead to a four-game series against their archrival No. 2 ranked Oklahoma City University on April 17-18 at Bill Smith Ballpark.

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