Five Tigers Named to the 2026 All-NCAC Team, McCans and Beddow Earn Top Honors
CLEVELAND, OH - The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) announced the 2026 All-NCAC softball teams today, May 13. Five Tigers were selected over the three teams with three on the first team, one on the second team and one on the third team. Two Tigers earned conference “of the year” awards with Meghan McCans (Arcanum, OH / Arcanum) earning player of the year and Shyann Beddow (Kearns, UT / Kearns) taking home the Gold Glove Award.
In addition to McCans, Bekah Giel (Amelia, OH / West Clermont) and Lilly James (Troy, OH / Troy) earned first-team All-NCAC recognition. Julie Hall (Powell, OH / Bishop Watterson) was the lone Tiger named to the second team, and Bailey Nichols (Tucson, AZ / Sabino) was named to the third team.
In conference play, McCans recorded 24 hits and six RBIs from her leadoff position with a batting average of .490. She also led the conference in stolen bases with 17, runs scored with 15, and triples with three. Giel logged 15 hits and 12 RBIs with a .366 batting average and finished third in the conference in stolen bases with 11. James earned first team honors with a 1-0 record in conference and a 2.07 ERA and was first in the conference with nine saves and finished third in the least number of runs allowed and earned runs allowed with 11 and eight. Hall was recognized with second team honors for the second straight year with a conference record of 4-2 with an ERA of 3.00. Nichols was named to the third team as she totaled 11 hits and six RBIs with a batting average of. 314. Beddow, the Tigers' primary catcher, earned the NCAC’s Gold Glove Award with a fielding percentage of .987 and was tied for fourth in least stolen bases against with eight and runners caught stealing with four.
In the 2026 season, the Tigers earned a share of the regular season conference championship, going 11-3 in conference and 27-17 overall and hosted the NCAC Tournament. In the first round of the conference tournament, Wittenberg defeated the No. 4 seed, Kenyon, before being defeated by No. 3 seed, Denison. The Tigers then took down the No. 2 seed DePauw to earn a chance to take on Denison again. The Big Red defeated the Tigers a second time to win the NCAC Tournament and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
After the completion of the season, the Tigers led the NCAC in hit by pitches with 55 and paced the conference in stolen bases with 198. In the circle, the Tigers led the conference in saves as well with 12.