NSU softball team making history with first ever trip to national championships
In two years on North Alabama’s NCAA Division I softball team, Alyssa Drogemuller pitched a total of just 20 1/3 innings. At the plate, she got just five at-bats.
“If I had to go back there,” she said, “I’d rather quit softball.”
In 2020, center fielder Alexis Smith started all 29 of Nova Southeastern University’s games but hit just .222 as a true freshman.
“I never want to see the number ‘222’ again,” Smith said with a laugh.
These days, Drogemuller and Smith are the two biggest reasons why the NSU Sharks will compete this week in the NCAA Division II Softball National Championships at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Prior to this season, the Sharks (43-14) had never won a regional.
This year, however, the Sharks are 5-1 in the postseason, and Drogemuller has thrown every playoffs pitch while also serving as NSU’s two-hole hitter. Smith, meanwhile, bats first and leads NSU in batting average (.412), doubles (15), triples (14), runs (63), RBIs (48), slugging percentage (.696), OPS (1.172) and steals (38-for-45).
In the regionals at St. Leo, NSU beat sixth-ranked West Alabama, 3-2, in 10 innings and then defeated seventh-rated Auburn-Montgomery, 5-2 and 1-0. Drogemuller pitched a three-hitter in the finale.
The Sharks then had to win 2-of-3 games from top-ranked and host Tampa, accomplishing the feat with a pair of Drogemuller shutouts. NSU won the opener 4-0, lost the second game 3-0 and won the finale 2-0.
Tampa entered that series with a 43-3 record, never losing more than one game per month. But Tampa averaged just 5.3 hits per contest against Drogemuller.
“It inspires me to see how much (Drogemuller) has grown over the past nine months,” Smith said. “She pushes herself.”
A lefty pitcher and hitter, Drogemuller this year is 24-7 with a 1.63 ERA, eight shutouts and one save. At the plate, she is fourth on the team in batting average (.336), and she is carrying an impressive .897 OPS.
“Now I remember why I have so much love and passion for softball,” Drogemuller said.
After deciding to leave North Alabama, Drogemuller wanted to play in the warm Florida weather. She contacted every Division I and Division II program in the state, getting interest from FIU and others.
But once she visited NSU, she said she fell in love with everything about the program, from coach Julie LeMaire to the Davie campus.
On the mound, Drogemuller is not overpowering. But her best pitches are her curve, which moves away from lefty hitters, and her screwball, which darts away from right-handers. She also has a rise-ball and a changeup.
Drogemuller, who grew up in the Chicago area, said her parents recently retired and bought a 450-acre farm in Moscow, Tennessee (population 568). Now Tom and Lori will have a short drive – less than five hours – to go watch their daughter try to win a national championship.
“It’s almost unbelievable what’s happened,” Drogemuller said.
Smith, meanwhile, has been NSU’s “rock”, according to LeMaire.
“Alexis s a superstar,” LeMaire said. “She’s probably the fastest kid in the (Sunshine State Conference). She set our program record for triples, and she takes a ton of hits away with her defense.”
Smith, who is from Tampa, played softball and flag football and was also on the cheer squad at Robinson High.
At NSU, she has been incredibly durable. The Sharks have played 162 games in her four years on campus, and Smith has started every one.
Whenever she gets in a mild slump, her mother, Stefanie Smith, reminds her of how far she’s come from her .222 freshman ear.
“It took me my whole freshman year to realize how hard the adjustment is from high school to college,” Smith said. “Then it was just building back my confidence.”
She’s confident now, and so is the entire Sharks team as evidenced by the TikTok video they made on their bus ride home from the Tampa super regional.
“It doesn’t feel real yet,” Smith said when asked about being one of just eight teams left at nationals. “We’ll know what it feels like when we get there.”
