D1 Player of the Year: Valerie Cagle

Following Oklahoma’s NCAA record-run to a third straight national title at the Women’s College World Series, it’s time to sit back and celebrate the best and the brightest of the 2023 season. D1Softball will be handing out its postseason awards over the next few days.

Player of the Year: Valerie Cagle, P/UT, Clemson

The redshirt junior could have made a strong case for postseason honors just based on her pitching or just based on her hitting. The fact that she did both at such a high-level makes Cagle stand out above the rest. Not only was she the ace of the Clemson staff, but she was the team’s most-feared hitter.

Cagle had a historic season for the Tigers setting a school-record with 83 hits, including 19 home runs and 15 doubles. The ACC Pitcher of the Year led Clemson to the Super Regionals for the second straight year before the Tigers fell to No. 1 Oklahoma on the road. Cagle batted .469 with 57 RBIs and a .887 slugging percentage. She finished second in the nation in total bases (159).

In the circle, Cagle was 25-8 with a 1.56 ERA through 38 appearances and 30 starts. In 193 innings of work, the All-American struck out 188 batters while only allowing 23 extra-base hits and limiting opponents to a .182 average. She posted eight solo shutouts, including the first perfect game in program history with a five-inning performance against Mercer. Cagle also threw an immaculate inning against Georgia Tech, needing only nine pitches to strike out three batters.