VCSU Hawkins earns NSAA honor
Despite another winter storm predicted for our area, the Valley City State University softball and baseball teams are getting games in thanks to their annual southern trip to Arizona. Let’s hope they brought back some of that warm weather.
The softball team was 1-7 in Tucson. For them, getting a chance to play outside was a welcome site after playing twelve games indoors in February, four in Minot and eight in Aberdeen. One softball player that is returning north hotter than the Arizona desert is Marissa Hawkins. She was named the North Star Athletic Association’s Player of the Week recently. In the final week in Tucson, Hawkins was 9 for 16 at the plate, a .563 batting average. She had three doubles, a grand slam, four runs scored and drove in eight runs. Her grand slam came against Cottey (Mo.) and sent the game into extra innings. The Vikings were 1-3 for the week with two of the loses in extra innings. The grand slam was the second of her career. The first came in 2021 versus Bellevue.
It was a slow start for Hawkins in Arizona. “Personally the first couple of days I struggled,” Hawkins said. “But I’m so grateful that I had some amazing teammates behind me to pick me up.”
Despite the record, Hawkins was proud of the way the Vikings played in Arizona. “The games didn’t particularly go in our favor,” Hawkins said. “We learned a lot as a team and individuals. We know what we have to work on especially going into conference play. Even though it didn’t necessarily go our way, but I’m so proud of the team and scores we put up.”
When Hawkins wraps up her softball career at Valley City State University, she will go down as one of the best to ever put on the Viking uniform.
With still over half the season remaining, she is already the career record holder in two cat
egories, runs batted in and walks. She is in the top ten in nine total categories as well. She holds the single season records for on base percentage and walks.
Hawkins broke onto the Viking softball scene in a big way. As a freshman out of Tartan High School in Oakdale, Minnesota, she was a member of the 2019 record setting Viking softball team that went
54-5 and reached the NAIA Softball World Series in Springfield, Missouri. That season, Hawkins broke the VCSU single season RBI record with 60. That record was broken last year by Joel Aiello who drove in 61 runs. Hawkins and Riley Perryman are the last two players from that 2019 team that are still playing. Both are using their extra year of eligibility they got back due to COVID and the loss of most the 2020 season.
Last season, Hawkins added pitching to her repertoire,
something she hadn’t done since her senior year in high school.
Hawkins is a two-time 1st team All-Conference selection in the NSAA.
This is the third time in her career she has been named NSAA Player of the Week.
The Vikings are scheduled to get back on the field this weekend with a series at Dickinson State. This would be the NSAA conference opener for both teams.