Softball

MIAC announces 2026 Softball awards

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) announced the 2026 MIAC Softball Awards on Monday, including the All-Conference, honorable mention, and All-Playoff Teams, along with individual honors.
 
MIAC champion Saint Benedict claimed three of the four top individual awards, as CSB senior shortstop Olivia Tautges was voted MIAC Softball Player of the Year, senior pitcher Ellie Peterson was selected MIAC Softball Pitcher of the Year, and head coach Rachael Click was named MIAC Softball Coach of the Year. St. Olaf first-year catcher Hannah Yaeger collected MIAC Softball Rookie of the Year honors.
 
Tautges (Brainerd, Minn. / Brainerd) was voted MIAC Softball Player of the Year for the second time in three seasons after slashing 0.459 / 0.630 / 0.869 with 28 hits, 13 extra-base hits, 28 walks, 25 runs batted in, and a league-leading 33 runs scored in 22 conference starts for the MIAC champion Bennies. Tautges is the fifth player to be named MIAC Softball Player of the Year more than once, and just the second to do so non-consecutively. Tautges and former CSB teammate Gabby Spencer have accounted for four of the last five MIAC Softball Player of the Year honors.
 
Peterson (St. Anthony Village, Minn. / St. Anthony Village) was selected as the MIAC Pitcher of the Year for the second time in three seasons after leading the conference with a 12-0 record and 1.25 earned run average in league play. The 2023 MIAC Softball Rookie of the Year and 2024 MIAC Softball Pitcher of the Year, Peterson has now received a top individual conference honor in three of her four seasons at CSB. She is the eighth different pitcher to be selected as the MIAC Softball Pitcher of the Year more than once, and the third to do so non-consecutively.
 
Yaeger (Eagan, Minn. / Cretin-Derham Hall) was named MIAC Softball Rookie of the Year after starting all 22 conference games and collecting 30 hits, 26 RBI, and a league-best 13 doubles in her debut season for the Oles. She is the third different St. Olaf first-year to be named MIAC Softball Rookie of the Year, and the first since pitcher Julie Graf won the award in 2017.
 
Click (14th season) was selected as the MIAC Softball Coach of the Year for the first time in her career after guiding the Bennies to an outright conference title with a 21-1 record in league play. CSB finished the regular season on a program-record 20-game win streak with ten consecutive doubleheader sweeps before securing the first MIAC Playoff title in program history. In being named the MIAC Softball Coach of the Year, Click is now the first individual in MIAC history to be voted MIAC Rookie of the Year (2006), MIAC Player of the Year (2009), and MIAC Coach of the Year (2026) in any sport.
 
In addition to individual awards, MIAC coaches also selected 36 players as All-Conference, with 19 more receiving honorable mention distinction. Twenty-three of the 36 All-Conference selections had been honored with the accolade at least once before. Four seniors – Gustavus pitcher Maizie Anderson, Saint Benedict pitcher Ellie Peterson, St. Catherine shortstop Helen McKinnon, and Saint Mary's corner infielder Peyton Berg – earned their fourth straight All-MIAC nod, a feat achieved by just 34 softball players in recorded conference history. Three more players – Bethel junior outfielder Abby Otterness, Saint Benedict senior shortstop Olivia Tautges, and Saint Mary's junior pitcher Makayla Steffes – received All-MIAC honors for the third year in a row, placing them in the company of just 98 players in MIAC softball history to receive three All-Conference selections.
 
All awards were nominated by and voted on by the 12 MIAC head softball coaches, and only statistics from regular-season MIAC contests were considered for conference honors. Any nominated player not selected as All-Conference but still receiving votes from at least three coaches was named honorable mention.
 
The MIAC also announced the All-Playoff Team for softball, which recognized the top 13 performers from the conference tournament, as selected by playoff-participant head coaches. Six of the 13 All-Playoff Team honorees had been recognized with the postseason accolade at least once before, with Saint Mary's junior pitcher Makayla Steffes and Saint Benedict senior pitcher Ellie Peterson receiving the honor for the third time in their respective careers.
 
| 2026 MIAC Softball Awards |