OKLAHOMA CITY - The Oklahoma City Stars softball team totaled 14 postseason awards after a historic 2024 season highlighted by Baileigh Loux winning player of the year with Bobbi Bridges taking home Coach of the Year. 

OCU finished the regular season 48-2 with a 35-1 conference record while reaching up as high as a 32-game winning streak before having it snapped in the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship game to Science & Arts. 

Baileigh Loux was named Sooner Athletic Conference Player of the Year in her senior season  Loux led the conference with a .523 batting average and in hits with 81. Loux also was on top of the league with 64 runs batted in and in both on-base percentage (.571) and in OPS with a 1.442 average. The senior put together 27 games with multiple base hits and 17 games with multiple RBI.

Loux put together numerous big games including having two contests where she had 5-RBI each coming against Harris-Stowe and Southwestern Christian. Heading into the Opening Round Loux has scored a run in 12 of the last 13 games while going on a 7-for-7 streak in the middle of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament along with five RBI, three runs scored and a home run. 

Emersen Heron was selected as the conference Newcomer of the Year after being one of the best two-way players in the country. Heron finished the season for the Stars ranking third in the conference with a .459 batting average while leading the league with a .873 slugging percentage. Heron was also first in doubles with 21 and second in home runs with 12.

Inside the circle, Heron has yet to be defeated holding a 24-0 record with an ERA 0.85 in 140.0 innings pitched. Heron broke out on the scene with a big game against Mid-America Christian where she dominated with a complete game shutout while hitting three home runs in the same game defeating the Evangels 3-0 on Mar. 10. 

Tara Hoehner won the Sooner Athletic Conference honor for Freshman of the Year. Hoehner had an outstanding freshman campaign by finishing 10^th with a .421 batting average and was fifth with a .730 slugging percentage. Hoehner was also fourth in the conference with 52 runs batted in and 19 doubles. Hoehner was second on the team in doubles, fourth in home runs and fourth in runs batted in. She had one of her biggest games come in the final series of the regular season against SAGU with a season-high four hits with two runs scored, two RBI and two doubles.

The freshman out of Minco had three games this year with five RBI first coming against Mid-America Christian on Mar. 10 where she launched two home runs. Hoehner also collected five RBI against Science & Arts on Mar. 17 where she was 2-for-3 with a homer, a run scored and a double. Hoehner's third game with five total runs batted in came against SAGU on Apr. 24 where she added one of her two triples on the season along with another home run in her 2-for-3 day against the Lions.  

This year's Coach of the Year award went to Stars Associate Head Coach Bobbi Bridges after helping guide the Stars to the 12th regular season title, an appearance in the SAC Championship Game for the seventh year in a row. In her time coaching at OCU, the Stars have averaged 53 wins per year. She has contributed to four national championships, two national runner-up finishes, 19 NAIA Softball World Series appearances, eight Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season titles and nine conference tournament crowns.

Bridges has mentored two NAIA player of the year honorees, 49 all-Americans, five NFCA NAIA catchers of the year, six SAC player of the year recipients, five league pitcher of the year award winners, one SAC newcomer of the year and three conference freshmen of the year. She has been honored along with OCU's other coaches in being awarded NFCA national coaching staff of the year five times and regional coaching staff of the year seven times.

Bridges was was elected into the Alberta Softball Hall of Fame in the fall of 2023. She played for McSpadden at OCU from 1994-98, helping OCU win three consecutive NAIA championships. She was selected as a first-team NAIA all-American catcher in 1997 and 1998.  

Iliana Ashford won the conference's Gold Glove Award at second base as the freshman had a .972 fielding percentage with just three errors on the year 63 putouts and 40 assists. 

First Team All-Conference
Shelbey Cornelson
Amy Crabaugh
Kamryn Garvie
Emersen Heron
Tara Hoehner
Kaitlyn Jones
Baileigh Loux

Second Team All-Conference
Tiffany Paul 
Rally Radacy