2021 West Central graduate Reagan Spence has verbally committed to play softball for the Duhawks this fall while majoring in biology and minoring in Spanish with hopes of becoming a physician assistant.
Spence had an outstanding softball career at West Central High School. In 2018 Reagan was Honorable Mention Lincoln Trail All Conference as a freshman. She also led her team in wins with 9 wins on 84 strike outs and 29 walks while batting .365 with 2 home runs and 24 RBIs.
In her 2019 sophomore year, she was named 1st Team LTC All Conference and led her team with 14 wins with an ERA of 3.01. Spence compiled 101 strike outs while limiting opponents to 19 walks. She helped lead the West Central Heat to be the 2019 LTC Conference Champs with a record of 14-2.
Spence’s 2021 senior year she was named 1st Team LTC All Conference Pitcher leading the team with 10 wins with a 2.9 ERA. She batted .299 with 1 home run and 15 RBIs.
Reagan had 33 career wins in 3 years (COVID 2020 no season) while compiling 255 strike outs and limited WC Heat’s opponents to 76 walks. While achieving all those goals Reagan managed also to be named LTC All-Conference Academic every year as well.
Saying that Spence has left her mark on West Central softball is an understatement. As a four-year starting pitcher she naturally filled the role as a leader for the team. She always worked hard on her craft of pitching as well as dedicating her time to academics while juggling sports.
Spence realized her love for the sport at a young age when she started playing softball. “I developed a love for the game and realized around 8 years old I wanted to be competitive so I began playing travel softball a couple years later. As competition improved in the games I played, I took responsibility and wanted to better my skill level overall and sought teams and coaches that would push me to become a better softball player.”
Spence attributes her career success to her coaches. “I am extremely grateful to my high school coaches, Scott Swiler, John Benge, and Dylan Volyes and my travel ball coaches Beau Burnett and Chad Reed for everything they have taught me along the way. Scott and Beau know the game and have spent countless hours working with me on pitching and hitting giving me honest feedback, even when it may have been something tough to hear at the time. They are all like my family and I look up to them in so many ways.”
Entering high school Spence set her standards high knowing she wanted to play softball in college. Her attitude and drive are just a couple factors that will allow her to play at a higher level and fulfill her dream of playing the sport she loves at Loras College.
“I am looking forward to continuing my softball career at Loras College. They are a DIII competitive softball team and Coach Winter, Coach Schuchmann as well as the rest of the coaching staff set the bar high for us to reach. I look forward to the challenge because it allows me to keep pushing myself, work harder, and hopefully continue to be successful in their program.”