Previewing the 2025 UNCW Seahawk softball team

'We have to reinvent ourselves' Wade says Seahawks will rely on 'grit' built during CAA championship run

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WWAY) – Last year’s 33-win UNCW softball team reached an NCAA regional for the second time in three seasons and secured a program-record 18 conference wins that surpassed the record set the year prior.

This season opens at Boseman field on Friday with a double header, starting with Syracuse and ending with Le Moyne. In anticipation. WWAY caught up with the reigning Coastal Athletic Association Champs about how they feel they project in 2025.

 The team was picked to finish second in the CAA while sophomore outfielder Cassidy Relay was named to the All-CAA Preseason Team. UNCW got one first-place vote from the 12 head coaches. Ashley Wade thinks her team can still thrive in the underdog mentality they embraced all the way to the championship.

“For us, we are still a little bit of the Under Hawks,” said the Seahawk skipper. “That’s the thing we thrive the most in. With our two top pitchers leaving from last year, people don’t know what to expect from us and that’s right where we want to be honestly.”

“All we need to do is play our game every single day and stick to that level of play and when we do that, we are able to beat anyone in the opposing dugout.”

Of the team’s 33 wins last season, pitchers Kara Hammock and Emily Winstead combined for 30. Plus, the combo struck out 244 batters and had opponent batting averages of .219 and .223 respectively. Coach Wade sees replacing that production was a big focus in her plan of attacking this off season, through the transfer portal and recruiting.

In total, there were four total additions through the portal – two pitchers in Charlotte transfers Taylor Barlow and Michigan State transfer Makayla Huddleston. Combining those two with returner Peyton Eckert and freshman Lynsie Herman, the Seahawks have a completely new look in the circle.

“For the entire conference pitching is a huge question mark,” says Coach Wade. The top five pitchers from last year in the CAA are gone, including Hammock and Winstead. “But we are a lot stronger on the defensive and offensive side as well.”