Slugging duo powers CCU softball into Big South tournament

As the story goes, Coastal Carolina softball coach Kelley Green was getting a bit stressed a few summers ago as the Chanticleers were still without a catcher to fill their needs late in that particular recruiting cycle.

But that would turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Recruiting a tournament up in the northeast, Green and associate head coach Ali Ferrari were watching different fields when Ferrari noticed a strong-armed, power-hitting rising senior from Valley Forge, Penn., named Morgan Noad and told Green their search was over.

“We continued to watch her throughout the tournament and it just took one look,” Green recalled. “She had a gun for an arm and good power, lefty hitter. It was just perfect. … We don’t usually wait that long to recruit such a big position, but I’m glad we did because if we had signed a kid as a sophomore or even earlier in her junior year, we wouldn’t have been able to get her.”

Yet another reminder that recruiting can be such an unpredictable venture for college coaches.

A year after signing a lightly recruited, under-the-radar prospect from Florida named Kory Hayden, who would blossom into an instant star and go on to shatter the Chants’ career home run record, the program added Noad, who is now on pace to break Hayden’s record next season.

Together, Hayden and Noad have combined for 32 home runs this season – part of a program-record 79 the team has mashed overall – and the slugging duo is a big reason the Chants are optimistic heading into the start of the Big South tournament Thursday in Buies Creek, N.C., with an automatic berth into the NCAA Regionals on the line.

“We’ve certainly been fortunate to get a couple kids like that,” Green said. “They’re very special and they’ll be two of the best kids we’ve ever had in our program. But in the end we’re going to be measured on winning championships, so I’m hoping that Kory, Noad and everybody else can end their career with one or two more rings.”

That’s been the goal all season, but the ongoing power display from Hayden and Noad has been an underlying storyline throughout the spring as well.

Hayden, a four-time first-team All-Big South third baseman from West Palm Beach, Fla., had already set the program’s career home run record entering her senior year after hitting 48 over her first three seasons. She’s hit a career-low 11 this season – while posting a career-high .384 batting average and .497 on-base percentage – but that was enough to briefly take over the Big South’s career record with 59.

Longwood’s Megan Baltzell leapfrogged her last month on her way to 64 (73 overall counting her freshman season prior to Longwood joining the conference).

But Hayden insists she doesn’t get caught up in any of the numbers or records.

“I didn’t know that Megan Baltzell had hit like 10 home runs in a week and all of a sudden was on my tail,” Hayden said of their own back-and-forth home run battle. “And the day that we had the game on [ESPNU, against Radford on April 11], I was like, ‘Today is the day. I’m going to break the record. It was meant to happen on TV for my family to see that’s not here to watch it.’ But I knew that it was probably a possibility that I would only hold the record for that day or maybe a few days because I knew Baltzell is a great player.

“At this point, I’m not even thinking about it anymore. If I hit home runs and end up passing her, that’s awesome, but if not, it is what it is. I had it for a few days and that’s something some people can’t say.”

While Hayden downplays the records, though, Noad is driven by the numbers – in a good way, Green says.

“Noad wants to beat Kory, she wants the records, and not because she’s selfish. She’s just competitive,” Green said. “She wants to be the best player possible and she doesn’t want anyone to stand in her way. Absolutely she wants to beat Kory Hayden’s records, but it’s all in fun. No. 1 she wants to win above everything else.”

After slugging 15 home runs in each of her first two seasons at Coastal, Noad, who primarily serves as the team’s designated player now, has set a single-season program record with 21 homers as a junior to boost her overall total to 51, placing her second in the Chants’ record books and just eight behind Hayden.

For that matter, with Kiana Quolas’ 27 and Sara Rasley’s 26, this Coastal Carolina team boasts four of the seven all-time leading home run hitters in program history.

And while Hayden dismisses any personal competition in that regard, Noad – who is also batting .364 with a team-leading 54 RBIs and and eye-popping .848 slugging percentage – said it drives her.

“We’re both very competitive people so over the past two seasons I’ve always been trying to catch her, and one of my goals every year is always to beat Kory in home runs,” Noad said. “It’s just something that we have fun with.”

Having both sluggers in the middle of her lineup has been plenty of fun for Green, meanwhile.

Going back to the recruiting story, Green says she was supposed to stay up in the northeast for another tournament that next weekend before heading out west on the recruiting trail, but she ended up flying back to Conway in the middle of the trip to show Noad, who was also strongly considering Pittsburgh, and her father around on a recruiting visit.

“I didn’t want to wait any longer,” Green said. “I remember them asking, ‘Why Coastal [over] Pitt?’ We sold them on it and the rest is history.”

Literally.

Both players will hope to add to their impressive career resumes this week as the No. 2-seeded Chants try to win the Big South championship and punch their ticket to the NCAA Regionals for the first time since Hayden’s freshman season in 2012.

As for that next record in Noad’s sights, her teammate’s Coastal Carolina career home run mark, the junior says she’s not thinking about it – not yet, at least.

“That is not something that I can think about,” Noad said. “That’s not going to help my game at all. You can’t focus on the end product; you have to focus on the process. ... [But] If I can keep doing what I’m doing, that sounds good to me.”

This story was originally published May 6, 2015 at 8:41 PM with the headline "Slugging duo powers CCU softball into Big South tournament."