Stratford High School softball coach Madison Ackerman has never been concerned about rising senior pitcher Lillian Hansen giving her best effort.
Now, Hansen doesn’t have to worry about whether she’s ready for college softball. The 2023 all-region selection committed to Erskine College in late July.
“She’s definitely an all-around hard worker,” Ackerman, who will go into her second season leading the Knights next spring, said. “She’s one of my players I never have to worry about. She’s an A honor roll-type of kid. She plays with passion. She tries to put her all into every pitch or swing. There was no question she was going to commit somewhere. I was just waiting to see where she was going to go.”
Hansen announced her decision July 22 to join The Fleet. She’ll be in her third varsity season next spring and aims to build on a strong junior campaign. Hansen pitched most of Stratford’s games this past spring and batted around .350 from the middle of the order for the Knights, who tied for second in Region 6-AAAAA behind perennial power Berkeley.
One highlight was Hansen shutting out the Stags from inside the circle to end their long winning streak in region play. Hansen two-hit the Stags and struck out four batters in a 3-0 Stratford victory. Hansen finished the year with more than 70 strikeouts in 108 innings.
“She has a wide variety of different movements on her pitches,” Ackerman said. “We worked really hard this past season getting ahead early and making people chase later on. She does a nice job on her curve ball and rise ball, getting people to swing at pitches they think they can hit but can’t.”
Ackerman, who played college softball, believes Hansen is “definitely ready” for the college experience. Erskine is a NCAA Div. II program located in Due West.
“As a pitcher, you have to put in more hours than everybody else and she’s doing that,” Ackerman said. “She has the determination for (college softball). She goes above and beyond practicing her pitching on her own time.”
