Lansing Sun

Michigan State University has announced that three of its softball players have been named as Big Ten Softball Players to Watch for 2025. Juniors Hannah Hawley and Britain Beshears, along with freshman Jacey Schuler, received this recognition from the conference office on Tuesday.

Hawley and Beshears are returning players for the Spartans and both were honored in 2024 by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Great Lakes Region. Beshears was a third-team selection, while Hawley made the first team all-region and second team All-Big Ten as a sophomore. This marked the first time since 2017 that multiple Michigan State athletes were represented on the All-Region teams.

Beshears played in all 51 games last season, achieving a .272 batting average with a .353 on-base percentage, a .626 slugging percentage, and a .979 OPS. She led Michigan State with 15 home runs, which ranked third in the Big Ten and second in program history for single-season homers. Beshears also topped the team with 40 RBIs.

Hawley led her team with a .349 batting average, a .462 on-base percentage, a .671 slugging percentage, and an OPS of 1.133. She also had team-highs in hits (52), runs scored (31), extra base hits (24), and walks (25). Her performance placed her fifth in slugging percentage and seventh in on-base percentage within the Big Ten. In matchups against Top 75 RPI teams, she maintained a batting average of .364.

Freshman Jacey Schuler is making headlines even before officially playing for Michigan State. She was named to the Softball America Freshman Watch List in January. As a high school player at Antioch Community High School, Schuler was recognized as an NFCA High School All-American twice and earned Lake County News-Sun Softball Player of the Year honors three times consecutively.