SB: Trio of Huskies named with Southland Conference honors

4/30/2025 11:36:00 AM

Garcia named 1st Team; Savage named for 4th straight season while Bailey picks up defensive honors

Houston Christian University had a trio of players named with postseason accolades as the Southland Conference announced on Wednesday morning its 2025 All-Conference teams and superlatives as voted on by the conference coaches. AB Garcia was named First Team All-Conference, Haylie Savage was named Second Team All-Conference and Maddy Bailey was chosen to the All-Defensive team.

AB Garcia was named as an outfielder on the first team, the second first-team honor of her career. In the midst of her best season as a Husky, Garcia was lost for the rest of the campaign with a knee injury while trying to leg out an infield hit in the second game of a doubleheader with Incarnate Word. At the time, AB was leading the Southland in batting average and total hits, and ranked 12th in the NCAA in average and 14th in hits.

The junior centerfielder from Cypress, Texas and Cypress Lakes High School spent much of the season hitting above .500, reaching a season-high of .557 on March 11. She ended the year with a .473 average, which is the second-best single-season mark in school history.

She posted seven games with three or more hits this season bringing her career total to 14. One of those being her third career four-hit game coming in the conference opener against Northwestern State, a game she tied the single-game mark for triples. She also recorded a career-best 14-game hitting streak and reached base safely in 32 of the 34 contests she played in, while setting new personal highs in batting average, doubles, triples, walks and RBI.

Garcia, who was named 2023 SLC Freshman of the Year, also moved into second place in career steals at HCU with 47, and she is now just one hit and 13 runs away from hitting the Top 10 leaderboards in those categories as well.

Haylie Savage becomes the first four-time All-Southland Conference selection in program history. She is now one of just two players ever to earn All-Conference honors four times, joining Cheri Wood, an All-Red River selection four straight years from 2004-07. It is the third time for Savage to earn honors at third base in her career, with utility honors last season.

The senior from Angleton, Texas and Angleton High School is currently batting a career-best .371 on the season, and leads the team in hits (53), doubles (11), homers (5), walks (20) and RBI (33). She also has been stellar on the defensive side as she has recorded both a career-high in chances and a career-low in errors for a fielding percentage of .939. Savage has never missed a game in her career, with this marking the fourth consecutive year that she has started every game for the Huskies, with her next time on the diamond being her 200th career appearance.

She has 11 multi-hit games and 12 multi-RBI games this year, and has ranked in the Top 10 of the Southland Conference in HR, RBI, 2B, BA, SLUG, OBA, OPS for the duration of the campaign. Her three-hit game in the series finale at Lamar was the fourth such this season and 11th of her career. Savage registered a career-high 11-game hitting streak on the heels of two nine-gamers and she has reached base safely in 46 of 48 games.

Now wrapping up her final season with the Huskies, Savage has put her mark on most every major offensive category in school history. She is one of just 10 players ever at HCU to hit the century mark in runs driven in (now at 122) and her homer at UTA made her one of just nine in school history with 20 career home runs (now with 23). She now ranks sixth in RBI and seventh in homers. Savage is now just two hits shy of 200 for her career with 198, which is good for seventh all-time and she ranks second in school history with her 44 doubles. She is fifth all-time in at-bats while ranking eighth in walks, ninth in games played and 10th in runs scored.

Maddy Bailey earns the first postseason honor of her career with her selection as the left fielder on the All-Defensive Team. Bailey spent the last 14 games of the regular season in centerfield following the loss of Garcia.

The senior from Katy, Texas and Morton Ranch High School has nine outfield assists on the year - eight in SLC play - on a career-high 76 chances for a 1.000 fielding percentage. She made several highlight-reel plays during the season. Her diving grab in left field with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh secured a win over Southeastern on March 15. She made a similar play in the bottom of the eighth of the series finale at Lamar on April 18, a game the Huskies then won in the ninth to secure their spot in the postseason.

Bailey is currently batting .286 on the season with a homer and 18 RBI, third on the club. She is second on the team in doubles. She has 10 multi-hit games on the season, and had an 11-game hitting streak earlier in the season, a career-best. She now has 20 assists in two seasons roaming the outfield for the Huskies.

HCU will be making its fifth straight appearance in the Southland Conference Tournament. The Huskies, seeded seventh, will take on second-seeded and defending tournament champion Southeastern Louisiana University in the opening contest. The winner will face the winner of No.3 Nicholls vs. No. 6 SFA on Friday at 4 pm, while the loser will face elimination against the loser of that game at 1 pm.

SLU is hosting one of the two tournament brackets along with McNeese, with the winners of the two double-elimination fields meeting at the highest remaining seed next week for the conference title in a best two-of-three championship series.

The two teams met back on the second weekend of the conference schedule in Houston, with the Lions taking the Friday twin-bill before the Huskies salvaged the series finale on Saturday. The two schools have now met 40 times over the years, with SLU holding a 28-12 lead in the series. The Lions are led by Rick Fremin, now in his 10th season at the helm, and finished the regular season with a 43-13 overall mark and a 21-6 ledger in SLC play.

Southeastern is paced on offense by three first-team All-SLC selections. Junior third baseman Maria Detillier bats .391 with four homers and 51 RBI, both team highs. Grad outfielder Shenita Tucker hits .422 to lead all SLU batters, and is one of four players with 22 or more stolen bases, led by sophomore shortsop Chloe Magee's 33. Junior righthander Macie LaRue, the SLC Newcomer of the Year, leads the pitching staff with a 17-2 mark and 2.04 ERA and 112 K's in 126.2 innings.

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