Clarksville, TN – With former Austin Peay State University (APSU) softball player Morgan Rackel signing a professional contract this week to play softball with the Canadian Wild of Southern Illinois, of the National Pro Fastpitch League, it adds yet another chapter to the athletic department’s history and legacy.
Over the last 60-or-so-years, over 100 former Governors from at least nine different sports have gone from playing for the red and white in Clarksville to the professional ranks in their respective sports, with Rackel joining that select group this week as the first former Govs softball player to make a professional roster.
Rackel joins the likes of Shawn Kelley (Texas Rangers) in baseball, men’s golfer Marco Iten (European Golf Tour), Tiasha Gray (Israeli League) women’s basketball, Tatiana Ariza (Elpides Karditsas/Greek A Division Soccer among other former Govs that are still playing professionally here in America and around the world.
With her signing with the NPF’s Canadian Wild, Rackel – who is a native of Calgary, Alberta, Canada – not only goes down in history as the first Austin Peay softball player to sign a pro contract to play the sport after college, she also becomes just the sixth player from the Ohio Valley Conference to sign with the NPF in their 16-year history and just the second in the last 11 years.
Rackel, who was named to Softball America’s Top-100 players in the country prior to the start of the 2019 season, finished her senior campaign with a 21-9 record, two saves, a 1.93 ERA and 242 strikeouts in 199.2 innings pitched – earning All-OVC First-Team and National Fastpitch Coaches Association Central Region Third-Team honors for a second straight season.
She also became the first APSU softball player since 2003 to be named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District ® Team.
Along with being an outstanding pitcher, Rackel is also a threat at the plate, finishing this past season with a .293 batting average, which included 10 doubles and nine home runs, while driving in 38 runs.
Overall, Rackel posted a 43-16 career record with the APSU Govs in her two seasons, with a 1.68 ERA and 446 career strikeouts after transferring from Weatherford College (Texas), where she earned Second-Team National Junior College Athletic Association All-American honors as a sophomore.
Rackel and her Wild teammates open their season on May 28th and with that start she adds her name to the long list of former Govs to reach pro status in their respective sports and adds to the APSU Govs all-time legacy.
