Considering her success in the sport of softball throughout her career, it is clear that Kristen Bradshaw is one of the brightest and most motivated minds in the game.

So it comes as no surprise that the Scioto County native's quick success at Shawnee State comes with elevated status.

Bradshaw, who has helped Shawnee State go 63-29 over the past two seasons with a River States Conference East Division Championship in 2024 and a River States Conference Tournament Runner-Up finish in the same season, has been elevated to a full-time role within the athletic department, as announced by Shawnee State Athletic Director Gerald Cadogan.

In 2025, Bradshaw led the Shawnee State softball program to back-to-back winning seasons as SSU finished 27-18. The program excelled in a massive way academically, with 22 of the team's 24 players obtaining GPAs above 3.0 and the program posting the maximum amount of players on the College Sports Communicators' Academic All-District Team for the second consecutive year under Bradshaw's direction, with Jenna Christopher, Bianca Belo-Diaz, Cameryn Davidson, Sierra Dunnagan and Mackenzie Hale all obtaining CSC Academic All-District honors. Exactly two-thirds of the roster this season, or 16 out of the 24 players, finished the 2025 season with cumulative GPAs above 3.5.

Nationally, Davidson became the program's first-ever CSC-NAIA Academic All-American in its history -- as the designated player was named as a First-Team CSC-NAIA Academic All-American as a result of her efforts in the classroom.

On the field, a total of seven players were named as All-RSC talents, with Christopher, Davidson, Dunnagan and Hale all being named as First-Team All-RSC honorees and Genavie Espinoza, Emily Moore and Emma Wargel earning Second-Team All-RSC billing.

En route to a 36-11 overall record in 2024, Bradshaw led Shawnee State to the River States Conference's East Division Championship in SSU's first season inside the River States Conference in her first season as head coach at SSU, ultimately leading the program to a River States Conference Tournament Runner-Up finish. Shawnee State led the conference in batting average (.341) and remained in the top-25 all season nationally in that category, and the 36 wins were the most by any group since 1999, when the Shawnee State softball program went 36-12.

During the 2024 season, Shawnee State ripped off winning streaks of 10, seven, four and eight games in a row, won 13 of its 36 contests by mercy rule, posted 10 come-from-behind wins, notched a 6-2 overall record in one-run games and collected three walkoff victories in a six-day span, all while tying the fifth-most victories in a single season in program history.

As a result, a total of eight players were named as All-River States Conference talents -- the third-most in program history. Cassie Berry, Sierra Dunnagan and Mackenzie Hale were each named as First-Team All-RSC honorees while Bianca Belo-Diaz, Jenna Christopher, Lexie Lockwood, Brittani Wolfenbarker and Lauren Spears rounded out the list of honorees.

Academically, the Shawnee State softball program continued its strong tradition of standing tall in the classroom. A total of 18 players of the 21 on the roster finished with cumulative grade point averages above 3.0, and of those 18 players, 10 of them finished with cumulative GPAs above 3.5.

A total of seven individuals, including Cassie Berry, Cameryn Davidson, Mackenzie Hale, Haley Hawes, Lauren Spears, Allison Tom, and Emma Wargel, were each named as NAIA Scholar-Athletes while Berry, Spears, Tom, Amariah Hoerner and Bianca Belo-Diaz were named to the College Sports Communicators' Academic All-District Team for softball. Spears topped off the list of achievements by winning the program's first-ever conference-wide Champion of Character Award when she was bestowed with River States Conference Female Champion of Character honors on July 12, 2024.

Over the past two seasons, Shawnee State has produced 18 NAIA Scholar-Athletes inside the Shawnee State softball program.

The softball program will be holding the Shawnee State Softball Prospect Camp on Tuesday, July 15 (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and the Shawnee State Softball Youth Skills Camp on Wednesday, July 16 (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.). More information about those camps can be found at https://ssubears.com/news/2025/6/13/softball-ssu-softball-to-hold-prospect-camp-july-15-youth-skills-camp-july-16.aspx or https://shawneestatesoftball.totalcamps.com/shop/EVENT.

For more information on the Shawnee State softball program, visit ssubears.com, https://www.facebook.com/shawneestateSB, https://x.com/ShawneeStateSB and https://www.instagram.com/shawnee_statesb.