UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State softball senior utility Maddie Gordon picked up the No. 7 utility/designated player ranking from D1Softball in the organization’s release Friday morning.
A native of Shenandoah, Virginia, Gordon stands as the second-highest ranked utility in the Big Ten Conference behind UCLA’s Megan Grant. D1Softball rates the nation’s top 10 most versatile players at the utility and designated player slots, indicating a student-athlete’s ability to play multiple defensive positions while wielding a powerful bat at the plate. The Big Ten Conference stands as one of just two leagues in Division I softball with more than one player garnering top 10 rankings at the utility slot, joining the Southeastern Conference’s quintet of preseason top 10 honorees highlighted by the No. 1 selection in Florida’s Reagan Walsh. The ACC, MAC and MAAC round out the remaining three spots in D1Softball’s preseason top 10 utility/DP rankings.
Gordon is fresh off her most statistically dominant season as a collegiate athlete, standing as Penn State’s returning leader in batting average with a .335 mark in the statistic paired with a .654 slugging percentage as one of the best power threats in the Big Ten. She started an played in all 55 games for the Blue & White last season, becoming one of just four Nittany Lions to accomplish that feat. Gordon led the Nittany Lions in practically every statistical category, including career-best seasons in at-bats (179), runs scored (47), hits (60), home runs (13), RBI (41), total bases (117) and slugging percentage (.654). Gordon fielded multiple positions, splitting time between a pair of outfield slots and second base, registering 72 putouts and 38 assists on the year.
Additionally, Gordon climbed multiple single-season leaderboards in the PSU record book, finishing with the fourth-most home runs in a campaign in Happy Valley after leaving the yard 13 times a year ago. She also booked the third-most runs scored, fourth-most total bases, sixth-most doubles and eighth-most RBI in a single campaign by a Nittany Lion softball athlete. Within the Big Ten Conference, Gordon ranked fourth with 0.29 doubles per game, tallied the fifth-most total bases in the league, notched the sixth-highest slugging percentage in the conference and the eighth-most homers in the B1G with a baker’s dozen.
In recognition of her dominant junior season, Gordon was named an NFCA All-Great Lakes Region Second Team selection as well as a Second Team All-Big Ten designee. Earlier this preseason, Gordon hauled in the No. 92 national ranking as an individual according to Softball America and tacked on an additional top 100 ranking from D1Softball as the nation’s No. 99 overall ranked player. In the classroom, Gordon has established herself as an Academic All-Big Ten performer, a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District choice.
With Gordon set to play a pivotal role in the offense, Penn State will open its 60th anniversary season in just over three weeks, as the Blue & White travel to Clearwater, Florida, and the Eddie C. Moore Complex to take part in the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic. PSU will battle against the defending Women’s College World Series participant Duke Blue Devils on opening night, a 5 p.m. (ET) contest slated for Friday, February 7. All games on opening weekend will stream live via the Gamechanger app.
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