CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The No. 11 University of North Georgia (UNG) softball team ended its season in the 2025 NCAA Division II Softball Championship at Frost Stadium in Chattanooga, Tenn. after a 3-0 loss to No. 9 Western Washington (WWU) Saturday afternoon.

With the loss, the first season under head coach Brooke O'Hair is complete. What an outstanding season it was.

The Nighthawks finished the 2025 campaign with a 48-16 record, winning the Peach Belt Conference Regular-season Championship for the 11th consecutive season. 

In the postseason, UNG took down the second-ranked team in the country on the road, defeating Francis Marion (FMU) in three games in the 2025 Southeast Super Regional to claim its fourth regional title in the last five years.

The victory cemented the team's return to the National Championship site, a trip that was the first in the 19-year career of O'Hair. 

While the end result was not what the Nighthawks had hoped for, they have plenty to be proud of. 

With a new coach taking over the program in September, UNG exceeded expectations this season. 

Picked to finish second in the PBC, the Nighthawks shattered that expectation by winning the league by five games. They then went into the Southeast Regional as the second seed and exacted revenge against Lenoir-Rhyne who ended UNG's season the year prior. All before taking down FMU in the Super Regional.

In one season in Dahlonega, O'Hair led the Nighthawks to one of their most prolific offensive seasons in program history. 

In 2023 and 2024, UNG shattered offensive records with two of the best consecutive seasons in program history, highlighted by the 2023 National Championship run. Despite this year's team playing in fewer games than each of the last two seasons, O'Hair's squad put together one of the best performances at the plate of any team in school history.

The team's 83 home runs and .579 slugging percentage are far and away the best power marks for a single season in program history. In the program's 29-year varsity history, the 2025 Nighthawks also sit second for single-season totals in RBIs (448), runs scored (489) and triples (28) while ranking third in on-base percentage (.421), at bats (1,789), hits (612) and doubles (118). 

UNG also showed record-setting discipline at the plate this year, recording the fourth-most walks (205) in a season and the second-fewest strikeouts (173) in the NCAA era in program history. 

Individually, UNG's season was highlighted by four All-American selections, three all-region honorees and five all-conference selections including the 2025 PBC Freshman of the Year Carleigh Knowles.

Knowles had one of the best single seasons in program history, batting .384 with a staggering .803 slugging percentage which is the third-highest in a year in program history. She smashed a program-record 21 home runs while batting in the third-most runners in a single season in program history with 70 RBIs. 

The rookie racked up some of the most impressive individual accolades in program history this season, earning First Team All-Region honors from the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) and the Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA). She also became just the eighth player in program history to earn First Team All-American honors from the NFCA and D2CCA in the same season. As an NFCA First Team All-American catcher, Knowles also earned the distinction of the Diamond Sports/NFCA 2025 Catcher of the Year, becoming the first player in program history to win the award

The rookie also made history this season as her 159 total bases are the second-most in a year ever, trailing only her teammate Sydnee Reaves' 161 total bases this season. 

Reaves, a junior transfer from Montevallo recruited to Dahlonega by O'Hair, made immediate waves this year. The D2CCA All-American set program records with the most runs scored (72), most doubles (24), tied for second-most hits (92), second-most at bats (230) and second-most stolen bases (24) in a single year in school history. 

UNG was led by three seniors this season in shortstop Rylie Moody, pitcher Angelina Badalament and catcher Sadye Johnson. 

Moody started all 64 games at shortstop for the Nighthawks, batting .361 with 11 homers and 60 RBIs this season. She was a PBC All-Conference Second Team selection and one of the key leaders in the locker room that steered the team through the transition in the first year under O'Hair.

Badalament transferred to UNG from Bethune-Cookman and immediately sacrificed her interests for the greater good of the team. Originally recruited as an infielder, Badalament was asked to pitch this season after a roster shortage at the position. She simply dominated with a 3.49 earned run average, 93 strikeouts and 20 wins which tied the team high. 

Johnson was an integral part of the team's success and chemistry this year. A lively presence in the locker room and dugout this season, Johnson could often be found dancing, laughing or cheering on her teammates as loud as can be during the games. The catcher got her big moment this season when she walloped a pinch-hit, two-run home run against rival Columbus State on Senior Day, helping the team to an 11-2 victory.

Led by their three seniors and a first-year head coach that only arrived on campus in September, the Nighthawks exceeded all expectations this season. They did so by banding and growing together, becoming a tightly connected family through the turmoil and tribulations of a college softball season.

"A lot of people doubted us," said Moody after Saturday's loss to WWU. "We can do it. We could always do it. We have everybody that we need to believe in us." 

Moody is referring to the faces in the locker room, many of which were brand new to the Nighthawks this season. 

"We lost 10, 11 seniors last year, we had so many new faces this year. Plus, Coach O'Hair and Darren [Harmon] they come in out of nowhere," explained Moody. "We lost some people, true colors came out, it was a roller coaster ride the whole year." 

O'Hair doesn't count success in wins and losses, but in the growth her team made in her first season. 

"Some of the main things I wanted to see were people stepping up and making a name for themselves, becoming a family and having a culture where people love each other and care for each other. If you look back at previous seasons [compared to] this season, you see all new names. What a job they did, individually and as a team," O'Hair gleamed. 

While the trip to Chattanooga did not end the way UNG had hoped for after a less-than-perfect day offensively in the 3-0 loss to WWU, it will make the Nighthawks hungry to improve upon this result next season. 

If the first season under O'Hair is any indication, year two is only going to get better.