Morgan Zerkle

Personal: Zerkle was named head softball coach at Marshall University on June 26, 2023, after spending four seasons as an assistant coach at Miami University. She led the Redhawks to three consecutive Mid-American Conference titles and three straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Zerkle graduated from Marshall with a degree in exercise science with a concentration in clinical exercise psychology. She earned her master's degree in kinesiology in 2019 with an emphasis in athletic administration and sport management. Zerkle lists her former coach Shonda Stanton as a person who has made a difference in her life. As a child, she was involved in gymnastics, track and field, and Girl Scouts. Zerkle enjoys traveling and spending time outside. Interestingly, she did not become a left-handed hitter until her junior year of high school. She has worn No. 18 since college and also wears it because she likes even numbers.

2024 AUX Season: Zerkle had an impressive performance in the third Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball AUX campaign. She finished in seventh place after accumulating 1,196 leaderboard points. Zerkle tied for second in the league with seven efforts of 100 or more leaderboard points and surpassed 150 leaderboard points in a game twice. As a starter in all 12 games, she achieved a .364 batting average with 16 hits, including two doubles and two home runs. Zerkle led the league with seven multi-hit games and set new Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball AUX single-season standards with five stolen bases in six attempts. She drove in nine runs while scoring nine times and closed the season by earning 100 or more points in six of her final seven contests. Zerkle also garnered MVP 2 notice after going 2-for-4 with a home run, two runs scored, and two runs batted in against Team Alo on June 16. Her season-high came when she collected 180 leaderboard points after driving in six runs as part of a 2-for-5 performance against Team Mazon. Additionally, she hit a double and a home run in a 13-12 thriller.

2023 Championship Season: Zerkle posted 1,110 leaderboard points, which helped her claim 30th place in the final league standings. She tied for ninth place in the league with Sydney Romero after registering 310 stat points. Zerkle also had a 1-2 record as a team captain during Week Two. She was the fourth-leading hitter in the league with a .366 batting average, having started all 15 games. Additionally, Zerkle fashioned a .481 on-base percentage, which ranked her third in the circuit. She was also seventh in the league with a .512 slugging percentage and third with 10 runs scored. Zerkle tied with Kelsey Harshman for fourth place in league with 15 hits. The best week of her season was Week Three when she was 6-for-10 with a double. Zerkle was one of six players in the league to hit a triple and tied for third in the circuit with 10 walks. She authored five multi-hit games, including a pair of three-hit performances. Zerkle secured the MVP 1 award after going 3-for-3, including a home run, with three runs scored against Team Rhodes on July 29. She also went 3-for-4 with a double against Team Faraimo on August 12, which helped her claim MVP 3 distinction. Zerkle recorded 100 or more leaderboard points in a game five times, including a season-high of 230 leaderboard points against Team Rhodes on July 29. 

2023 AUX Season: Zerkle accumulated 866 leaderboard points, securing 14th place in the league standings. She earned 720 win points and 146 stat points. Zerkle served as team captain during the opening series and led her team to a 3-1 record. Zerkle started in all 10 games and had a batting average of .289 with four runs batted in. She had a total of 11 hits, all of which were singles, and scored seven runs. Zerkle had seven games where she hit safely, with four of them being multi-hit performances. One notable performance was against Team Filler on June 19, where she went 2-for-4 with three runs batted in. She also had back-to-back two-hit outings at the start of the season against Team Garcia on June 12 and Team Mulipola on June 14.

2022 Championship Season: Zerkle collected 1,046 leaderboard points, started all 15 games, and had a .319 batting average with two home runs and six runs batted in. She tied for ninth in the league with nine walks and stole three bases in four attempts. Zerkle had four multi-hit games, including back-to-back two-hit outings to end Week One. She drove in three runs as part of a 2-for-3 performance against Team Chidester on July 30 and also had two hits, including a home run, with three runs scored in Week One finale against Team Eberle. Zerkle tallied a hit in seven of the final eight games, including two hits in the season finale against Team Chidester. She served as a team captain during Week One.

2022 AUX Season: Zerkle placed fourth in the league standings with 1,338 leaderboard points and earned three game MVP commendations. She batted .385 while starting all 12 games, accumulated 15 hits, including two doubles and a home run, and recorded five runs batted in while scoring nine times. Zerkle tied with Sam Fischer for second in the league with six multi-hit outings, hit a three-run home run against Team Mulipola on June 18, and closed the season with eight hits over the final four games, including a three-hit performance against Team Fischer on June 25 in the 10-inning season finale. She scored at least one run in 8-of-12 games and served as a team captain during the final series of the season.

2021 Championship Season: Zerkle finished sixth in the league with 1,576 leaderboard points, ranked seventh with 1,120 win points and 376 stat points, and had a .300 batting average while starting 14 games. She was third in the league with 50 at-bats, collected 12 runs, which were tied for fourth in the circuit, registered 15 hits to rank eighth in the circuit, and drove in 14 runs, good for third in Athletes Unlimited. Zerkle tied with Amanda Lorenz for sixth in the league with 29 total bases and went perfect 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts. 

2020 Championship Season: Zerkle earned a share of fifth place on the inaugural leaderboard with 1,710 points, tallied 1,360 win points to finish third on the league leader list, and posted a .426 batting average with a .511 on-base percentage. She collected 20 hits, including three for extra bases, and was one of four players to record 20 hits. Zerkle was also one of 12 players to register a triple, tied for the league lead with seven stolen bases in seven attempts, and tallied two sacrifice hits to tie for second in the league with six other players.

International Experience: Zerkle helped Team USA win a Gold medal at the 2022 Pan American Championships. She had an incredible performance during the round-robin play, hitting .538 with eight runs scored and three doubles. Zerkle also earned Silver medals at the World Cup of Softball and Japan Cup events in 2017. During the 2017 World Cup of Softball, she hit .500 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Zerkle also competed in the 2016 World Cup of Softball as a member of the USA Elite Team. 

Other Professional Experience: Zerkle was the No. 26 overall selection in the 2017 NPF Draft by Scrap Yard Dawgs. As a rookie, she appeared in 15 games and had a batting average of .269, including a home run and two runs batted in. 

At Marshall: Zerkle was a four-year letter winner at Marshall from 2014-17. She is one of three players in school history to earn NFCA All-America honors after receiving Second-Team recognition in 2017. Zerkle started 193-of-194 career games and authored a school-record .451 career batting average with 13 home runs and 104 runs batted in. She also scored 181 runs while registering 289 hits, including 25 doubles and a school-record 14 triples. Zerkle tied for third on the school’s career stolen base percentage ledger with .876 (162-of-185) and is one of 13 players in school history with 100 or more career RBI. She holds three of the top four single-season batting average marks in school history, including a program-record .506 average as a sophomore. Zerkle also set single-season records with 89 hits and 62 runs scored in 2015. She is one of three players in Marshall history to record multiple seasons with 40 or more stolen bases and ranks second on the school’s career hits, stolen bases, and runs scored lists. Zerkle is third in Marshall history with 381 career total bases, reached safely in 176-of-194 career games, and tallied 88 multi-hit games, including a school-record 34 three-hit efforts. She also tied for first in career multi-run games (48). Zerkle is the Marshall single-game record holder with five hits against Bucknell on Feb. 14, 2015, stole at least one base in 100 career games, the second-highest total in program history, and opened the 2015 season with at least one hit in 27 consecutive games, the longest streak in Marshall history. She also fashioned seven straight multi-hit efforts during the streak, which is tied for first in the program’s record book, and stole a base in the first 12 games of the 2015 season to set a school record. Zerkle earned First-Team NFCA All-Region commendations as a sophomore, junior, and senior, three-time First-Team All-Conference USA selection who earned Player of the Year honors in 2017, and also garnered Conference USA Female Athlete of the Year accolades as a senior. She is a CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-America recipient as a sophomore and senior and was a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award in 2017. Zerkle is a two-time recipient of Conference USA’s Spirit of Service Award.