Brette Reagan (2020) - Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame

Brette Reagan

Induction:
2020
Class:
2009

      In the 12 years since Brette Reagan wrapped up her career as arguably the best player in program history, Baylor softball has been to the Women's College World Series three times and consistently ranked among the best teams in the country.
            But in 2007, when the Lady Bears made their first trip to Oklahoma City with an All-American sophomore at third base, they were the new kids on the block.
            "Whether you win it or not, just getting there is pretty special," said Reagan, a three-time All-American who started at the hot corner for a 51-16 Baylor team that won the program's only Big 12 Conference championship and made its first WCWS appearance.
"When I look back, I'm definitely thankful for it, but I'm also happy to see them continue that legacy that we started. It's not just, 'Oh, that '07 team was spectacular.' No, they've done it multiple times. It's something where they're in the mix every year."
A career .353 hitter with 41 home runs and 156 RBI, Reagan is part of the 2020 Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame class that that will be inducted (along with the 2021 class) at the Hall of Fame banquet and ceremony Oct. 29 at the Waco Convention Center.
            "When I was younger, I wrote down some goals before I went to college, and that was definitely one of them," Reagan said of her Hall of Fame election. "I know a few of the other ones that are getting inducted as well, so that will be great to catch up with them and see them again. But also, just being back there and being able to thank everyone and relive some of those memories."
            It was a memorable ride for Reagan, a two-time all-state pick at Tomball High School who led her team to the 5A state tournament as a senior in 2005.
            Feeling comfortable "the first time I ever stepped foot on campus," Reagan was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year and a second-team All-American in 2006, when she hit .355 with 12 homers and 44 RBI.
            A middle infielder throughout most of her early softball career, Reagan said you have to have a no-fear mentality at third base where "whatever happens, I'm going to come get it. You're not going to get on base hitting it over here."
            Never one to back away from a challenge, when her 16U club team coach asked her to move from second to third, Reagan embraced the position change and "never looked back."
            "I ended up loving it," she said. "There's a lot of things that can happen over there with the bunt game and people pulling the ball. I always got a lot of action over there, so I was pretty happy about that."
            A region finalist in 2006, Baylor took a big step the next year, winning the program's first and only Big 12 title, capturing a region title on the road and then beating Michigan in the Super Regional at Getterman Stadium.
            "Everything just clicked," said Reagan, who hit .341 with 10 homers and 46 RBI to garner third-team All-America and first-team All-Big 12 honors. "I remember going to Hawaii early in the year, and it wasn't our greatest showing. It was right after we played Arizona and beat them two out of three times. We went to Hawaii, and it was a wake-up call for us, because we didn't show up the way we're supposed to or the way we thought we would. We had a little team talk, and from that point forward we never looked back."
    In a stacked conference that included perennial power Oklahoma, along with Missouri, Nebraska, Texas and Texas A&M, the Lady Bears swept their last three games to win the league title outright. Despite all the postseason success the program has had, the Lady Bears have never won another Big 12 title.
            "I say this with respect, but I think the thing that separates us is how good the conference was back then with A&M, with Missouri, with Nebraska," Reagan said. "And, of course, OU was always really, really good, so beating the Sooners on their home turf was a great accomplishment for us during that time. Looking back, you're like, 'Wow, that was a good team.'''
            After winning two of three against defending national champion Arizona at home earlier that season, Baylor went into its first-ever game at the World Series with a certain amount of confidence, knowing "we've already been here this year."
            Lisa Ferguson, inducted into the Baylor Hall of Fame in 2019, was locked in a pitcher's duel with Arizona All-American Taryne Mowatt through the first eight innings before the Wildcats' Kristie Fox won it, 2-1, with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth.
            "I know our mentality was not 'OK, we made it, let's just settle,''' Reagan said. "Going into extra innings, and then them winning it all, we realized that Arizona was probably the best team. But, looking back and knowing that we won a couple games against them, obviously we knew we were pretty dang good as well."
            Reagan's senior season and softball career nearly came to an end on March 4, 2009, when she tore the ACL in her right knee in a 1-0, extra-inning loss to No. 1 Washington at a tournament in Tuscaloosa, Ala. But, she returned to the lineup a month later and was back at third base seven weeks after tearing the ligament.
            "The choices were to either rehab or have surgery and be done," said Reagan, who still hit .333 with nine home runs and 30 RBI despite missing 20 games with the knee injury. "I said I want to at least try (to come back), because I not only have this season to finish up, I still want to play in the pros, if I can. So, I went back and rehabbed for a good month and was able to come back. At the end, I was like, 'Wow, I got to finish up with my team.'''
            The fourth overall pick in the 2009 NPF Draft, Reagan played one year with the Philadelphia Force.
            "Getting drafted was pretty cool stuff," she said. "Even though the team folded after that year, just to say that I made it. How many people can say they went and played pro softball? Not a lot of girls. For me, that was another box I got to check."
            For most of the last decade, Reagan has been back in the Houston area working as a private softball coach and leading a 16U Impact club team that produced Baylor players Goose McGlaun, Kyla Walker and Maddison Kettler.
            "I want them to have that same gratitude and energy and that feeling when I was done of 'You know what, I gave all I had,''' said Reagan, who had her Baylor No. 4 jersey retired in 2015. "That's what I tell the kids I coach all the time: If you go out there and say I could have done this or I should have done that, you didn't give it your all. There was something you held back. And you can't do that, because in the world of softball – it's not like Major League Baseball or the football side – for a lot of these kids, this is it. Whatever I left in college, that's it."