(This is the 17th in a series of features on Baylor Athletics' 25 for 25, which honors Baylor's top 25 athletes in the 25-year history of the Big 12 Conference (1996-21). Selected by a panel of Baylor experts, the final list was picked from a pool of over 100 candidates that came from all 19 intercollegiate sports that the school offers. Through April 1, two honorees per week will be released and will also be featured during game broadcasts on the Baylor Sports Network from Learfield IMG College.)
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Asking
Glenn Moore to name Baylor softball's best player of all time would be like asking him to pick his favorite child.
But, it's hard to argue that 2020 Baylor Athletics Hall of Famer Brette Reagan is the most complete player in program history. Not only was she a career .353 hitter with 41 homers, 150 runs scored and 156 RBI, the fearless third baseman has had no rival before or since at softball's "hot corner."
"We've had a couple that I would knock on that door, but I certainly couldn't put anybody ahead of Brette Reagan," Moore said. "She was the one you wanted in the box when the game was on the line. She had the passion, she communicated, she was a great teammate.
"She played a little bit outside the box. You wouldn't do a fielding video with Brette and show exactly how to play the position. But, many of your greatest athletes would not sell a whole lot of videos based on what they were teaching mechanically. They were just gifted. That's Brette Reagan."
More of a middle infielder throughout most of her early softball career, Reagan had 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."
Reagan said she "never looked back" when her U16 club team coach asked her to move from second to third base.
"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 two-time all-state pick at Tomball High School that led her team to the 5A state tournament as a senior in 2005, Reagan made an immediate impact when she came to Baylor. Hitting .355 with 12 home runs and 44 RBI, she was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year and a second-team All-American.
The 2007 team was arguably Baylor's best ever, winning the program's only Big 12 title, finishing 51-16 overall and knocking off Michigan in the Super Regional to make it to the Women's College World Series.
"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," said Reagan, who hit .341 with 10 homers and 46 RBI to earn first-team All-Big 12 and third-team All-America honors. "And, of course, Oklahoma was 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!'''
The Lady Bears won two of three against defending national champion Arizona in a series earlier that year at Getterman Stadium and faced the Wildcats again in the opening game of the World Series. Arizona All-American Taryn Mowatt and Baylor's Lisa Ferguson, a 2019 Hall of Fame inductee, were locked in a 1-1 pitcher's duel until Kristie Fox's walk-off homer in 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."
A repeat All-Big 12 and third-team All-American pick as a junior, Reagan's senior season and softball career nearly ended on March 4, 2009, when she tore the ACL in her right knee in a 1-0, extra-inning loss to No. 1 Washington. But, she returned to the lineup a month later and was back at third base seven weeks after the injury.
"The choices were to either rehab or have surgery and be done," said Reagan, who ranks second all-time at Baylor in slugging percentage (.642) and on-base percentage (.472) and third in homers (41) and RBI (156). "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 National Pro Fastpitch draft, Reagan played one year with the Philadelphia Force before the team folded.
"How many people can say they went and played pro softball? Not a lot of girls," she said. "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. "For a lot of these kids, this is it. Whatever I left in college, that's it."
Previous:
Yossiana Pressley, Volleyball (2017-21)
Kiara Nowlin, Acrobatics & Tumbling (2013-17)
Johnathan Motley, Men's Basketball (2013-17)
Shea Langeliers, Baseball (2017-19)
Bayano Kamani, Men's T&F (1998-2001)
Jason Jennings, Baseball (1997-99)
Brittney Griner, Women's Basketball (2009-13)
Robert Griffin III, Football (2008-11)
Dawn Greathouse Siergij, Soccer (1997-2000)
Benedikt Dorsch, Men's Tennis (2002-05)
Corey Coleman, Football (2013-15)
Whitney Canion Reichenstein, Softball (2009-14)
Trayvon Bromell, Men's T&F (2014-15)
Stacey Bowers-Smith, Women's T&F (1996-99)
Andrew Billings, Football (2013-15)
Benjamin Becker, Men's Tennis (2001-05)
