Timmons & Whitney Earn NFCA All-Region Honors

LOUISVILLE - - For their solid play over the course of the 2025 season, Ball State redshirt senior catcher McKayla Timmons and junior pitcher/designated player Ella Whitney were named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-Great Lakes Region Second Team as announced Thursday (May 15).

Timmon was named to an All-Great Lakes Region team for the third time in her collegiate career, after earning first team honors in 2024 and second team accolades in 2023. Whitney is a first-time All-Great Lakes Region honoree.

This is the sixth straight award cycle in which Ball State has had at least one all-region selection, as well as the fourth time in the last five years the Cardinals have had at least two honorees.

McKayla Timmons – NFCA All-Great Lakes Region Second Team (Catcher)
Timmons is only the second player in program history to be a three-time all-region honoree, joining Jenny Gilbert who earned first team honors in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The 2025 MAC Player of the Year and first-ever MAC Defensive Player of the Year, Timmons finished the season ranked first in the Mid-American Conference and 32nd nationally with a .434 batting average.

In addition to the strong batting average, Timmons boasted the nation's third-best on base percentage at .615 after collecting 59 hits and tying for seventh nationally with 48 walks and tying for 15th nationally in times hit by a pitch at 15. Of her 59 hits, 16 were home runs, 12 were doubles and two were triples, helping her rank 14th nationally with a .904 slugging percentage.

The effort at the plate helped her tie for 66th nationally with a league-leading 66 RBI and tie for 30th among all NCAA Division I players with 57 runs scored. She was also one of the nation's top base stealing threats, ranking 81st nationally with 21 stolen bases.

On the defensive end, Timmons helped the Cardinals rank 13th nationally with just 20 stolen bases allowed. The effort was aided by her throwing out an additional 10 runners attempting to steal. She also owned a .995 fielding percentage with just one error in 192 chances, while also collecting a pair of pickoffs.

Ella Whitney – NFCA All-Great Lakes Region Second Team (Utility/Pitcher)
A two-way player for the Cardinals, Whitney finished the season tied for 25th nationally with 20 pitching victories, becoming just the seventh pitcher in program history to reach 20 wins in a single season. She also led all MAC pitchers with a .231 average against, while ranking second in the league with a 2.84 ERA.

A two-time MAC Pitcher of the Week selection, Whitney also led the league with a 1.23 WHIP, allowing just 156 hits and 56 walks over her 172.2 innings of work. She picked up a pair of complete game shutouts over the course of the season, highlighted by a shutout victory over MAC regular season and tournament champion Miami on April 12. She also combined for another shutout and collected 83 strikeouts on the year.

At the plate, Whitney ranked second in the MAC and 101st nationally with 50 RBI. She registered a .299 average on the year, ranking second on the squad with 10 home runs and third on the team with 11 doubles. She was also credited with Ball State's first triple of the season.

Whitney was also third among Ball State's regular starters in slugging percentage (.573) and fourth in on base percentage (.389). Overall, Whitney started 27 games at pitcher, 16 as the designated player and seven at first base. She also ranked among Ball State's top fielders with a .991 fielding percentage, committing just one error in 110 chances.

Ball State's All-Time All-Region Selections

All-Mideast Region First Team
1987 - Denise Davis
1988 - Bernie Coffman
1989 - Bernie Coffman
1998 - Amy Doyle

All-Mideast Region Second Team
1987 - Cindy Sands
1988 - Denise Davis
1989 - Kathy Lewis
1998 - Cheri Ball & Jodie Workman
1999 - Cheri Ball
2002 - Katie Shea
2003 - Katie Shea

All-Great Lakes Region First Team
2009 - Alicia Barkley & Elizabeth Milian
2012 - Jennifer Gilbert & Alison Mercado
2013 - Jennifer Gilbert
2014 - Jennifer Gilbert
2021 - Faith Hensley
2022 - Faith Hensley
2024 - McKayla Timmons

All-Great Lakes Region Second Team
2010 - Elizabeth Milian & Jessie Ware
2012 - Audrey Bickel & Amanda Montalto
2014 - Taylor Rager
2016 - Madison Lee
2017 - Rachel Houck
2021 - Stacy Payton & Kayla Lissy
2023 - Haley Wynn & McKayla Timmons
2025 - McKayla Timmons & Ella Whitney

All-Great Lakes Region Third Team
2015 - Nicole Steinbach, Emily Dabkowski, & Hanne Studemann
2016 - Nicole Steinbach
2019 - Stacy Payton
2023 - Amaia Daniel
2024 - Haley Wynn

Players Mentioned

McKayla Timmons

Ella Whitney

Haley Wynn

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