Meet the softball senior class of 2020: Claudia Gallo
The softball teams of the Ohio Valley Conference that are not the Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks have got to be thrilled that Claudia Gallo’s career has come to an end.
The rest of the OVC only had to face her for three years as COVID-19 canceled her senior season a week before conference play was set to start, but that was enough to give plenty of coaches and pitchers nightmares.
In her three years of OVC play, Gallo hit .308, .355 and .375 compared to her whole season averages of .236, .290 and .308. She also hit 10 of her 14 home runs during OVC competition.
Gallo was not thrilled her season was canceled at all but said it hurt even more that conference was coming up.
“Conference was right around the corner,” Gallo said. “And that’s normally the most exciting time of the year.”
Although Gallo did like to feast on OVC pitching, she smacked around every pitcher she faced her junior year as she was one of the key pieces to Southeast’s OVC winning championship team.
Gallo hit .308 during that junior season with 11 home runs (t-7th in Redhawks single season history), 26 runs batted in and a .609 slugging percentage as 22 of her 48 hits went for extra bases. She also had a .408 on-base percentage, thanks in large part to her 17 hit by pitches which is a single season record for Southeast. Gallo was named to the All-OVC second team for her efforts.
Gallo finishes her career with a .284 batting average, 14 home runs and 50 RBIs to go with a .502 slugging percentage. She was also hit by pitch 32 times in her career, which ranks second in Southeast history. She was on track to end up with the most.
Gallo’s career OVC numbers are even better as she ends with a .352 batting average, 10 home runs, 27 RBIs and a .695 slugging percentage in 57 games (45 starts).
Despite not getting a normal ending and typical senior season, Gallo still feels like her class was appreciated and loved.
“I don’t think we weren’t recognized,” Gallo said. “Obviously we didn’t get the senior day, but I feel like we’ve been really well loved.”
Gallo is graduating at the end of the semester with a degree in Mass Communications. She has already accepted a position with Campus Outreach, a religious organization that works on college campuses, which is a big reason she decided to hang up her cleats.
“Full-time ministry is all I wanted to do out of college,” Gallo said. “So it wouldn’t have made sense to tack on more years of school when full-time ministry is the dream.”
Gallo might just get to stay at Southeast and if she gets her ideal situation she will. She is hoping to stay at Southeast to do athlete ministry, although there are nine universities she could end up at.
