NOTE: Throughout the rest of the spring, SOU will profile student-athletes from the softball and track and field teams whose seasons ended prematurely. While none of them will be charged a season of competition this spring and seniors will have the option of returning for 2021, some may choose to end their careers upon graduating.

From the moment she first suited up for Southern Oregon as a junior in 2019, Lauren Quirke has given the Raiders one of the most dynamic skill sets in the NAIA – solidifying the middle of their lineup as a third baseman and providing a legitimate No. 2 pitching option. After collecting the NAIA World Series MVP award for her part in SOU's run to its first national championship, she was on track to make an even bigger splash this spring.

Quirke ranked third in the NAIA with 40 hits in 25 starts. She was leading the Cascade Conference (among players with at least 60 at-bats) in both batting average at .488 – SOU's single-season record, established by Megan Laughlin in 2009, is .463 – and slugging percentage at .768.

Her career batting average of .456 is easily the best in SOU history. Only five individuals who have played more than one season for the Raiders have posted an average of .400 or better; Quirke could go hitless in her next 40 at-bats and still sit over that mark.

In 2019 she became one of six NAIA All-Americans the Raider softball team has ever produced, landing second-team honors. In earning World Series MVP accolades, she hit 7-for-15 with three extra-base hits and five RBIs at the final site.

That clutch ability hasn't been apparent just in the postseason. She was lethal with runners in scoring position in 2019, hitting 51-for-105 (.486). That torrid pace continued in 2020, as she hit 17-for-33 with RISP. She was ninth on the NAIA leaderboard with 63 RBIs as a junior, and her two-year total of 89 already ranks sixth in Raider history. (Hannah Shimek, a junior second baseman, also continued her climb to No. 2 on that list with 114 RBIs in three seasons.)

In 85 starts over two seasons, she's registered 41 multi-hit games. She added two more in SOU's final series at Providence (Mont.), where she homered twice, and ended the season on a seven-game hitting streak. Overall, she's recorded 24 doubles, 14 triples and eight home runs for the Raiders, and her total of 33 extra-base hits in 2019 represented a new single-season team record.

One of the keys to her success has been an ability to put the ball in play: In 319 plate appearances at SOU, she's struck out eight times. She's put together separate streaks of 22, 14, 13 and 11 consecutive games without strikeouts.

Through eight appearances and 37 innings pitched this spring, she was 3-2 with a 2.27 ERA that was the third-best in the CCC. Entering her final start, her ERA stood at 1.66. Through two seasons of work, she's 10-3 with a 3.08 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 102 1/3 frames.

With a 3.5 cumulative GPA, Quirke will also be a Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athlete nominee this year. She's a communications major with a minor in criminal justice.