Laura Basford didn’t originally want to even play college softball but ended up deciding late in the process to give it a try at Otterbein. Many Cardinal fans are glad she did, as the star outfielder went on to break 19 school records and deliver multiple program “firsts” along the way.

Basford joined a program that was fresh off a very difficult 7-27 season and looking for answers, coming aboard as one of 13 new faces looking to rejuvenate the roster. The group saw an immediate uptick en route to a 23-15 record, where Laura started every game and led the team in multiple categories. That included a new Otterbein single-season record with eight triples.

That momentum carried over to another key step in program history during Basford’s sophomore campaign in 2012, when the Cards went 26-16 overall (most wins ever in a single season) and qualified for their first Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament. She led the league in hitting with a .459 average and crossed the plate a whopping 46 times.

Basford missed 12 starts while fighting through injury as a junior but returned for a healthy senior year to continue racking up notable achievements. She became the first OAC Player of the Year in program history, claiming her second batting title with a stellar .504 average at the dish. That mark, her 24 stolen bases and .545 on-base percentage all ranked Top-20 nationally.

A three-time All-OAC and two-time All-Region performer, Laura punctuated her final go-around with a pair of national honors (also program firsts) to further cement the legacy. She was voted a second team NFCA All-American for success on the diamond and then first team CoSIDA Academic All-American behind a 3.95 cumulative GPA as a middle childhood education major. Those joint efforts made her, at the time, just the 11th athlete in Otterbein history to receive All-American honors for both athletics and academics in the same year.

Basford departed with a staggering 19 school records - nine career, ten seasonal - that included all-time marks for most hits, games played, runs scored (158), doubles, triples (21), home runs, stolen bases (95), total bases, batting average (.443) and slugging percentage. She still holds a combined eight records at this time of Hall of Fame induction.

Laura moved back home to the Massillon, Ohio, area following graduation and began paying it forward to the next generation. She taught middle school math for 10 years in her alma mater system of Jackson Local Schools while coaching a variety of sports, most notably serving as head varsity softball coach for two seasons.

She and her husband Jon, who was a three-year pitcher within the Otterbein baseball program, now have three sons together.