Senior Spotlights: Tiffany Thompson

Tiffany Thompson had a storybook career for the Sam Houston State softball team, including delivering one of the most iconic hits in the program's history.

The senior shortstop from Montgomery was a four-year starter for the Bearkats. She was a preseason All-Southland Conference first-team selection this past season after earning first-team all-conference and all-academic honors during her stellar junior campaign in 2019.

"My time here at Sam Houston State University was amazing to say the least," Thompson said. "I met some of the most amazing people and made life-long friends along the way. It was everything I could have asked for and more. I'll cherish the memories I made with my teammates on and off the field."

Thompson played a key role in the most successful season in the program's history since SHSU moved up to the Division I level. In 2019, the Bearkats won the regular-season Southland Conference championship and swept through the league's postseason tournament to earn Sam Houston State its second trip to the NCAA Tournament.

The Kats drew No. 9 Texas in the Austin Regional. Thompson blasted a two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning to lift SHSU to a 2-1 upset over the nationally-seeded Longhorns in the opening round of the regional.

"It was absolutely incredible winning the Southland Conference regular season and the Southland Conference tournament and then go on to the Austin Regional and beat the University of Texas, which also happens to be my favorite memory while playing for Sam Houston," Thompson added.

Thompson also was named to the 2019 Southland Conference all-tournament team and was a two-time league Hitter of the Week winner. She earned third-team All-SLC honors as a sophomore in 2018 and was an honorable-mention selection as a freshman in 2017.

She had a .292 career batting average with 169 hits, 23 home runs, 31 doubles, six triples and 94 RBI.

Thompson earned her way onto the President's and Dean's lists during her academic career, and she graduated this month with a degree in public health.

"Tiffany has been an awesome athlete for us for four years. She has started and finished every game of her collegiate career at shortstop and has done it with amazing effort," head coach Garrett Valis said. "I appreciate how she has sold out for her teammates and done so with such a humble heart. I cannot say how excited I am for her to enter the nursing profession after finishing up her education because she is exactly the type of young woman we need working in that extremely tough profession.

"She has been a huge part of the program's success and will leave the program with her name throughout the record books. I wish her the very best in nursing school."

Thompson is thankful to have been a part of the softball program at Sam Houston State and will miss being around her "family" every day. Her advice to her returning teammates and future Bearkats is to play like each game is their "last."

"Never forget why you play the game and always, always have fun," Thompson said. "Play every game like it could be your last. It sounds cliché, but I unknowingly played my last game with the events that took place my senior season. Although I loved every bit of my career, I wish I could play one last game with my sisters."

Senior Spotlights: Tiffany Thompson

Players Mentioned

Tiffany Thompson

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