The Division II Conference Commissioners Association announced their softball All-Region awards Wednesday, and Katie Crogan was named as the D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year and earned D2CCA All-Central Region First Team honors at first base. Crogan becomes the first D2CCA Central Region Softball Player of the Year in Upper Iowa history, and the All-Central Region nod is the first of her illustrious Peacock career. Crogan was also named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Central Region First Team as a first baseman on Wednesday after being named as a Top-25 finalist for the NFCA Player of the Year award on Monday.

Crogan is the first Peacock to be honored as a Regional Player of the Year since Josh Walker was named as the NWCA Super Region Three Wrestler of the Year after the 2017-18 season.

"What Katie has been able to accomplish this season is incredible," said first-year Head Coach Kiki Stokes. "She has worked so hard and deserves this award. We are proud of her and appreciate the lasting mark that she will be leaving behind on the Upper Iowa softball program."

Crogan was also named as the NSIC Player of the Year and was an All-NSIC First Team honoree. The All-Conference nod was the third of her career as she was an All-NSIC Second Team honoree in 2019 and 2021 and a 2019 Gold Glover. Crogan propelled the Peacocks to a postseason berth with a career year. Katie played and started every game for Upper Iowa over the season and helped Upper Iowa compile record-setting offensive outputs. The Watertown, Wis. native finished 2022 with a .465 batting average, .885 slugging percentage, .543 on-base percentage, 50 runs, 73 hits, 15 doubles, 17 home runs, 76 RBI, and 24 walks. Crogan set the Peacock single-season records for batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, hits, home runs, and RBI. She also finished with the second-most runs and walks in a season and the third-most doubles. The fifth-year graduate student holds the UIU record for hits (253), doubles (54), home runs (45), runs scored (141), and runs batted in (203) in a Peacock career while finishing second all-time in batting average (.390), slugging percentage (.684), and at-bats (649) and third in OBP (.441). Over the Northern Sun Conference regular season, Crogan finished third in the NSIC in batting average (.473) and second in slugging (.903), on-base percentage (.541), and OPS (1.444). She also finished second in RBI (41) and home runs (10) while tying for third in hits (44), sixth in runs (29), and seventh in doubles (10).

The fifth-year player tallied 23 multi-hit games in 52 outings and notched a hit in 38 contests. Crogan added 21 multi-RBI games, reaching a season-high of five RBI on four occasions against Edinboro University (Mar. 7), Minnesota Crookston (Apr. 10), No. 18 Minnesota State (Apr. 12), and St. Cloud State (Apr. 15). The Watertown High School product also had a pair of multi-HR games and four-hit outings against NSIC opponents. Crogan anchored the UIU defense at first base with a .974 fielding percentage while contributing to 15 of the 20 Peacock double plays.

Katie led NCAA DII in batting average for a significant portion of the season, reaching as high as .520. She was also near the top mark in the country for slugging percentage, on-base percentage, RBI per game, and home runs per game. Through the end of the regular season on May 3, her .473 batting average ranked eighth nationally, her .913 slugging percentage ranked fifth, and her .550 on-base percentage ranked seventh.

Crogan is one of 12 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference student-athletes named to the D2CCA All-Central Region softball teams. Seven NSIC players on the D2CCA All-Central Region First Team, while five NSIC players on the D2CCA All-Central Region Second Team. No. 14 Minnesota State University, Mankato's Mackenzie Ward was named as the D2CCA Central Region Pitcher of the Year.

Upper Iowa softball went 24-28 (14-15 NSIC) in their 2022 campaign and earned the program's first postseason appearance since 2019. In their first year at the helm, head coach Kiki Stokes and assistant coach Kelsey Aikey helped UIU win its first NSIC Tournament game since winning the NSIC Championship in 2016 by beating Wayne State College in their opening game before falling on day two of the double-elimination tournament.