Wichita State’s Madison Perrigan finds her love at catcher
Madison Perrigan picked daisies and chased butterflies in the outfield, so at 6 she knew she needed to switch positions.
“I was a little distracted,” she said. “I told my dad I didn’t want to play softball if I wasn’t involved in every play.”
Perrigan chose catcher and she played the position like a lifer as a freshman at Wichita State. She earned the trust of veteran pitchers with her defensive skills and started 49 games on her way to second-team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors.
“She knew she wanted to come in and help lead our team,” senior pitcher Katie Malone said. “She knew exactly what she needed to do.”
Fourth-seeded WSU (31-19) plays eighth-seeded Loyola (27-25) at 11 a.m. Friday in the MVC Tournament in Normal, Ill. The winner plays top-seeded Northern Iowa (32-18) at 4 p.m. The Shockers, to return to the NCAA regionals for a second straight year, must win three games in two days.
WSU coach Kristi Bredbenner watched Perrigan, from Mustang, Okla., come up through summer softball and expected her to fit in quickly defensively. She is agile behind the plate, smoothly frames pitches and threw out 11 of the 33 runners attempting to steal.
She is hitting .301 with eight home runs and 11 doubles and a slugging percentage of .529, a performance Bredbenner considers a bonus. Improving her base-running skills — catchers are usually subbed out for a courtesy runner in summer games — is tops on the list for off-season improvement.
“She does a great job behind the plate, managing the pitchers and making their balls look better,” Bredbenner said. “She hit a lot better than we anticipated her hitting. She was a person, who I felt like, had quality at-bats. She looked like she was 100-percent prepared to play at this level.”
The offensive production also surprised Perrigan. Not Malone, who saw the danger after a few at-bats in the fall.
“I had to be careful with her,” she said.
It did take Perrigan time to grow comfortable directing defenders. Early in the season, Bredbenner had to tell her to go to the circle to talk to pitchers.
“I yelled at her quite a bit the first couple weeks of practice because she would get caught watching the game,” Bredbenner said. “Catchers, you control the field. You’ve got to be watching and anticipating. You’ve got a clear view on how everything unfolds.”
Perrigan learned how to position infielders for cutoff throws. She learned how to target the lead runner with runners at first and third. On Wednesday, she was one of four catchers named to the MVC’s All-Defensive team.
“With travel ball, we did that stuff, but not every day,” she said. “It’s hard to tell a whole infield, basically full of upperclassmen, what to do. Catchers are supposed to tell people what to do.”
That challenge is what Perrigan loves about the position.
“I like to think of it as an art with framing, blocking, throwing people out,” she said. “It’s my life.”
Paul Suellentrop: 316-269-6760, @paulsuellentrop
MVC Tournament
At Normal, Ill.
Single elimination
Thursday
No. 8 Loyola 6, No. 5 Evansville 1
No. 7 Missouri State 2, No. 6 Drake 1
Friday
Loyola vs. No. 4 Wichita State, 11 a.m.
Missouri State vs. No. 3 Southern Illinois, 1:30 p.m.
Loyola-:WSU winner vs. No. 1 Northern Iowa, 4
SIU-MSU winner vs. No. 2 Illinois State, 6:30
Saturday
Championship, 1 p.m.
All games on ESPN3.com
All-MVC
First team
C — Jordan de los Reyes, Illinois State
1B — Allison Spence, Illinois State
2B — Kelli Spring, Wichita State
3B — Mackenzie Wright, Wichita State
SS — Sammey Bunch, Northern Iowa
OF — Kelly Kapp, Bradley
OF — Merri Anne Patterson, Southern Illinois
OF — Caitlyn McCarron, Bradley
P — Brianna Jones, Southern Illinois
P — Katie Malone, Wichita State
P — Sarah Finck, Illinois State
DP-UT — Shannon Felde, Illinois State
UT-P — Alyssa Buchanan, Northern Iowa
1B — Shaye Harre, Southern Illinois
3B — Bethany Sullinger, Missouri State
OF — Riley Hale, Illinois State
OF — McKenzie Adams, Wichita State
Second team
C — Anna Varriano, Northern Iowa
1B — Morgan Lambert, Evansville
2B — Maddy Vermejan, Southern Illinois
3B — Sydney Jones, Southern Illinois
SS — Mandi Roemmich, Drake
OF — Brittney Roby, Northern Iowa
OF — Erika Velasquez Zimmer, Missouri State
OF — Annie Heineman, Illinois State
P — Jaclyn Spencer, Northern Iowa
P — Kenzie Ihle, Indiana State
DP-UT — Katelyn Massa, Southern Illinois
C — Madison Perrigan, Wichita State
2B — Leslie Sims, Indiana State
SS — Laurie Derrico, Wichita State
DP-UT — Ashley Chesser, Northern Iowa
DP-UT — Kealia Wysocki, Bradley
All-Defensive
C — Anna Varriano, Northern Iowa
C — Jordan de los Reyes, Illinois State
C — Katie Kasubke, Loyola
2B — Maddy Vermejan, Southern Illinois
OF — Megan Sowa, Drake
C — Madison Perrigan, Wichita State
1B — Morgan Lambert, Evansville
SS — Kassie Brown, Indiana State
OF — Caitlyn McCarron, Bradley
Player of the Year — de los Reyes
Pitcher of the Year — Buchanan
Defensive Player of the Year — Varriano
Freshman of the Year — Bunch
Newcomer of the Year — Hay
Coaching staff of the Year — Northern Iowa
This story was originally published May 11, 2017 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Wichita State’s Madison Perrigan finds her love at catcher."