After NCAA Tournament Debut, Mercer Softball Looks to Build Momentum with New Coach and Lineup
The Mercer Bears are looking to return to the NCAA Tournament after making history in 2025; it will just have to look a little different.
Just days after the Bears were eliminated from the Gainesville Regional, Lindsay Fico resigned from her head coaching role to accept the same position at Florida Gulf Coast. She also took four of Mercer's top bats with her.
However, Mercer didn't have to look too hard to find the perfect fit.
Chris Kuhlmeyer arrived in Macon with more than 250 career victories across 26 years in the collegiate coaching space. At his previous stop, Kuhlmeyer led the UMBC Retrievers to four NCAA Tournament appearances in seven years.
While he isn't trying to turn the program around, Kuhlmeyer faces an uphill battle with only two returning starters from last year's SoCon Tournament Champions.
Mercer's Dramatically Reshaped Roster
After several key departures and a wave of newcomers, the Mercer roster will look almost unrecognizable from the last year.
Returning to the starting lineup are Grace Jones. That's it.
Jones, a sophomore, was one of two players to appear in all 54 regular-season games last season as a true freshman. She also earned All-Southern Conference Freshman Team honors after hitting .307 and pitching 26.2 innings.
"Grace had a great freshman year at the plate, and I expect that to continue to be the case and for her to only get better," Kuhlmeyer told Softball On SI. " She has good power to all fields and consistently puts the ball in play. She will play a lot of first base this year along with seeing her compete for a lot of time in the circle this season."
Barton is looking to bounce back after being a mainstay in the lineup during her freshman and sophomore seasons. After playing in 52 games (44 starts) in 2023, Barton earned a starting job in 2024, where she started all 51 games for the Bears, but last season was a disaster. She only made a dozen starts and appeared in 25 games while hitting sub-.100.
Kuhlmeyer is depending on her to turn a corner and help lead the team back to the postseason.
"I'm looking for Avery to bounce back in her senior year," Kuhlmeyer added. "She has a lot of ability to hit at a high level with power and drive in a lot of runs. She had a very good fall offensively and did a great job in the middle infield."
The rest of the lineup will feature new faces after ace Grace Taylor, outfielders Parris Wiggs and Kiki Daniels, and catcher Sietske Drijvers all left with Fico. Hannah Rivers, another All-Freshman Team selection, transferred to Florida Atlantic.
Overall, Kuhlmeyer is excited to get the 2026 season started, and defending a conference title is nothing new for him. Building confidence in this new group will be key to the team's success.
Other players to watch this season will be Rachel Sysum, a transfer from Fresno State, Jessie Taylor, Daniella Monaco, and Meg Loughren. In the circle, Kuhlmeyer will lean on Grace McKillop, a transfer from Bryant, Grace Roark, and Katie Rearley.
Unboxing with Softball On SI
Mercer is the first program featured in our new unboxing series. Check out what the Bears sent us in the video below.
Recommended Links
-1d7db99dccc9abef7b9378f016b22b68.webp "Maren Angus-Coombs")
Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and has been a sports writer since 2008. She has been covering college softball since 2016 for various outlets including Softball America, ESPNW and Hurrdat Sports. She is currently the managing editor of Softball On SI and also serves as an analyst for Nebraska softball games on Nebraska Public Media and B1G+.