Morgan Zerkle

Classroom

With everything that Morgan Zerkle does for her athletic career and in the community, she has remained a star in the classroom as well. Zerkle is a clinical exercise physiology major and held a 3.72 overall GPA as of the end of the 2015-16 academic year. In 2016, Zerkle was named to the Conference USA All-Academic Team and the Conference USA Commissioner’s Honor Roll and was named the Conference USA Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Marshall University. Zerkle was named a NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete for the third time as well.

Character

Zerkle is an ambassador not only for Herd Softball but for Marshall University as a well. Recently she was honored as Miss Marshall. A team captain and an SAAC representative, Zerkle is a trustworthy and loyal teammate, making her an effective leader. Strong leaders make those around them better, and her character skills are contagious. Zerkle has raised the level of play from her teammates through accountability and made an impact as a leader on her teammates’ performances. Zerkle demands the best from herself, and that same integrity is applied to caring for her team.

In addition to monthly service activities, Zerkle’s greatest impact is being a mentor to six young girls in the Huntington community through Marshall University Softball’s Lil Sis Program. She writes two letters a month to each young girl and then spends additional time attending their events. Zerkle’s commitment to her lil sis extends far beyond the program guidelines as she invests in their lives.

Community

Excellent leaders serve, and Zerkle has made a strong commitment to giving back to the youth in the community and serving as a positive role model. Each month she chooses different opportunities for spending time with young girls in the Tri-State area. She makes herself available in assisting local little league kids and ASA players at the grassroots level as well as sharing her story in various speaking engagements regarding her journey from little league softball to Team USA.

Zerkle has spoken to Barboursville Middle School kids, trained Milton senior little leaguers, umpired local little league games, trained CK LL, given pep talks at the Barboursville Little League State championship and spoken at an engagement with Hanover Hornets. She also has assisted in Ona Little League tryouts, Flag walk, Barnett Center clean-up, the RAINN 5k and Marshall Campus & Field cleanup, and volunteered at the Mountain games to benefit Hoops Children’s Hospital.

Zerkle has had speaking engagements with WV Dusters Travel Softball Team, the Jackson Baptist Church and Rally on the Creek. She also has passed out flowers to runners at the Marshall marathon, assisted with Upward basketball evaluations and volunteered with the Child Fund at the Natalie Grant Dare to Be Tour. In 2016, she was awarded the Conference USA Spirit of Service Award.

Competition

Morgan Zerkle was the first member of Marshall softball to be named to the USA Women’s National Team and will compete around the world with Team USA this summer. In 2016 she was named to the ASA/USA Women’s National Elite Team. She competed in the World Cup of Softball XI in Oklahoma City, where the Elite team went 4-1. Individually Zerkle was 4-for-6 at the plate with a home run. She scored five runs, had three RBIs and stole two bases.

In 2016 for Marshall, Zerkle was named to the Top 50 Watch List for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and despite the fact that she missed 22 games due to injury she still was selected as a top 25 finalist. Zerkle has garnered the respect of teams around the conference as she was named All-Conference USA First Team for the second time. She also was named NFCA Mideast All-Region First Team for the second time. She hit .482 with 54 hits in just 34 games and began the season with seven straight games of two hits or more. Zerkle scored 28 runs, hit two home runs and stole 28 bases including stealing home against No. 15 Arizona. She became the fastest player in program history to steal 100 career bases, doing so in her 114th game, and the fastest to 200 career hits in just her 137th game. Zerkle dropped down a walk-off bunt single to defeat UTSA in the first round of the C-USA tournament.