Bettag earns KIAC honors at IU Southeast for softball

NEW ALBANY—Heritage Hills graduates Hanna Bettag and Jade Detzer have found success on and off the softball diamond for Indiana University Southeast this spring.

Courtesy of IU Southeast

Hanna Bettag

Buy this photo

Courtesy of IU Southeast

Jade Detzer

Buy this photo

Bettag, a sophomore, was named Player of the Week for the Kentucky Interscholastic Athletic Conference for March 7-13.

The daughter of Darin and Lisa Bettag of Grandview, she batted .474 (9-for-19) with a pair of doubles and eight RBIs in six games that week.

She has a .304 batting average for the season with 10 RBIs, which is second best for the 11-13 Grenadiers.

She plays first base and has been third or fourth in the batting order.

Bettag, who has played in 19 of the team’s 24 games said, “I was a little surprised. I went from from not playing much at the beginning of the year to playing a lot and getting player of the week—it was an 'Aha!' moment.

“Last year I was more of a pinch hitter, but I’m consistently in the batting order this year. We did a lot of offseason work and we broke down a lot of my fundamentals—I think that was key.”

Detzer, daughter of Dwayne and Shannon Detzer of Chrisney, is a starting outfielder as a freshman. She leads the team with six stolen bases and has been caught stealing only three times.

She has a .265 batting average with three doubles.

Bettag said, “It was kind of different playing with Jade in college versus in high school.

“I’m not used to turning around and seeing her in right field, but it’s a secure feeling. I know she'll make  the catches most people can’t make.

“It doesn’t surprise me she is playing a lot as a freshman. She's one of the better outfielders that we have.”

Both Detzer and Bettag were named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.

To earn that recognition student-athletes must achieve a 3.0 grade-point average for a semester. Bettag and Detzer exceeded that mark with GPAs between better than 3.5.

Interim Athletic Director Joe Glover said, “Student-athletes juggle very stringent schedules. It is a true testament to their individual efforts when they can successfully balance academics and athletics.”