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Their crystal ball was not too accurate.

The Highlanders (26-24, 11-4) clinched at least a share of the Big South regular-season title last weekend. They will claim the crown outright if they win just one game in their three-game weekend series at last-place Presbyterian.

鈥淚鈥檓 pleasantly surprised,鈥� first-year Radford coach Kevin Fagan said in an interview in his office Wednesday. 鈥淲e鈥檝e overachieved.鈥�

Radford was not good enough to make the four-team Big South tournament the past two years, having finished last in 2023 and sixth last year. But the Highlanders also clinched the top seed in the Big South tournament last weekend.

鈥淭he returners from last year, we didn鈥檛 even get to go to the tournament, so now we鈥檙e very excited,鈥� sophomore third baseman Amanda Lee said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 something to really be proud of, to go from (near) 鈥� the bottom to the top. It鈥檚 a big accomplishment.鈥�

The Highlanders were idle last weekend, so there was no on-field celebration. The players spent the weekend watching Big South games on ESPN Plus to see if other contenders would lose.

鈥淚t was pretty fun to watch the games from the couch and be like, 鈥極h, we got the first seed without even playing,鈥欌�� Lee said.

Fagan, a former defensive lineman for the University of Miami and the San Francisco 49ers, is in his first season at the helm of an NCAA Division I team.

鈥淚t just brought a new light here,鈥� Lee said of the coaching change. 鈥淭he whole team morale is a lot different.

鈥淗e instills more confidence in us, so I think as a team we鈥檙e more confident this year.

鈥淗e really does push every single one of us, and he knows how each person needs to be coached.鈥�

Fagan, 62, steered NCAA Division II member Emmanuel in Georgia the past four years. He guided a Florida junior college for seven seasons before leaving for Emmanuel.

鈥淗is competitiveness 鈥� rubs off on everybody else,鈥� freshman ace Dakota Redmon said.

Radford will finish atop the Big South standings for the first time since 2012, when the team won its fourth straight regular-season crown under former coach Mickey Dean. Dean left after that season to steer James Madison and later became the coach at Auburn.

鈥淲e play good defense and have been pretty good in the circle,鈥� said Fagan, who played for two Super Bowl championship teams with the 49ers. 鈥淒one enough offensively to survive.

鈥淧itching and defense goes a long way in our sport.鈥�

Redmon was recently named one of 25 finalists for the National Fastpitch Coaches Association鈥檚 Division I national freshman of the year award.

The North Carolina native is 15-8 with a 2.47 ERA, 121 strikeouts and 51 walks in 159 innings.

鈥淐oach Fagan 鈥� watches a ton of film, so I trust him completely with what he calls,鈥� Redmon said.

Redmon verbally committed to Radford as a high school junior. Alisa Tasler was Radford鈥檚 coach at the time. But Radford let Tasler go last May after she went 59-86 overall in her three seasons with the Highlanders. Fagan was hired two months later.

Despite the coaching change, Redmon stuck with her plan to pitch for Radford.

鈥淚 loved everything else about the school up here so much that I needed to just trust the plan and follow through with it and just see what happened,鈥� Redmon said. 鈥淚t has turned out very great.鈥�

She considers her curve to be her best pitch, although her repertoire also includes a screwball, riseball, change-up and dropball.

鈥淪he鈥檚 got good velocity and she鈥檚 pretty accurate,鈥� Fagan said.

Eleven of the 21 players on the roster were with the Highlanders last year, including six of the nine regulars in this year鈥檚 batting order and the team鈥檚 No. 2 pitcher this year, Morgan Cooper.

Cooper, a sophomore, is 9-10 with a 3.25 ERA.

鈥淪he鈥檚 got very good movement,鈥� Fagan said.

Senior shortstop Rachel Smith is batting .308, up from .264 last year. She has seven homers, 25 RBIs, 15 stolen bases and 30 runs scored.

Smith has also helped the team with her defense, having committed just one error in league play.

鈥淪he鈥檚 had an amazing year at shortstop,鈥� Fagan said.

Lee is hitting .303, way up from .152 last year.

鈥淎manda鈥檚 hard to strike out. She鈥檚 usually going to get the ball in play,鈥� Fagan said.

Other returning players of note include center fielder Grace Bechtol (.285), who had only 11 at-bats last year, and second baseman Cassi Barbato (.275).

Transfers Isabel Harrison (.292) and Kelley Feigen (.264) followed Fagan from Emmanuel.

The team opened the season in February with a 3-2 loss to 2024 NCAA tournament participant Liberty, leaving the Highlanders optimistic about the season. Three games later, they knocked off ACC member Louisville. In early March, the team lost 5-4 to nationally ranked Virginia Tech.

Radford has won all five of its conference series so far, including the program鈥檚 first Big South series wins over Longwood and USC Upstate. The Highlanders have won 10 games by just one run. They have won six extra-inning games.

鈥淲e always seem to come through when it matters,鈥� Redmon said.

Longwood, which finished 11-7 in league play, is the only other Big South team with a chance to tie for first place. But Presbyterian would have to sweep Radford for that to happen. Radford would be the top seed in the league tournament regardless because of its series win over Longwood.

Radford will return to Presbyterian next week for the Big South tournament, where an automatic NCAA tournament bid at will be stake. Radford has not won the Big South tournament since winning back-to-back crowns in 2009 and 2010.

鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely focusing on finishing the series this weekend first, but we鈥檙e very hype for the tournament,鈥� Redmon said.