Michigan State Transfer Cunningham Strikes Out 17 in Complete-Game Win for Troy
From the Big Ten to the Sun Belt: Ella Cunningham Still Has it
When talking about impact transfers coming into the season, most only focused on transfers going into Power Four schools and never gave thought to some strong players that landed at Mid-Major programs.
On Tuesday night, the Troy Trojans received a heck of a game from two-way player Ella Cunningham, as she struck out 17 in a complete-game win against Alabama State. Her 17 strikeouts tied former Trojan Ashlyn Williams for the most in a game since 2009.
Being the two-way that she is, Cunningham also helped herself to a 2-for-4 night at the plate, including a solo shot in the second inning to tie the game at one.
Cunningham is a Michigan State transfer who left East Lansing, Michigan, questioning her love for the game.
After a summer in Chattanooga playing in the Scenic City Collegiate League, she rekindled that spark and took to Troy, Alabama, to join Eric Newell’s Trojans softball team, where she is putting together a solid year already.
Cunningham is currently 4-0 with a 3.58 ERA and 41 strikeouts to just 18 walks in 29.1 innings pitched across 10 appearances. In the box, she’s having a great year slashing .381/.446/.651 with three home runs, 19 RBI, eight doubles, and nine runs scored with 41 total bases.
Troy head coach Eric Newell spoke with Fastpitch Wire Softball on Wednesday morning, and it was clear that Cunningham’s emergence has been no accident. Newell said the growth has been building steadily since the start of the season. She’s also shown resilience and hasn’t let some early bumps dictate her mindset.
“She kind of got off to a rocky start,” Newell said. “But it’s been like a snowball going down a hill. She just keeps getting better and better and better.”
Much of that development, according to Newell, traces back to the work being done by pitching coach Elizabeth Hightower, who joined the Troy staff last summer. Hightower, a former SEC pitcher herself at Florida, has been instrumental in reshaping the Trojans’ pitching staff from top to bottom.
“Our entire pitching staff has done a great job under Coach Hightower’s leadership,” Newell said. “We’re very excited about that direction.”
Newell was quick to credit the personal journey Cunningham took to arrive at Troy, acknowledging both the role the Chattanooga summer league played in reigniting her passion and the environment the coaching staff has tried to build around her.
“Ella has come in and regained a new sense of confidence,” Newell said. “I think the Chattanooga League definitely helped with that this summer. But her just being kind of nurtured along by Coach Hightower in the circle and then the rest of our staff, hitting it as well, she’s been a dual threat and has brought great perspective.”
Cunningham’s story fits into a larger theme that Newell touched on when discussing his roster as a whole. The transfer portal, for all of its critics, has been a net positive for Troy this season. Players from Michigan State, NC State, Texas Tech, South Carolina, UTSA, and McNeese have all found new homes with the Trojans and brought a level of experience and perspective that has reshaped the program’s culture.
“There’s so many nightmare stories out there about the transfer portal,” Newell said. “This year for us, the transfer portal was a huge blessing. The right ones got here, and they have brought perspective to our program.”
That perspective, paired with the players who stayed loyal to the program through the roster turnover, has created a team that Newell believes is capable of making noise in a Sun Belt Conference that is as deep as it has ever been.
For now, Cunningham is one of the main pitchers on staff, and deservedly so. A player who left a Big Ten program unsure of whether she even wanted to keep playing is now punching out 17 batters and launching home runs in the same game. The Power Four to Mid-Major transfer market is full of players like her, and programs like Troy are reaping the benefits.
Sometimes the best portal pickups don’t come with the biggest headlines and talk around them. That is perfectly fine, just watch them go to work.
