Nearly 30 Softball Players Baptized at Tournament: ‘God Wasn’t Finished’

Published: May 12, 2025

baptism, faith, Jesus — Photo by kaleb tapp on Unsplash

By Mallory Mattingly

Before competing in the Conference USA Softball Championship last week, 26 softball players from different schools were baptized in a hotel pool after a worship event on the Western Kentucky University campus.

“On May 5th, we witnessed 29 baptisms at WKU on South Lawn. Several CUSA softball players attended the event, but they had to leave early, so they missed witnessing the baptisms,” the WKU Fellowship of Christian Athletes, who hosted the “Worship on the Hill” event, posted on Instagram.

The softball players had to leave the May 5 event early due to teams curfews.

“But God wasn’t finished with them. They were so moved by Worship On The Hill that the next evening on May 6th, 26 COLLEGE ATHLETES crossed from death to life and were baptized in a hotel pool,” WKU FCA continued.

“From WKU to Jacksonville State…Sam Houston to Liberty…GOD HAD A BIGGER STORY. And He’s still not done yet,” the group celebrated.

The post shared a video of the baptisms.

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A post shared by WKU FCA (@wkufca)

“For the most part, the Lord just stirred on their hearts that night,” WKU FCA director David Byrd told Sports Spectrum. “As they left and we were on the heels of the event, we thought this was another great event where God moved. Come to find out, He wasn’t done.”

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Byrd contacted the pastor who spoke at the event, Gregg Farrell, and Farrell jumped on board to help with the baptisms. As word quickly spread, not only did the 26 players get baptized, but nearly 70 to 80 athletes from the schools competing in the tournament came to witness the event.

“What made it really special is these softball players have been competing against each other all year,” Byrd explained. “They’ve gone through a lot of competitive moments together, but the Lord was moving so heavily in the room that you didn’t sense any of that competitive spirit. It was peaceful. You could sense the Lord in the room.”

“This is something you can’t just forget about or explain away,” he added. “It’s to be determined what the Lord does with that, but I think we can say confidently that He’s going to use it somehow.”

Liberty softball was among the teams competing in the tournament. The team shared several photos of the night on their X page and wrote, “Bigger than softball.”