ABILENE - Hundreds of college softball players transferred from one school to another before the 2025 season. It's the way collegiate athletics operates these days. But it is likely very few of those transfers have a story like
Taylor Bachmeyer.Â
For one, the Pflugerville-native is probably older than most of them. She first enrolled in college in 2019, and turned 24 at the beginning of this season. That's older than the team's graduate assistant Alyssa Woods, and one day older than assistant coach Kenedy Hines. Secondly, not many take two years off from playing the game, earn their degree, enter the 'real world,' and then decide to come back for one final season. But that's Bachmeyer's story.
"I always wanted to finish playing softball and be a teacher and coach at Hendrickson [High School]," she said about her alma mater in Pflugerville ISD. "It was what I knew was next. I was just moving on to the next phase of life."
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"I knew I wanted to go to ACU because of the foundation of faith -- an environment that is firm in their faith, and a community that will help build me in my faith."Â
And that's what Bachmeyer did. She taught physics and coached volleyball and soccer. But towards the end of the 2023-2024 school year, she says things weren't feeling right. The start of her professional career was not going how she planned. It pushed her to think about going back to college.
"I didn't really know what was next, but I trusted God and let Him take me to what He had for me next. I was not sure if I was going to continue to be a teacher at that point."
Bachmeyer was a star player at Hendrickson with a combination of superb pitching in the circle, and a big bat at the plate. She committed early to play for Ole Miss, and appeared in 14 games for the Rebels as a freshman. But a little less than halfway through the season COVID-19 shut down everything. Bachmeyer decided to transfer to Sam Houston State where she played for two years.
But then she stepped away from the sport. She moved to Montana, worked at Ulta and finished her degree before returning home for the high school teaching and coaching job. At the end of the academic year Bachmeyer went to a women's conference with her church where she says she finally got clarity on what to do.
"God told me to go back and play softball."
Unlike most recruiting stories where the school picks the player, Bachmeyer picked ACU before she even knew who was going to be coaching the Wildcats.
"I knew I wanted to go to ACU because of the foundation of faith -- an environment that is firm in their faith, and a community that will help build me in my faith."Â
Bachmeyer was traveling to Colorado with the AAU softball team she was coaching, and friends who were also in the coaching profession. She told them, "If ACU called me today, I'd go." One of those friends happened to know Jo Koons, who had been hired as ACU's head coach just a day or two earlier.
"She was like, 'Hold on. I just worked with [Koons] this summer, this is the new coach,'" said Bachmeyer.Â
After not playing the game competitively for two years, Bachmeyer quickly became ACU's leadoff hitter and had the team's best statistics in six or seven offensive categories almost the entire season. She finished as the team leader in batting average (.321), slugging percentage (.448), on-base percentage (.372), runs scored (21), hits (53), RBI (20), doubles (12), and total bases (74).
"I think it's just been fun for her," said Koons. "That's the best part to see as a coach – someone out there enjoying the opportunity to be out there no matter the result. She's a great example to her teammates. It takes work. We've worked to instill in this culture: the work never stops whether you go three-for-three, whether you have the best weekend or the worst weekend, you've got to come back and do the work. Bach is such a great example of that."
Bachmeyer impacted her team on the diamond, but her teammates impacted her away from it, too. She had been thinking about getting baptized, but was putting it off until she could get on the schedule at her home church near Austin.
One Sunday at Beltway Park Church, a woman talked to Bachmeyer and a few other softball players.
"This lady at the end of our row stopped us and said, 'I don't know who you guys are, if you're all friends, but God told me to tell you to get baptized. And if you're waiting for your home church, it is not about your church. If you don't know who could do it for you, there are so many people here who would be happy to do it for you.' I started balling my eyes out, and I told Roo [Stone] 'God told me you could baptize me.'
"It was amazing. It was like the best experience of my life."
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Bachmeyer is done playing softball for good now. She has one year left in her Master's of Sports Leadership program, and is trusting God on where a coaching position could open for her.
After traveling a long and winding road in her college journey -- three schools, five seasons, two years of not playing -- she is appreciative for how it ended at Abilene Christian.
"Being able to come to this place and be surrounded by people who genuinely love and care for me is the best thing anyone can ask for," said Bachmeyer. "This place is super special, and this year has been everything I could dream about and more."
