HAMILTON — Badin High School senior Halle Klaiber made a strong recovery from off-season knee surgery — strong enough that it earned the right-handed pitcher a Division I college opportunity from Lipscomb University of Nashville, Tenn.
Klaiber graduated from Badin on May 24, committed to Lipscomb on June 19, and was honored during a Signing Ceremony in the Student Commons at Badin today. She’s the first player in the history of the Badin High girls softball program to earn a Division I college scholarship.
“Halle Klaiber is an outstanding softball player and an outstanding person,” Badin Athletic Director Geoff Melzer said. “Her D-I college scholarship is well-earned. Lipscomb University really got themselves a winner.”
Klaiber, who had knee surgery following a club softball injury in the fall, was determined to get back for her senior season — and did.
She was the GCL Coed Division Player of the Year for the second straight year, and was named second team all-Ohio. She carried a big arm and a big bat for the Rams, who finished 17-8, swept the GCL Coed with a 10-0 record, and reached the Division II district semifinals.
For the year, Halle won 17 games on the mound with a 1.76 earned run average and 172 strikeouts. She batted .547 with four home runs and 30 runs batted in. That piggybacked nicely on her high-profile junior year, where she was a 15-game winner with a 2.76 earned run average and 156 strikeouts, while hitting .526 with eighth homers and 31 runs batted in.
For her career, the 5-foot-11 blonde won 42 games and struck out 429 batters in 368 innings. At the plate, she batted .509 with 108 hits, 14 homeruns and 79 runs batted in. She was named all-GCL Coed three times, all-Greater Cincinnati three times, all-District twice and all-Ohio twice.
“You couldn’t think of someone better to earn Badin’s first Division I softball scholarship than Halle Klaiber,” veteran Badin girls softball coach Greg Stitzel said. “She’s a great pitcher, an outstanding hitter, and a terrific leader. She’s the real deal, and she’s going to make her mark on the college softball diamond.”
Halle is the daughter of Nate and Amy Klaiber of Hamilton and a graduate of St. Joseph Consolidated School. She plans to major in Exercise Science.
Lipscomb University is a private Christian school with an enrollment of 4,000 in Nashville. Their softball team finished 16-36 in the 2024 season and plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Twenty-two members of Badin’s Class of 2024 have committed to play college sports, including four others in Division I – Carson Cheek (men’s lacrosse, Cleveland State University), Matty Helms(baseball, Northern Kentucky University), Ava Hess (women’s soccer, University of Southern Indiana), and Natalie Wurzelbacher (synchronized skating, Miami University).
