Short honored with Champion of Character Award
May 13, 2026

Short honored with Champion of Character Award

HELENA, Mont. — Bellevue University senior third baseman Savannah Short, a native of Fort Osage, Mo, has been selected as a 2026 Frontier Conference Champion of Character Award recipient for softball presented by WinWon Technologies. The announcement was made today by the Frontier Conference office following this month's Frontier Conference Tournament.

The Champion of Character Award is presented annually to a student-athlete who best exemplifies the NAIA's Champions of Character initiative and its five core values: integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, and servant leadership. Each Frontier Conference head coach submits a nomination based on how their student-athletes demonstrate these values both in competition and throughout their campus and community involvement.

"Savannah is deserving of this award because she represents everything this honor stands for," said Bellevue University head coach Michala Cimino. "She leads with maturity, consistency, and quiet confidence, and she has a way of bringing calm, laughter, and perspective to the people around her. Savannah is easygoing and funny, but underneath that is a deep understanding of what truly matters. She gets it!!"

Short started all 54 games this season at third base, finishing the year with seven doubles and 25 RBIs with a .212 batting average. She played in 104 games over her two-year Bruin career, driving in 48 runs and finishing with 15 doubles and 17 extra-base hits. In the classroom, Short was honored this season as an NAIA Scholar-Athlete while also earning Academic all-Frontier Conference honors. 

The Champions of Character initiative aims to place the NAIA's five core values at the center of the student-athlete experience, helping participants find balance on and off the court. The program encourages student-athletes to value the right behaviors and uphold the NAIA's standard of being "The Right Way to Play."

The Bruins finished the 2026 season with a 25-29 overall record and a 10-16 mark in the Frontier Conference, advancing to the championship game of the Frontier Conference Tournament before falling to league champion Dickinson State, 5-4.