We Have A Winner! The Top Halloween Painted Pumpkin in the Pfeiffer University Softball Contest Is…

Last Sunday, we introduced this year’s version of the Pfeiffer Painted Pumpkin Contest (say that fast five times!) and after a heavy week of voting by the softball community, we have a winner.

And the winner of the favorite pumpkin among the six entries from members of the Pfeiffer University softball team from Misenheimer, North Carolina is… Olaf!

It was a pretty close race between the top two but in the end Olaf received 33% of the vote from our Extra Inning Softball community while Woody captured 29% of the votes.

This was Year 2 of the fun team-building exercise for the Div. III college team that lost its 2020 opener but then won 16 straight games as Coach Monte Sherrill’s team looked to be on track to win a second Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) title.

Last year, the pumpkin contest winner had a confectionary theme; this year, the triumphant softball pumpkin artists took a movie approach… as in Disney’s classic animated film Frozen.

““Pinterest gave us the best inspiration,” said junior infielder Sarah Bowles, newly added utility player Ruth Hill, sophomore pitcher Emerson Puzey and freshman pitcher Taylor Parrish–the winning quartet of artists–“but Olaf was the one we thought would set our group apart since he was holding his head.”

“We like how competitive the contest gets every year. Over the past two years we’ve done this, we’ve gotten more creative and closer with our teammates.”

Last year, Assistant Coach Vada Blue Sherrill was a record-setting player on the Pfeiffer team that finished 36-7 and won the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) championship. This year, she got to oversee the contest.

“We scrambled our team into groups with one senior in each group as the leader,” Vada explains of the process. “They have the weekend to get together as a pod, brainstorm an idea and paint the pumpkin.”

How will the winners celebrate their awesome accomplishment? We know a trip to Disneyland is out.

“Sarah has plans to go to a pumpkin patch and Woods of Terror,” laughs Coach Vada, “Taylor is spending time with her family indoors and Ruth is taking her neighbors’ kids trick or treating and eating way too much candy!”