University of Southern Indiana Softball senior pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt was named a recipient of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Postgraduate Scholarship Tuesday in an announcement by the league office.
The GLVC Postgraduate Scholarship is awarded to two recipients each year in the amount of $2,500 each to be used in the first year of post-graduate enrollment at the institution of their choice.
In order to qualify for consideration, the nominee must graduate by the end of the academic season – or by the end of the summer – of the application year, must have earned a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 (on a 4.0 grading scale), have competed in a GLVC-sponsored sport for at least two years, and be a member of a team in the year the scholarship is awarded. Each league member may nominate one male and one female from their respective institution.
Leonhardt, a three-year All-American at USI, finished her career ranked first all-time at USI in career wins (83), strikeouts (787), and complete-game shutouts (35). She ranked second all-time at USI in innings pitched (730.2), fourth in complete games (85), and sixth in ERA (1.76). At the plate, she tied for 11th all-time at USI in both hit-by-pitches (10) and triples (6); and 18th in RBI (87).
The 2019 GLVC Pitcher of the Year led the Screaming Eagles to their first-ever regional championship in 2017 and their first-ever national championship in 2018. Leonhardt, who was the 2017 GLVC Freshman of the Year and Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year, was named to the Most Outstanding Player of the 2018 NCAA II Softball Championship Series after concluding the 2018 post-season with a 12-1 record, 1.35 ERA, .152 opponent batting average and 96 strikeouts.
In the classroom, Leonhardt has recorded a 3.78-grade point average and is expected to graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in biology. Leonhardt, who was accepted into the University of Louisville School of Dentistry, was a first-team Academic All-American in 2019 as well as the GLVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for softball.
Leonhardt has been a leader in the community, volunteering her time with the Girl Scouts of Southwest Indiana to perform team-building exercises with the troops. She also has volunteered time with the Green Heart Project Louisville, partnering with the University of Louisville to encourage community members to participate in research regarding local environment impact on health; and twice visited elementary schools in the Salem, Virginia, as part of the NCAA II Softball Championship Community Engagement event to discuss what it’s like being a student-athlete and how to never give up on their dreams.
Additionally, Leonhardt has been a four-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at USI and was the co-president this past year.
Not only did she give up her time to youth and members of the community, but she also took time to be part of two GLVC PSA campaigns; sharing her story in the GLVCisME video PSA as well as the #SomeoneToListen mental health initiative. Her stories have likely helped and inspired peers and others during the last two years that those PSAs have run on the GLVC Sports Network.
In addition to Leonhardt, Truman State University Women’s Basketball senior Sloane Totta was the other recipient of the GLVC Postgraduate Scholarships.
