University of Southern Indiana Softball was picked to finish second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference according to the GLVC Preseason Coaches’ Poll, which was released Tuesday afternoon by the league office.
USI, which earned 202 points and a league-high six first-place votes, trailed the University of Indianapolis (210 points/five first-place votes) and were in front of the University of Missouri-St. Louis (185 points/two first-place votes).
Truman State University (180 points) and Bellarmine University (173 points/2 first-place votes) rounded out the coaches’ top five predictions in fourth and fifth, respectively.
McKendree University (157 points), Maryville University (142 points) and the University of Illinois Springfield (123 points) were picked sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, while William Jewell College (109 points) and Rockhurst University (104 points) completed the top 10 picks.
The coaches’ predictions were rounded out by Drury University (78 points), Quincy University (73 points), Saint Joseph’s College (67 points), Lewis University (60 points), Missouri S&T (47 points) and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside (18 points).
USI, which is receiving votes in the NFCA Top 25 Preseason Coaches’ poll, returns seven position starters and three pitchers off a team that went 35-21 overall and 21-9 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference a year ago.
Included in that list of returning players are five All-GLVC honorees, two All-Region performers and the reigning GLVC Player of the Year in senior All-American catcher Haley Hodges (Portage, Indiana).
Hodges, who was named first-team All-America by Herosports.com, the NFCA and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association, is coming off a historic 2016 season that saw her set single-season school records for home runs (22), RBIs (72), walks (45) and runs scored (58).
Surrounding Hodges in the lineup is a first-team All-GLVC outfielder in sophomore Olivia Clark-Kittleson (Carbondale, Illinois), a pair of second-team All-GLVC honorees in junior first baseman Marleah Fossett (Brownsburg, Indiana) and sophomore designated player/pitcher/outfielder Caitlyn Bradley (Forest, Indiana), and a third-team All-GLVC shortstop in senior Lexi Reese (Lebanon, Indiana).
Clark-Kittleson hit .351 with nine RBIs and 18 runs scored before injury cut her 2016 season short. Fossett hit .336 with 11 doubles, six home runs and 37 RBIs, while Bradley hit .300 with 12 doubles, a triple, two home runs and 23 RBIs in her first year of collegiate softball. Bradley also earned All-Midwest Region honors a year ago.
Reese had a huge year for USI as a junior when she hit .326 with 16 doubles, 10 home runs and 40 RBIs.
In the pitcher’s circle, the Eagles return Bradley and fellow sophomores Haylee Smith (Florence, Kentucky) and Courtney Atkisson(Bringhurst, Indiana). Smith led the Eagles with a 2.91 ERA and 11 complete games as a freshman, while Bradley went 6-3 with a 3.04 ERA.
Atkisson is coming off a strong fall campaign that saw the emergence of freshman pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt (Louisville, Kentucky). Leonhardt earned third-team All-State honors as a senior after posting a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts during her senior season.
USI opens the year February 14 when it travels to Florence, Alabama, to take on defending NCAA Division II champion and preseason No. 1 University of North Alabama.
The Eagles also are slated to play preseason No. 6 Grand Valley State University March 6 at The Spring Games in Clermont, Florida, while the University of Indianapolis (No. 16) and the University of Missouri-St. Louis (No. 23) are the only GLVC teams to open the year in the NFCA Top 25 preseason poll.
Following their doubleheader with North Alabama, the Eagles host the Midwest Region Crossover February 24-26 at Deaconess Sports Park in Evansville. USI opens its home schedule March 15 with a doubleheader against Midwest Region foe Kentucky Wesleyan College.
