University of Southern Indiana Softball begins its best-of-three NCAA II Midwest Super Regional Thursday at noon when it hosts Wayne State University at the USI Softball Field.
Game two is slated for Friday at noon, while game three, if necessary, is Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the USI Softball Field.
USI (44-12) earned its first-ever trip to Super Regionals by going 3-0 last week at the NCAA II Midwest Region #2 Tournament. The No. 9 Screaming Eagles opened the Tournament with a 5-1 win over Grand Valley State University last Thursday before earning 6-4 and 7-2 wins over No. 22 Saginaw Valley State University Friday and Saturday, respectively.
Freshman pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt (Louisville, Kentucky) went 3-0 with a 0.67 ERA and 15 strikeouts. Leonhardt (27-2), the D2CCA Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year, also helped herself at the plate by .400 with a double and five RBIs.
Junior first baseman Marleah Fossett (Brownsburg, Indiana) had a .600 batting average and a .818 on-base percentage to aid the Eagles, while senior shortstop Lexi Reese (Lebanon, Indiana) hit .444 with a double, a home run and three RBIs.
Thursday’s meeting will be the third time USI and Wayne State have met in the NCAA postseason. USI defeated the Warriors 7-0 to open the 2006 NCAA II Great Lakes Region Tournament and earned an eight-inning, 4-2 win over Wayne State in an elimination game during the 2015 NCAA II Midwest Region #1 Tournament.
Wayne State, which is making its fourth appearance in the Super Regional and its third in the last four years, qualified for the Super Regional by rallying from a late 4-1 deficit to defeat top-seeded and No. 25 University of Missouri-St. Louis, 7-5, in the “if necessary game” of the Midwest Region #1 Tournament last week.
