University of Southern Indiana Softball earned a share of the Great Lakes Valley Conference regular-season title and the No. 1 overall seed in this week’s GLVC Championship Tournament, which is Thursday-Saturday at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Illinois.
USI finished the regular-season with a 40-10 overall record and a 19-7 mark in GLVC play. The Screaming Eagles, ranked No. 5 the nation and No. 1 in the NCAA II Midwest Region rankings, will play the No. 8 seed, William Jewell College, Thursday at 10 a.m. in the opening round of the double-elimination tournament.
Tickets for the tournament are $25 for an All-Tournament pass; $10 per day for adults; $5 per day for students and youth (K-12). Children ages 5-and-under are admitted free of charge.
Live stats and GLVC Sports Network coverage as well as complete tournament information can be accessed at GoUSIEagles.com.
USI Softball Notes
- GLVC regular-season champions! USI earned a share of the GLVC regular-season championship and the No. 1 overall seed in the GLVC Tournament for the second time in program history and the first time since 1995.
- Rainout. USI’s last four games of the regular-season were rained out, marking the first time since 2014 that the Eagles have not played a GLVC game due to weather. A total of 14 GLVC contests were cancelled this past weekend due to rain.
- USI against the field. The Eagles posted an 8-4 record against the GLVC Tournament field this year and have wins over all but one team—USI and No. 3 seed Missouri-St. Louis did not play.
- Hodges named Top 25 finalist for national POY. Senior catcher Haley Hodges was named a Top 25 finalist for Schutt Sports/NFCA Player of the Year honors late last week. This marks the second time that Hodges has cracked the Top 25 finalist list after cracking the Top 10 a year ago.
- GLVC honors. Along with the All-GLVC awards, the GLVC Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Freshman of the Year will be crowned at the GLVC Softball Awards Banquet Wednesday night in East Peoria, Illinois. USI has had the previous two GLVC Players of the Year after assistant coach MacKenzi Dorsam took home the award as a senior in 2015 and senior catcher Haley Hodges earned the accolade a year ago.
- 30 games above .500. USI is at least 30 games above .500 for the first time since 2015 and the third time in program history. The Eagles were 31 games above .500 during the final weekend of the regular season in 2015 and were a program-best 32 games above .500 late in the 1998 season.
- 40-win plateau. USI cracked the 40-win plateau for the second time in program history and the first time since going 48-17 in 1998.
- Eagles continue to hold top spot in regional rankings. USI continues to hold the top spot in the latest NCAA II Midwest Region rankings. The Eagles were one of seven GLVC teams in last week’s poll and one of six in the top eight. The final regular-season ranking is released Wednesday.
- USI holds its ground at No. 5 in NFCA Top 25. The Eagles remained No. 5 in the latest NFCA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll after going 1-1 last week—the poll does not reflect last Monday’s games against Quincy. USI is the only GLVC team in last week’s national rankings, though Missouri-St. Louis is receiving votes. The new poll is released Wednesday.
- NCAA Power Rankings. USI Softball has been noticed by the NCAA as the Eagles are sitting at No. 12 in the latest NCAA Division II Power Rankings. USI was No. 7 a week ago.
- USI perfect against Top 25. USI is 5-0 against teams in the Top 25 this year. The Eagles began the year with a doubleheader sweep of defending NCAA II champion and No. 1-ranked North Alabama and had a 5-0 win over then No. 7 Grand Valley State at The Spring Games. They also swept No. 14 Indianapolis two weeks ago.
- Hodges earns USI Athletics’ top honor. Senior catcher Haley Hodges was named the Old National Bank/USI Female Student Athlete of the Year; marking the second straight year she has been recognized with the honor after sharing the award with cross country/track & field standout Emily Roberts a year ago. Junior first baseman Marleah Fossett and freshman pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt also were among the student-athletes being considered for this year’s award.
- Single-season marks in jeopardy. Freshman pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt has a shot to break Amy Stetler’s single-season school records for wins (25) and shutouts (13) this year. Leonhardt has racked up 23 wins and 10 shutouts on the year.
- Beanball. USI has three players in the top four of the GLVC in hit by pitches. Junior first baseman Marleah Fossett and junior third baseman Mena Fulton rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the GLVC in hit by pitches, while senior Grace Clark is No. 4 in the league. Fossett has been hit by a league-high 17 pitches, while Fulton and Clark have been pelted 15 and 11 times, respectively.
- Record book watch. Several USI players are in the USI career record books:
–Caitlyn Bradley is tied for 20th in home runs (7);
–Grace Clark is tied for fourth in grand slams (1), tied for fifth in home runs (20), seventh in walks (64), tied for 11th in RBIs (102) and tied for 10th in doubles (34);
–Marleah Fossett is tied for 15th in home runs (11);
–Mena Fulton is tied for 23rd in home runs (6);
–Haley Hodges is first in home runs (41) and RBIs (165), third in grand slams (2), third in putouts (897), fourth in walks (70), sixth in doubles (38) and seventh in runs scored (123);
–Lexi Reese is tied for seventh in doubles (37), tied for 11th in home runs (16) and 12th in RBIs (92).
