University of Southern Indiana senior second baseman Claire Johnson (Pittsboro, Indiana) and junior pitcher Jennifer Leonhardt (Louisville, Kentucky) have been named to the D2CCA Softball All-Midwest Region first team in a vote by the region’s sports information directors.
Johnson is earning All-Region honors for the first time in her career, while Leonhardt is collecting D2CCA All-Region honors for the third consecutive season after earning Midwest Region Pitcher of the Year laurels as a freshman in 2017 and second-team All-Region honors as a sophomore last year.
In 2019, Johnson is hitting .371 with 11 doubles, five triples, four home runs and 32 RBIs. She leads USI with a .472 on-base percentage, 23 walks, 46 runs scored and a .579 slugging percentage.
Johnson was a unanimous first-team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference honoree in 2019 and was named GLVC Player of the Week earlier in the year.
The 2019 GLVC Pitcher of the Year and unanimous first-team All-GLVC selection, Leonhardt is currently 19-8 with four saves, a 1.35 ERA, .191 opponent batting average and 220 strikeouts. She has tossed 11 complete-game shutouts and two combined shutouts, and passed Brooke Harmening ’15 for first-place all-time at USI in career strikeouts (688).
Leonhardt, who is tied with Harmening first first-place all-time at USI with 74 career wins, also has gotten the job done at the plate, where she is hitting .366 with 11 doubles, a triple, a home run and 30 RBIs. She also has 15 sacrifices on the year.
Both Johnson and Leonhardt advance to the national ballot for All-America consideration. The duo has helped lead the Screaming Eagles into their fifth straight NCAA II Tournament appearance and sixth in the last seven years.
USI (33-19), which won the national championship a year ago, begins the NCAA II Midwest Region #1 Tournament Thursday at 1:30 p.m. (EDT) when it takes on Wayne State University in the opening round in Allendale, Michigan. USI, which is receiving votest outside the latest NFCA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, is looking for its third straight Midwest Region title.
