—University of Southern Indiana Softball announced that six incoming freshmen have signed national letters of intent to compete for Head Coach Sue Kunkle‘s Screaming Eagles in 2020. The list includes right-handed third baseman/utility player Anna Carroll (Brownsburg, Indiana), right-handed pitcher/utility player Brooklyn Gibbs (Mt. Vernon, Indiana), right-handed pitcher/first baseman Allie Goodin (Evansville, Indiana), right-handed infielder Rachel Martinez (Chicago, Illinois), right-handed infielder Jordan Rager (Fishers, Indiana) and right-handed outfielder/middle infielder Emma Tucher (New Palestine, Indiana).

Anna Carroll is currently a senior at Brownsburg High School where she has earned letters in softball and volleyball during her prep career. She has earned All-County and All-Conference honors each of the previous two years and has earned team MVP honors as a sophomore (offensive) and junior (defensive).

Brooklyn Gibbs is in her final year at Mt. Vernon Senior High School where she has earned letters in both softball and cheer during her career. She earned second-team All-State as a junior in 2018 after garnering third-team All-State honors as a sophomore in 2018. The three-time All-Southwestern Indiana and All-Big 8 Conference honoree led her team to a conference title in 2018 as she hit eight home runs and posted 111 strikeouts.

Allie Goodin is a senior at Mater Dei High School (Evansville, Indiana) where she has earned letters in basketball and softball. Goodin, whose older sister, Emily, pitches for Indiana University, earned All-State honors as a junior in 2018 and is a three-time All-City and two-time All-Conference honoree. She helped MDHS to a state championship during her freshman year in 2016.

Rachel Martinez is finishing up her final year at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, Illinois, where she competed in softball, swimming and volleyball. She earned Pioneer Preps All-Area honorable mention as a freshman in 2016 and was a junior in 2018, while helping FHS to back-to-back regional titles in 2017 and 2018.

Jordan Rager is a senior at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Indiana, where she is has earned letters in softball. An Indy Star All-USA Indianapolis-Area Super Team honorable mention selection in 2018, Rager is career .384 hitter with 12 home runs, 29 doubles and 77 RBIs during her first three years at HSHS. In 2018, Rager hit .406 with 14 doubles, nine home runs and 38 RBIs.

Emma Tucher is in her final year at New Palestine High School, where she earned varsity letters in softball and volleyball. A member of two straight IHSAA Class 3A championship teams, Tucher hit .397 with 20 RBIs and 35 runs scored as a junior in 2018. She hit .400 with 10 RBIs and 25 runs scored as a sophomore in 2017.

“We are excited to welcome this group to USI and our softball family,” Kunkle said. “It is a strong and versatile class that provides us offensive and defensive firepower in addition to depth at all positions on the field and speed on the bases.

“Allie and Brooklyn are nice additions to our pitching staff who bring offensive power to our lineup,” Kunkle said. Jordan and Anna also are powerful hitters that will impact our infield, while Emma and Rachel are fast, versatile and smart players that will immediately help offensively and defensively.

USI is coming off its first-ever national title and back-to-back regional championships. The Eagles open the 2019 season February 8 when they take on Young Harris College at the University of Alabama-Huntsville Charger Chillout.

Evansville improves to 5-0 at the Ford Center

Just five days after setting his University of Evansville scoring mark with 21 points, graduate transfer Shea Feehan erupted for 29 points as the Purple Aces erased a 17-point deficit in the first half to defeat Ball State by a final of 89-77 on Sunday afternoon in the Ford Center.

“I hit a few shots in the first half and tried to stay aggressive and keep it going in the second half,” Feehan said.

Feehan went 13-of-14 from the free throw line while adding four 3-pointers in the UE (5-4) win.  He was one of five double figure scorers for UE. K.J. Riley finished with 14 while Marty Hill scored 12, Evan Kuhlman posted 11 and John Hall recorded 10.  Hall also led all players with 10 rebounds as he had his second double-double of the season.

“We showed some fight today and that made me feel good.  The crowd was awesome. I noticed that from the beginning of the game, we are grateful to them; it helps our energy and really helps our players.  These guys are playing hard and the way we are playing is fun to watch. We’re building something really special,” Aces head coach Walter McCarty said.  “It feels good. I tell the guys we are good enough. We have enough to be successful. If we play our style, feel connected and play the way we are capable of, we can beat anybody.  This win definitely helps our confidence.”

Four Ball State (6-4) players recorded double figures, led by Tahjai Teague, who had 17.  Tayler Persons, Trey Moses and K.J. Walton finished with 16, 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Evansville notched the opening basket of the game before Ball State scored nine straight to open up a 9-2 lead.  Shea Feehan, who had 16 points in the opening 20 minutes, hit four in a row for the Aces to get within a possession.  With the Cardinals up 13-8, the Aces posted five in a row including a trey from John Hall.

Ball State went on another big run, reeling off nine in a row in a run that began with a Kyle Mallers three.  They shot 58.6% in the opening period and led by as many as 17 at 43-26 with 2:46 remaining. At that point, UE changed course.  Over the final moments of the half, the Aces went on an 11-2 run to cut the BSU lead to eight (45-37) at the break. Feehan drilled a three with a minute left and was able to draw a foul on another long range attempt with one second remaining.  He hit all three tries to make it a manageable 8-point game at the break.

Feehan explained how the coaching staff helped their mindset to make that run.

“We came together, got a stop and played better as a team,” he explained.  “In the under 4 timeout of the first half, we were down 14-15 points and Coach McCarty said let’s get it down to 7 or 8 at the half and we were able to do that.”

John Hall said that his team took the first meeting this season along with the opening moments of today’s game to heart and used that to their advantage.

“They punched us in the face at their place two weeks ago and we lost,” Hall stated.  “This week – they punched us in the face and we punched back even harder.”

Out of the half, Evansville kept the pressure on.  Feehan hit three more from the line as the Aces scored the first six of the period to cut their gap to just two at 45-43.  Following a Cardinal bucket, the Aces scored four more to tie it up at 47-47. Four minutes in, Evan Kuhlman connected on a field goal to give the Aces a 49-47 lead, their first lead since 2-0.

The run continued.  Feehan’s big day continued when another trey capped off an 11-0 run that gave the Aces a 54-47 lead.  John Hall got in on the outside shooting when hit triple pushed the Evansville lead to double figures at 60-49.  Shamar Givance helped it balloon to 16 points when his back-to-back field goals made it a 70-54 contest with 8:42 left in the game.  In total, the Evansville run was a 44-11 stretch, going back to the first half.

“We went on a really good run as a team,” Feehan commented after the game.  “I don’t know if I have ever been on a team that made a run like that. We battled back.”

UE’s lead reached as many as 17 at 73-56, but more importantly – it never got below 11 – over the final portion of the game.  The Aces stood tall and finished with the 89-77 victory.

One stat that jumps out is the rebounding – which went in UE’s favor by a 42-34 final.  In the earlier meeting in Muncie, it went Ball State’s way by a 42-30 tally.

“I told our guys that we are tougher than what we have shown.  We do a lot of tough things in practice, but have not shown that in the games,” Coach McCarty said.  “We need our team to be all in on the defensive end. Our guys were really connected defensively today.  We made it tough on Ball State.”

After shooting 26.5% in the first half, the Aces scorched the nets in the final 20 minutes, hitting 18 out of 31 shots (58.1%).  For the game, UE shot 41.5% while Ball State finished out at 47.5%. Free throw shooting by Evansville was tremendous as the squad finished at 90% – 27 out of 30.

Evansville is now 5-0 at home and has another big contest at the Ford Center next weekend with Jacksonville State coming to town on Saturday for a 1 p.m. match-up.

“I have been telling the coaching staff that we have not seen what we can do yet.  We are going to have a night where we really make all of our shots,” McCarty added.