USI Softball selected 5th in OVC

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Newman named to 2023 OVC Softball Players to Watch List

EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Softball is projected to place fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference in a vote submitted by the league’s head coaches and communication directors. USI heads into its first season as an OVC member and NCAA Division I program.
 
The nine-team OVC will feature a schedule with each team playing each other in one three-game series for a 24-game conference schedule from March 11 through May 7. The conference’s season concludes with the OVC Softball Championship Tournament taking place in Oxford, Alabama March 10-14.
 
The University of Tennessee at Martin was projected first in the OVC preseason poll with 123 points and 11 first-place votes. Southeast Missouri State University was selected second with 119 points and seven first-place votes. Tennessee Tech University rounded out the top three with 91 points.
 
Eastern Illinois University was picked fourth with 86 points ahead of Southern Indiana in fifth with 70 points. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville earned 61 points for a projected sixth-place finish. Lindenwood University was picked seventh with 45 points while Tennessee State University (30) and Morehead State University (23) round out the preseason poll.
 
As part of the OVC’s preseason announcement, sophomore pitcher Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) represented USI on the 2023 OVC Softball Preseason Players to Watch List. Coming off a standout, freshman season in the circle in 2022, Newman went 17-3 with a 1.74 ERA and 185 strikeouts in 144.2 innings pitched. Newman made 21 starts in 31 appearances, recording 12 complete games and six shutouts with one no-hitter. The right-hander held opposing batters to a .171 batting average.
 
Newman’s 185 strikeouts were third in the NCAA II Great Lakes Valley Conference and 29th in the nation. Plus, her four saves last season ranked first in the GLVC and 14th nationally. Additionally, Newman was a Schutt Sports/NFCA Division II Freshman of the Year finalist, named second-team All-GLVC, voted second-team All-Region by D2CCA, and earned Academic All-GLVC laurels.
 
The 2023 USI squad features 19 players – 12 returning players and seven newcomers, beginning its 22nd season under the leadership of Head Coach Sue Kunkle, who has a 628-420-1 career record. The 2022 GLVC Coach of the Year has her squad primed to make the jump, however, as her squad is coming off a historic 2022 season that saw the Eagles go 49-13 overall and 26-2 in GLVC play. Her staff was named NCAA II Midwest Region Coaching Staff of the Year for the third time after the Eagles won the GLVC regular-season, GLVC Tournament, and NCAA II Midwest Region titles, marking the first time in program history USI has won all three championships in the same season.

Additionally, Kunkle’s Eagles set numerous records including the most wins in a single season, the most GLVC wins in a single season, and the best start to GLVC play (16-0). USI, which had its best 40-game stretch (37-3) in program history, tied the program record for consecutive wins (18) and set program records for triples (28), runs (353), RBI (327), and doubles (96).
 
Alongside Newman in the circle, USI also returns sophomore pitcher Hailey Gotshall (Lucerne, Indiana) and senior utility pitcher Allie Goodin (Evansville, Indiana). Gotshall was 8-1 with 38 strikeouts last season, posting a 2.96 ERA in 68.2 innings pitched. Gotshall made 10 starts in 20 appearances. Goodin tallied a 16-4 record with a 2.03 ERA in 144.2 innings, striking out 96 hitters. Goodin made 26 starts in 30 appearances, going the distance in 11 games. Goodin earned second-team All-Midwest Region honors from both the D2CCA and the NFCA and was a unanimous first-team All-GLVC selection last year.
 
Goodin was just as good in the box, batting .350 with eight home runs and 37 RBIs. The senior posted a 1.030 OPS in her junior season. Also, back in the Screaming Eagles’ lineup with Goodin is junior infielder Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana). Fair recorded a .389 batting average with a team-best 13 home runs and 56 RBIs. Fair also scored 41 runs, hit 20 doubles and three triples, and posted a 1.230 OPS while starting all 62 games in 2022. The Greenwood, Indiana native collected second-team All-Region by D2CCA, second-team All-GLVC, and Academic All-GLVC last season.
 
Opening day for the Screaming Eagles in 2023 will be February 10 at the Elon Softball Classic when USI opens against Winthrop University. USI will play five games from Elon, North Carolina to begin the 2023 campaign. Southern Indiana will start conference play March 11-12 at Morehead State before hosting its home-opening series from USI Softball Field March 18-19 against Lindenwood University.
 
2023 OVC Softball Predicted Order of Finish
(as voted on by the league’s head coaches and communication directors)

  1. UT Martin (11 first-place votes) – 123
  2. Southeast Missouri (Seven first-place votes) – 119
  3. Tennessee Tech – 91
  4. Eastern Illinois – 86
  5. Southern Indiana – 70
  6. SIUE – 61
  7. Lindenwood – 45
  8. Tennessee State – 30
  9. Morehead State – 23

 
2023 OVC Softball Players to Watch
Morgan Lewis, Eastern Illinois
Amanda Weyh, Lindenwood
Madeline Gailor, Morehead State
Paige Halliwill, Southeast Missouri
Lauren Yslava, SIUE
Josie Newman, Southern Indiana
Maria Mauroschadt, Tennessee State
Haeli Bryson, Tennessee Tech
Kallie Pickens, UT Martin

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