Within the League
As the conference heads into the final week of league play, UNI has secured their title as the MVC Regular Season Champions. All eleven remaining schools will battle it out in this last week of competition to earn their seed in the MVC tournament. The MVC Softball Championship will be held at SIU’s Charlotte West Softball Field in Carbondale, Illinois, May 10-13th.
Softball Tournament Seed Ranges
UNI 1
Missouri State 2-4
Illinois State 2-5
Murray State 2-6
Indiana State 3-6
Southern Illinois 4-6
Belmont 7-10
Drake 7-10
Evansville 7-11
Bradley 7-12
UIC 9-12
Valpo 10-12
Weekend Series Matchups
Indiana State at Valparaiso
Missouri State at Murray State
Evansville at UNI
Belmont at Bradley
Southern Illinois at Illinois State
UIC at Drake
Among the National Leaders
Jordy van der Werf from Bradley remains first in the nation for Caught Stealing By with 23 on the season. Teammate, Grace French, ranks 3rd for doubles with 17 and 13th for doubles per game with (.33). Evansville’s Megan Brenton ranks 22nd for earned run average. Alexis Pupillo earns the 23rd spot for batting average with .431. UNI ranks 3
rdnationally for doubles per game and 18
th for batting average. Illinois State also ranks 12th for fielding percentage (.978).
Top 25 Freshmen of the Year
The NFCA and Tucci released their Top 25 Freshmen in NCAA Division 1 Softball, and the Missouri Valley Conference has three representatives. Maya Johnson from Belmont makes the list earning Belmont’s first program honoree. The shortstop from Southern Illinois, Jackie Lis, earns her spot. The final honoree is Alexis Pupillo, a catcher from Northern Iowa.
On May 11, the list will be trimmed to the top 10 and the three finalists will be released on May 25, and as previously mentioned, the winner will be revealed on May 30. The list of 25 was selected by the NFCA. The top 10, top three and winner are voted on by the NFCA Division I All-America Committee. Nominated student-athletes remain in consideration for Top-10 selection.
RPI Update
The NCAA RPI report from Monday has three MVC teams ranked in the Top 100 and six teams in the Top 130. Missouri State leads the conference at 77th. Southern Illinois follows right behind in 78th and the UNI Panthers come in at the 86th slot. Indiana moves up to 111th in the poll. The Bruins of Belmont rank 117th, Murray State comes in at 119th. The MVC stays at 15th in the latest conference RPI rankings with a rating of 98.6.
Career Milestone
Missouri State softball’s 4-3 victory over Southern Illinois last Wednesday (4/26) afternoon at Killian Stadium proved to be a historic one. The win marked head coach Holly Hesse’s 900th career victory and it secured an undefeated home season (15-0) for the Bears, which was a Killian Stadium first. Hesse becomes just the 18th active head coach in NCAA DI with at least 900 wins. The victory also extended MSU’s home win streak to 18 games, which ranks third in NCAA Division I trailing only Oklahoma (53) and South Dakota State (24).
Belmont
Belmont University Softball started the weekend defeating Drake, 2-1, Friday night from E.S. Rose Park.Starting pitcher
Emma Summers delivered her second consecutive sterling performance on the mound, giving up no earned runs in a complete game, three-hitter to earn her 10
th victory of the season. Belmont University Softball dropped a 9-4 decision to Drake Saturday afternoon from E.S. Rose Park. Despite showcasing balanced hitting throughout the lineup, Belmont University Softball dropped an 8-4 decision to Drake Sunday from E.S. Rose Park in the weekend series finale.
Bradley
Bradley picked up two wins over UIC this weekend, its second series win in two weeks. Grace French picked up two wins over the weekend, throwing two complete games. The Braves' bats were hot as they collected 28 hits in the three games. Freshman Austin Comstock picked up the first home run of her career in the third game, also adding on a double and three RBI. Jordy van der Werf had a big weekend, hitting .500 across the three games. Addie Welsh picked up another homer on the season, bringing her total to four. Abbott Badgley also stepped up in the second game, collecting one single, one double and two RBI. The Braves will host Belmont this weekend to end the regular season.
Drake
The Bulldogs continued their solid play on the road this season, winning two of three games at Belmont. 10 of the Bulldogs’ 16 wins have come away from home this year. Drake fought back after dropping their first-ever meeting with Belmont on Friday (Apr. 28) to win the final two installments and close the weekend with a mini winning streak. Drake will return to the state of Iowa for their final road contest of the season this week, a road tilt at Iowa State on Wednesday, May 3.
Evansville
12-Game Hit Streak – Recording at least one hit in all four games over the last week, Marah Wood extended her hit streak to 12 games. It is the longest streak for the Purple Aces since Eryn Gould had a 12-game streak of her own in 2019. Should she extend it to a 13
th game, it would match Chandra Parr’s mark from 2015. For Wood, it is her longest streak in her college career as she registered a hit in eight consecutive games in 2022.
Illinois State
Illinois State took the series over Evansville 2-1 this weekend. The Redbirds return home for their final regular season series as they host Southern Illinois on May 5-7. While Sunday will be Illinois State’s senior day celebration, Saturday will be a celebration for former head coach Melinda Fischer and she is set to throw out the first pitch. Illinois State will look to close the regular season on a high-note against the Salukis this upcoming weekend.
Indiana State
Indiana State won three out of four games last week, defeating Evansville in a midweek contest to win the season series over the Aces as well as a series win over Missouri State. The series win over the Bears was the Sycamores first series victory over MSU since 2014 and Sunday’s victory gave Indiana State 14 MVC wins which is the most Valley wins in program history. One of the top hitters in the Valley, Isabella Henning continued her strong season at the plate, hitting a pair of home runs to add to her team-leading total. Annie Tokarek hit a solo home run during Sunday’s game against Missouri State to move into second all-time at Indiana State for home runs in a career with 26. Tokarek also eclipsed 100 career RBIs over the weekend which is fourth-most in program history.
Missouri State
Missouri State’s 4-3 win over Southern Illinois last Wednesday was a historic one as Bears head coach Holly Hesse captured her 900
th career victory and MSU went undefeated (15-0) at home for the first time in program history. Hesse became the 18
th active head coach in NCAA Division I with at least 900 wins. Meanwhile, the Bears extended their home win streak to 18 games, a streak that ranks third in NCAA Division I behind only Oklahoma (56) and South Dakota State (24). Missouri State’s McKenzie Vaughan also broke a record last week as she set the MSU single-season home run record after knocking her 13
th homer of the season on Saturday at Indiana State. MSU will head back out on the road to close out the regular season with a three-game series at Murray State.
Murray State
Murray State went 2-2 in the week. The Racers on their midweek game against Belmont 1-0 with a walk off home run to sweep the series before losing 1-2 in series at Southern Illinois. Murray State softball win game three against Belmont as Gracie Osbron hit a walk-off home run to put the Racers up 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Racers and Bruins went all six innings without budging an inch. Bre Haislip threw six innings without giving up a hit before Hannah James came in the top of the sixth inning. James posted three strikeouts out of the seven batters faced.Murray State softball capitalized on Saluki errors in the second inning to get on the board early. Adison Hicks added a run with a sacrifice fly to score Shelby Durbin home. Gracie Osbron and Lindsey Carroll put the nail in the coffin on the fourth inning. Osbron hit a double to the right center on her second at bat before Lindsey scores her home with an RBI double to make it 4-0 for the Racers. Hannah James kept the Salukis silent through seven innings. Taking the win with four strikeouts while only allowing five hits and a run. Murray State softball drops game two at Southern Illinois as they struggle to find offense in a 0-1 loss. The Salukis got an early lead as Aubree DePron hit an RBI single in the second inning and held on to the lead. Lily Fischer got the Racers' only hit of the game with a double to right center field on her first pitch. Jenna Veber threw all six innings while only allowing four hits, one run, and a walk. Vs. Southern Illinois Three Murray State softball lost 11-12 in a back-and-forth series rubber match against Southern Illinois Sunday. The Racers found early offense as Lindsey Carroll hit an RBI single and advanced by an error to score Lily Fischer home in the first. Taylor Jackson then adds another run with a grounder to left field, scoring Jadyn Thompson. Southern Illinois answered quickly with two runs in the bottom of the first before adding four more runs in the second inning. After a quiet third inning, MSU had a big eight-run inning to get back on top. Carroll rang the offensive bell with a solo home run in the first pitch of her second at-bat. Taylor Jackson and Aily Schyck both hit singles before Baily Broemmer walked to load the bases for Bre Haislip to hit a two-run RBI double to make it 5-6. Erin Lackey bunted to run Broemmer home and tie the game before Lily Fischer hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Haislip home. Thompson walked in the next at-bat to load the first base with Lackey at third. Gracie Osbron hits a three-run home run to make it 10-6 at the end of the fourth inning. Southern Illinois answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth, but Carroll hit an RBI single in the sixth inning to take the run back. The Salukis followed it up with a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game. SIU clinched the game with a walk-off RBI single.
Northern Iowa
For the first time in program history the Panthers are back-to-back MVC Regular Season Champions. UNI clinched a share of the 2023 title on Saturday in their 9-0 run-rule victory of the Valparaiso Beacons. The title became solely the Panthers the next day as the Missouri State Bears fell to the Indiana State Sycamores 6-5, giving UNI the number one spot. The Panthers now have 4 MVC Regular Season Titles from 2023, 2022, 2017, and 2012. UNI will look to wrap up the regular season with an almost perfect conference record, hosting the Evansville Aces for three games this weekend. The Panthers also have their final non-conference game of the season on Wednesday afternoon against the in-state Iowa Hawkeyes.
Southern Illinois
The Southern Illinois Salukis split their four-game week going 2-2 but came away with a pair of series wins after winning the first two games against Missouri State back in March to open conference play and winning its last two against Murray State over the weekend. Madi Eberle led the Dawgs to a shutout win on Saturday as she allowed just one hit in the 1-0 win. Sunday’s game was quite the opposite from Saturday as the Salukis won in a back-and-forth 12-11 thriller that ended in a Elizabeth Warwick walk-off in the bottom of the seventh inning. Jackie Lis brought in eight of SIU’s 12 runs on Sunday including two home runs as she now holds the SIU single-game record for RBIs with eight. Previously in the week, Lis broke the SIU single-season home run record as she went 3-for-3 with three home runs at Missouri State in the midweek matchup.
UIC
The Flames finished last week going .500 beginning with a win against Valparaiso Tuesday, 7-6. Winning it on a walk-off sacrifice fly off the bat of junior Larissa Villa and a career-high three RBI performance from sophomore Jojo Santiago. The second win for the Flames came on Saturday, behind a 6.2 inning pitching performance from senior Christina Toniolo and a save from junior Miranda Gomez. Junior Anna Walker hit her second homerun of the season against the Braves that game, complimented by a two RBI double from junior Emma Crowley.
Valparaiso
Regi Hecker continued her strong recent performance at the plate last week in Valpo's four games, going 6-for-12 with four RBIs and picking up at least one hit in all four contests. Over the last two weeks, Hecker is now hitting .440 (11-for-25) and has at least one hit in eight of nine games, including three multi-hit games. Her season batting average has gone up 40 points to .296 over the last two weeks.
This week's Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week is Jackie Lis of Southern Illinois, the Pitcher of the Week is Samantha Heyer of UNI, and The Newcomer of the Week is Jackie Lis of Southern Illinois.
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Jackie Lis, Fr., INF, SIU
Jackie Lis put her name atop the SIU record books several times over the past week as she totaled five home runs and 11 RBIs. Going three-for-four with a pair of home runs against Murray State on Sunday, Lis’s game-tying grand slam in the bottom of the sixth not only broke the SIU single-game RBI record (8) but also gave Lis 108 total bases on the season, which marks the most in a single-season at Southern Illinois which was held by Colleen Holloway (104) in the 1992 season. In the midweek matchup at Missouri State earlier in the week, Lis went 3-for-3 with three solo home runs. With her third home run of the game at Missouri State, Lis broke the SIU single-season home run record, which was previously 14. After two more long balls against Murray, she now totals 17 home runs to lead the MVC. Lis has had two games with three home runs and three games with two home runs during the 2023 season.
Other Notable Performances: Alannah Cran (UIC), Gracie Osbron (MUR), McKenzie Vaughan (MSU), Carey Koenig (DU), Dayna Kennedy (ILS), Brooke Snider (UNI), Jordy van der Werf (BRAD)
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PITCHER OF THE WEEK:
Samantha Heyer, P, R-Jr., UNI (Charles City, Iowa)
It was a weekend of career highs and broken records for Samantha Heyer with two appearances in the circle last week. On Saturday afternoon in her first performance of the week, Heyer broke her own career-high for most strikeouts in a game, taking down 17 Beacon batters in seven innings of work. Heyer was a strikeout shy of tying the current season high of 18 strikeouts among all Division I pitchers but did break the Panthers record for most strikeouts in a season. After this week, Heyer has thrown a total of 239 strikeouts in 151 innings pitched, smashing the former record of 216 batters struck out set by Jennifer Berger back in 1982. Heyer currently ranks fourth among Division I pitchers for strikeouts on the season behind Montan Fouts of Alabama, Maddie Penta of Auburn, and Emma Lemley of Virginia Tech. Heyer is also in the Top 15 in the nation in strikeouts per seven innings (11.1) and victories (20). In 11 innings pitched this week, Heyer allowed just three hits, two runs, one earned run, and four walks while striking out 25 batters for a 0.64 ERA.
Other Notable Performances: Miranda Gomez (UIC), Hannah James (MUR), Megan Brenton (UE), Madi Eberle (SIU), Hannah Ross (ILS),
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:
Jackie Lis, Fr., INF, SIU
Jackie Lis put her name atop the SIU record books several times over the past week as she totaled five home runs and 11 RBIs. Going three-for-four with a pair of home runs against Murray State on Sunday, Lis’s game-tying grand slam in the bottom of the sixth not only broke the SIU single-game RBI record (8) but also gave Lis 108 total bases on the season, which marks the most in a single-season at Southern Illinois which was held by Colleen Holloway (104) in the 1992 season. In the midweek matchup at Missouri State earlier in the week, Lis went 3-for-3 with three solo home runs. With her third home run of the game at Missouri State, Lis broke the SIU single-season home run record, which was previously 14. After two more long balls against Murray, she now totals 17 home runs to lead the MVC. Lis has had two games with three home runs and three games with two home runs during the 2023 season.
Other Notable Performances: Larissa Ortiz (UIC), Bre Haislip (MUR), Jess Willsey (UE), Emma Dighton (DU), Alexis Pupillo (UNI)
(
PDF Release)