St. Louis - Southern Illinois (20-4 in MVC softball) enters the final week with a chance to claim the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title as early as Friday. SIU's magic number to clinch and earn the MVC Tournament's top seed is two (any combination of SIU wins and UNI losses this week totaling two or more). SIU's four regular-season league titles ranks fourth best in league history, but the defending MVC Tournament champion has not won a league-regular season crown since 2010 (1991, 2004, 2005 are the others.)
UNI is in second place (16-5 in the MVC) and has secured no worse than the No. 3 seed for next week's tournament in Normal, Ill. (hosted by Illinois State). All 12 MVC teams qualify for the league championship, which will be played Wednesday-Saturday, May 8-11, at Marian Kneer Stadium.
Belmont is currently in third place in the MVC race as the Bruins hold a 15-9 mark. Belmont trails UNI by 2.5 games in the standings and will need a sweep at Drake plus three UNI losses at Valpo to climb into second place. The Bruins have a two-game lead over Bradley and Illinois State (co-holders of fourth place in the league race at 13-11).
The Salukis are 36-9 overall and continue to climb in the NCAA RPI ratings. SIU enters the week at No. 52; UNI is the league's next best at No. 65. Belmont, at No. 114, is just outside of the Top 100. SIU holds a winning record against the NCAA's Top 100 (6-5), while UNI leads the league with seven Top-100 victories this season. Last season, Missouri State led the league in RPI heading into the NCAA Tournament selections, at No. 76. Last year, three teams 40 or higher in the RPI earned at-large berths into the NCAA field [Texas State (40), Cal State Fullerton (41), and Notre Dame (45)].
In terms of NCAA statistical rankings, Southern Illinois ranks sixth in the nation in team earned run average (1.68). Murray State (30th, 2.47) and Belmont (34th, 2.52) also represent the Conference in the Top 50 in ERA. SIU's 13 shutouts this year lead the MVC and are 14th nationally. Belmont's strikeout to walk ratio (3.00) is 5th in the NCAA.
Individually, Maddia Groff of SIU ranks No. 2 in ERA (0.75). She trails only Stanford's NiJaree Canady (0.55). Groff's seven shutouts ranks 8th nationally, her strikeout to walk ratio (10.55) leads the nation., while her 211 whiffs are No. 4 nationally. She also leads the NCAA with 26 wins (tied with Texas State's Jessica Mullins).
Groff's 26 victories this year are tied for 12th all-time in MVC history. Tara Oltman of Creighton holds the league record (32 wins in 2010). Groff's current 0.75 ERA would rank 16th-best all-time in the league's single-season record book, but that figure is third best in the MVC this century (behind Katie Kloess of SIU, 0.57 in 2000 and Tammy Nielsen of Creighton, 0.67 in 2004).
Bradley's Sydney Kennedy (185.1 innings pitched) ranks third in that category, while Groff (176.2, 7th) and Murray State's Jenna Veber (171.1, 10th) are close behind.
Missouri State's Gracie Johnston leads the league and ranks 5th nationally with her 37 appearances this year. Johnston's seven saves is an MVC best and ranks No. 4 in the NCAA.
Player of the Week - Annie Mueller, Missouri State
Pitcher of the Week - Samantha Heyer, UNI
Newcomer of the Week - Abby Martin, Drake