Regular-season champion Southern Illinois highlights the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference softball awards, as Saluki student-athletes earned three of the league's top honors: Defensive Player of the Year (Anna Carder), Newcomer of the Year (Emily Williams) and Coaching Staff of the Year. Second-seeded Belmont had two players earn specialty awards: Pitcher of the Year (Maya Johnson) and Freshman of the Year (Rylee Spindler). The Most Valuable Player honors went to Kate Lappe of UNI.
Most Valuable Player: Kate Lappe, UNI
Most Valuable Pitcher: Maya Johnson, Belmont
Defensive Player of the Year: Anna Carder, Southern Illinois
Newcomer of the Year: Emily Williams, Southern Illinois
Freshman of the Year: Rylee Spindler, Belmont
Coaching Staff of the Year: Southern Illinois (Jen Sewell, Mary Jo Firnbach, Laurin Watts)
The league's Most Valuable Player is UNI's Kate Lappe. She led the league in batting with a 0.506 average, slugging percentage (1.114), and on-base percentage (.619) in conference play. In MVC games, Lappe had a league-best 40 hits, 25 walks, and tied best 13 homers with a second-best 31 RBI.
Belmont's Maya Johnson earned the league's Most Valuable Pitcher award. During MVC games, Johnson led the conference in ERA (1.24), opposing batting average (.168), strikeouts (214), and tied for first with 14 wins. Johnson's 214 strikeouts is the second highest in a conference season in MVC history. Nationally, Johnson led all Division I pitchers in strikeouts (320) and shutouts (11). Her teammate Rylee Spindler earned the MVC's Freshman of the Year award. Spindler had a .383 batting average, .485 on-base percentage, and 20 runs scored in league play.
SIU's Anna Carder earned Defensive Player of the Year. Carder has caught four players stealing, while only allowed seven players to steal a base on her watch in MVC play. Her teammate Emily Williams earned the Newcomer of the Year. In league play, Williams tied for first in home runs (13), was second in slugging (.886), and led the league in RBI (45) in Conference games.
Southern Illinois, led by the Coaching Staff of the Year and head coach Jen Sewell, claimed its sixth regular-season MVC Championship. SIU has five total softball titles, with three tournament titles (2021, 2023, 2024) and now back-to-back regular-season titles (2024, 2025). The Salukis won the regular-season title with a 21-5 league mark.
All-MVC First Team
C Anna Carder, Southern Illinois
1B Emma Dighton, Drake
1B Abby Knight, Illinois State
2B Delainey Bryant, Illinois State
2B Skylar Benesh, UNI
3B Kate Lappe, UNI
3B Rylee Spindler, Belmont
SS Kylee Sanders, UNI
SS Jackie Lis, Southern Illinois
OF Emma Austin, Southern Illinois
OF Mikaela Coburn, Southern Illinois
OF Katy Huels, Murray State
P Maya Johnson, Belmont
P McKenzie Newcomb, Southern Illinois
DP/UT Addison McElrath, UNI
DP/UT Emily Williams, Southern Illinois
DP/P McKenzie Vaughan, Missouri State
All-MVC Second Team
C Niki Bode, Evansville
C Alexis Perales, Missouri State
1B Addi Baker, Southern Illinois
2B Kenley Minor, Murray State
3B Ashley Breeding, Bradley
SS Nicole Hughes, Belmont
OF Maddy Balsiger, Belmont
OF Ava Curry, Drake
OF Baie Ensio, Belmont
OF Morgan Goodrich, Indiana State
OF Kierston McCoy, Bradley
P Hailey Griffin, Indiana State
P Hannah Meshnick, Illinois State
P Anna Wischnowski, UNI
DP/UT Sami Miller, Drake
DP/P Sydney Kennedy, Bradley
DP/P Azalya Lopez, Valparaiso
MVC All-Defensive Team
Brenna Blume, Belmont
Addie Welsh, Bradley
Emma Dighton, Drake
Taylor Howe, Evansville
Sequoia Sanchez, UIC
Julia Larson, Illinois State
Lauren Marsicek, Indiana State
Emily Gerardy, Missouri State
Bailey Broemmer, Murray State
Ella Smithson, UNI
Anna Carder, Southern Illinois
Kim Rodas, Valparaiso
