This week's Missouri Valley Conference softball players of the week include Emily Williams of Southern Illinois; Maya Johnson of Belmont; Peyton Johnson of UNI; and Emi Jeras of Indiana State.

Player of the Week
DP Emily Williams, Jr., Southern Illinois
Williams had a massive week for the Salukis in their three-game sweep of Bradley. Williams posted a .750 batting average, 2.250 slugging percentage, four home runs, 10 RBI, and four runs. The junior homered in all three games and had two home runs in game two of the series. Williams recorded at least three RBI in each game of the weekend, including four in game one. The Louisville, Ky., native went 6-for-8 in the series and a perfect 3-for-3 in her final appearance of the weekend. Williams' 2.917 OPS  led the team.

Pitcher of the Week
RHP Maya Johnson, Sr., Belmont
Johnson had another dominant week for the Bruins, recording two complete-game shutout wins against Evansville. She surrendered just four total hits in 14 innings of work while striking out 35 batters. She surrendered no earned runs in a 2-0 week.  (Earlier this week, Johnson was named a National Pitcher of the Week for the third time this season.

Newcomer of the Week
OF Peyton Johnson, Jr., UNI
Johnson recorded a .364 batting average with four hits, four runs, and seven RBIs in 11 at-bats (with six walks). She had a .636 slugging percentage in UNI's 4-1 weekend with a home run and seven total bases.

MVC Freshman of the Week:
C Emi Jeras, Fr., Indiana State
Jeras put together a dominant weekend at the plate to lead Indiana State to a series victory over UIC. The freshman catcher homered in all three games of the series, totaling three home runs and nine RBIs over the weekend. Jeras was the essential key for the Sycamore offense in Friday’s nightcap, launching a three-run home run in the first inning and later adding a two-run double to finish with a career-high five RBIs in the run-rule win. She continued her power surge in the series finale on Saturday, hitting a two-run home run in the first inning to spark a four-run frame that paved the way for the series-clinching victory. Jeras finished the weekend with a .500 average (5-for-10), a 1.500 slugging percentage and accounted for over 40% of the team's total RBIs in the series.


In the March 16 NCAA RPI Report, Belmont leads three Missouri Valley Conference teams among the Top 100.  The Bruins rank No. 38 on the strength of a 2-3 record against Top-25 RPI teams. Southern Illinois is 77, and Illinois State is 83.  The league is rated 12th among Division I conferences.

Valpo sophomore Madison Vrastil tied the program's record for runs scored in a single game twice in a three-day span last week, scoring four runs in the Friday nightcap at Murray State and the Sunday opener at IU Indy. She is just the third player in program history to score four runs on multiple occasions.

Illinois State's Morgan Calhoun started all four games in the DP spot this past week, which included a single contest against Iowa and a three-game series sweep over Drake. The freshman batted .500 (6-for-12) with two home runs, two RBIs, three walks and six runs scored with a 1.000 SLG% and .600 OBP%. In game two against Drake, Calhoun went 2-for-3 with a home run, a walk, an RBI and three runs scored in the 8-5 win. 

Evansville's Brooke Voss has enjoyed a stellar start to the 2026 season and is near the top of the MVC in multiple statistical categories. Those rankings include home runs (T-10th | 4), total bases (10th | 44), slugging percentage (13th | .603), runs (T-21st | 16), extra-base hits (T-12th | 10)

UNI's Kate Lappe finished the Panthers’ 4-1 weekend with a .583 batting average, with seven hits, six runs, and five RBIs in 12 at-bats and seven walks. The senior tallied a 1.000 slugging percentage with two doubles and a home run to go along with 12 total bases in her five starts. Lappe was 4-for-5 (.800) with runners in scoring position and a 9-for-11 (.818) success at advancing runners.

Cameran Rios of UIC finished the week with a .545 AVG, going 6-for-11 with 3 runs, 2 RBI, a double, a home run, a .909 SLG%, and one stolen base.  Rios doubled in the Flames 14-2 victory over Indiana State. Rios hit her second homer of the year, and her career, on Saturday for the Flames lone run in game two of the weekend

Valpo's Mack Gallagher slashed .316/.440/1.000 for the week, with four of her six hits being home runs - all of which were multi-run homers as she tallied 11 RBIs for the week. She delivered a two-run homer in the nightcap at NKU which tied that game in the fifth inning, while her two-run shot got Valpo out to an early first-inning lead in the Friday nightcap at Murray State. Gallagher stood out Sunday in the doubleheader sweep at IU Indy, delivering a two-run homer in the sixth inning to give the Beacons the lead for good and adding a three-run homer in the nightcap. Gallagher reached base in all seven games on the week, extending her season-opening on-base streak to 26 straight games - second-longest by a Valpo player in the last two decades.

Kynadee Warner of Murray State hit .500 across 12 at bats in a weekend series against Valparaiso. The sophomore recorded 2 RBI including the winning run in game two on Friday. In addition to her six singles, Warner added a stolen base.

Belmont OF Lizzie Ozim had a career-high 7 RBIS and 2 home runs in second game vs Evansville.

Southern Illinois freshman Hailey Lucas tossed a complete game in SIU's 7-2 win over Bradley on March 13. Lucas allowed just two hits, two runs (one earned), and one walk with eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings pitched. The eight strikeouts are tied for a career-high and are the most the freshman has had in a game since Feb. 12 against Long Beach State. Bradley hitters had a combined batting average of .087 against Lucas on Friday in game one of the series.

Lauren Sackett of Indiana State threw 21 innings across three appearances last week. Sackett began her week with a gritty performance at Purdue, where she tossed a 9.2-inning complete game, striking out 12 batters and holding the Boilermakers scoreless from the second through the ninth inning.

Murray State's Karlye Graber pitched 17 total innings and appeared in all three games against Valparaiso. She posted an ERA of 1.24 and notched a pair of wins while striking out ten and allowing just 16 hits.

Illinois State's Paige McLeod appeared in all four games for the Redbirds and went 2-0 with one save. Over 12 innings pitched, the junior allowed two earned runs on six hits and struck out eight for an ERA of 1.17. She threw a six-inning complete game shutout against the Bulldogs in the first game of the series , giving up just two hits while striking out a season-high five batters. 

SIU junior catcher Sydney Potter continued her strong first season as a Saluki in SIU's three-game sweep of Bradley. Potter hit for a .400 batting average, .455 on-base percentage, .800 slugging percentage, and had one home run, four RBI, one double, one walk, and three runs. The junior hit her league-leading 12th home run of the season in game two of the weekend where she also had three RBI. On the defensive side, Potter recorded her fourth caught stealing of the year in game three.

UIC's Grace Taylor hit .667 last week, going 4-for-6 with 1 run, 3 RBI, one double, one home run, and a 1.333 SLG %. Taylor hit a 2-run homer in the Flames 14-2 victory over Indiana State on Friday in game one.

Ava Boyer hit .455 (5-for-11) for the Redbirds with a double, a triple, a home run (first of her career), three walks, three RBIs and two runs scored for a 1.000 SLG% and .571 OBP%. She also led the team with nine assists on defense with a perfect 1.000 FLD%.