Softball

MVC Weekly Softball Notebook (March 24)

This week's Missouri Valley Conference players of the week include Kate Lappe of UNI; Kate Ridgway of Evansville; Peyton Johnson of UNI; and Ari O’Connell of UIC.

KEY LINKS
National Statistics  |  Ranking Summary
NCAA Softball Record Book  |  MVC Softball Records (PDF)
MVC Standings  |  MVC Individual Stat Leaders  |  MVC Team Stat Leaders


Player of the Week
Kate Lappe, UNI
Lappe batted .556 on the week, with five hits in nine at-bats. She hit a pair of home runs against Valparaiso to go along with a triple and a double for 14 total bases and five RBIs, giving her a 1.556 slugging percentage on the weekend.

Pitcher of the Week
Kate Ridgway, Evansville
Ridgway tossed her second no-hitter of the season and picked up three victories. Over the course of 18.2 innings of work, Ridgway gave up just one earned run while striking out 16 batters. Ridgway began the week with a no-hitter versus Indiana State while striking out four batters in six innings. Friday’s opener against Murray State saw her toss another complete game shutout. In seven frames, Ridgway allowed six hits while fanning six batters. She earned win #3 of the week in game two versus the Racers. Entering in the top of the seventh in a tie game with the bases loaded, Ridgway got the final out before UE won in the bottom of the inning. Ridgway threw 5 1/3 innings of relief in Saturday’s finale allowing one run while striking out six.

Newcomer of the Week
Peyton Johnson, UNI
Johnson had a dominant weekend at the plate with a .600 batting average. The junior outfielder recorded six hits and two runs in 10 at-bats, and she also walked once. She drove in four runs and tallied eight total bases for a .800 slugging percentage.

Freshman of the Week
Ari O’Connell, UIC
O’Connell finished the week with a .500 AVG after going 4-for-8 with one run, six RBI, a triple, a homer, a 1.125 SLG %, and a .556 OB%  O'Connell's fifth homer of the year came in the first game of the series.

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MVC HEADLINES

Belmont leads a group of six MVC softball programs in the Top 150 of the RPI as the Bruins are 41 in the NCAA RPI report through games of March 22.  Illinois State (76) and Southern Illinois (81) also are in the Top 100. The league is 13th among 31 Division I conferences.

With two victories against the Beacons, UNI Coach Ryan Jacobs moved up to No. 5 on the Valley’s MVC wins list, passing Brent Vigness (CU, 1994-2013) with 282 Valley wins. Jacobs sits with 283 MVC victories and is one shy of Rich Calvert (DU, 2003-23) in the No. 4 spot with 284 league wins.

National Rankings - MVC Leaders
  • Team ERA -- Belmont (9th), 2.03
  • Fewest Hits Allowed/Per 7 Innings -- Belmont (7th), 4.85
  • Shutouts -- Belmont (6th), 10
  • Strikeout to Walk Ratio -- Belmont (2nd, 5.53)
  • Team Strikeouts/Per 7 Innings -- Belmont (1st), 11.03
  • Sacrifice Bunts -- UIC (8th), 26; Valparaiso (10th), 25
  • WHIP -- Belmont (5th), 0.98
  • Complete Games -- Maya Johnson, Belmont (1st), 15
  • Doubles Per Game -- Niki Bode, Evansville (12th), 0.43
  • ERA -- Maya Johnson, Belmont (1st), 0.57
  • Fewest Hits Allowed/Per 7 Innings -- Maya Johnson, Belmont (2nd), 2.79
  • Home Runs Per Game -- Sydney Potter, Southern Illinois (15th), 0.46
  • Innings Pitched -- Jasmine Whorley, UIC (10th), 106.2
  • Shutouts -- Maya Johnson, Belmont (1st), 8
  • Saves -- Hannah Meshnick, Illinois State (10th), 3
  • Stolen Bases -- Morgan Goodrich, Indiana State (7th), 21; Madison Vrastil, Valparaiso (12th), 20
  • Strikeout to Walk Ratio -- Maya Johnson, Belmont (1st), 14.50
  • Strikeouts -- Maya Johnson, Belmont (1st), 203 (14.5 per 7 innings)
  • WHIP -- Maya Johnson, Belmont (1st), 0.54
  • Victories - Maya Johnson, Belmont (5th), 14
  • Toughest to Strike Out -- Cameran Rios, UIC (15th), 47.0
 
  • Murray State's Parker Holcombe hit .571 across seven at-bats over the weekend at Evansville.  The junior led the team with three RBI on four hits, recorded one stolen base, and walked twice.  IN addition to her production at the plate, the shortstop had one putout and four assists on defense without recording a single error.
  • Larissa Ortiz led the UIC Flames with a .571 AVG for the week, going 4-of-7 with one run and six RBI with a .571 SLG% and a .500 OB%.
  • Over the course of Evansville’s five games last week, Morgan Adams batted .417 with five hits in 12 at-bats. She recorded three RBI while reaching on five walks. Her on-base percentage finished at .588.
  • Southern Illinois OF Maleah Blomenkamp's strong run in MVC play continued this past weekend at Illinois State. Blomenkamp hit for a .625 batting average, .727 on-base percentage, and .750 slugging percentage against the Redbirds. The outfielder tallied five hits, one double, two runs scored, one RBI, and three walks with just one strikeout
  • Bella Atkinson of Illinois State started all three games at third base against the Salukis this past weekend, batting .500 (4-for-8) with an RBI, two runs scored and HBP. Atkinson went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate in game three versus SIU with two runs scored, including the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh. On defense, Atkinson posted a 1.000 FLD% with a team-high seven assists.
  • Nicole Hughes of Belmont hit .375 last week with 2 home runs, 5 RBIs, 5 runs, 5 hits, 2 stolen bases, 2 walks, 1.000% fielding avg, .700 OB%
  • Morgan Goodrich of Indiana State led the team with a .500 batting average across three games against Power 5 competition. Goodrich opened the Ohio State Tournament with a 2-for-3 performance against the Buckeyes, where she also recorded her 20th stolen base of the season.
  • SIU freshman pitcher Brooklynn Danielson went 1-0 with a 2.00 ERA in two appearances against Illinois State this past weekend. Across 7.0 innings pitched, Danielson recorded nine strikeouts and allowed two runs, four hits, and three walks. In game two, the freshman fired a one-hit, complete-game shutout in SIU's run-rule victory over the Redbirds. Danielson, in 5.0 innings pitched, allowed just one hit, no runs, and one walk with six strikeouts.
  • Freshman Lauren Flowers of Illinois State appeared in two games and started one over the weekend against SIU. She led the Redbirds with a .600 batting average (3-for-5) including a double and the walk-off game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the seventh in game three.
  • Murray State's Allie Waldron finished the weekend with a batting average of .455 and led the team with five hits and two doubles on the weekend.  Recorded 11 putouts from the catcher position with two assists and a 1.000 fielding percentage.  
  • Sam Tourtillott finished the week with a .375 AVG after going 3-for-8 with four runs, one RBI, three doubles, a .750 SLG%, a .444 OB% and one stolen base for the UIC Flames.  Two of Tourtillott's doubles came in game one on 3/20 
  • Emma McDonald had a strong week for the Purple Aces batting .385 with five hits in 13 at-bats. She registered two RBI, two walks, and two runs while adding a double and triple. McDonald opened the week going 1-2 with a run and walk in Wednesday’s opener against Indiana State before going 2-3 with two RBI in game two. Her 2-run single in the fifth clinched the 10-2 victory. The sophomore added another 2-3 game in the opening game of the series against Murray State while scoring the first run of the game. Saturday’s finale saw her picked up a walk to complete the week with a .467 on-base percentage.
  • UNI's Anna Wischnowski picked up a pair of wins in two appearances and one start. Wischnowski pitched 10 innings, including a six-inning complete game, her seventh complete game of the season. She struck out six batters on the weekend.
  • Paige McLeod of Illinois State posted another dominant weekend in the circle, going 2-0 against the Salukis. In game one of the series on Friday, McLeod tossed a seven-inning complete game shutout, giving up four hits and walking zero en route to her 10th win in the circle this season. In game three, McLeod allowed two earned runs while matching her season-high with five strikeouts as the Redbirds claimed the 5-4 series win in walk off fashion.
  • Belmont's Maya Johnson went 2-0 with two complete game victories against Bradley.  She struck out 25 batters and surrendered just five hits in her 14 innings to improve to 14-1 on the season.
  • UIC's Jasmine Whorley picked up a win and a save against the Bulldogs over the weekend. She finished with a 3.68 ERA, pitched a complete game victory in game one on 3/20, pitched a total of 13.1 innings for the weekend, and struck out five batters.
  • Bre Haislip of Murray State finished the weekend with a 1.26 ERA across 16.2 innings, making one start and appearing as a reliever in the following two games at Evansville.  The senior allowed just three earned runs on the weekend while tallying ten strikeouts.
  • Valpo sophomore Madison Vrastil continued her recent hot streak at the plate in the series against UNI last weekend, going 5-for-9 with a pair of walks. Vrastil is on an eight-game hitting streak, picking up multiple hits in six of those eight contests, and is 16-for-31 at the plate over that stretch.
  • Drake won its series finale over UIC on Saturday as the offense exploded for nine runs behind three home runs, while Ava Husak tossed a complete game from the pitcher's circle. Husak ended up going the distance from inside the pitching circle and finished with a final line of five hits, two earned runs, one walk, and one strikeout for her first win of the season. She also led the Bulldogs on offense with a two-hit outing.