Softball

MVC Softball Weekly Notebook 4-28-26

This week's Missouri Valley Conference softball players of the week include Niki Bode of Evansville; Maya Johnson of Belmont; Grace Hollopeter of Valparaiso; and Reagan Towns of Murray State.

KEY LINKS
NCAA Stats & Ranking Summary
NCAA Softball Records
MVC Softball Record Book
MVC Standings / Stats / Schedule

Player of the Week
C Niki Bode, Evansville, Jr.
Bode batted an unreal .818 last week as she recorded nine hits in 11 at-bats. Her on-base percentage was even higher as a total of five walks gave her a final tally of .875. She added three RBI and two doubles. In the midweek contest at Northern Kentucky, Bode was a perfect 2-2 with two runs, two walks, a double, and RBI. She followed that up with another perfect effort in the series opener at UIC. Bode was 4-4 with two more runs and another double. Game two against the Flames saw her go 1-2 with two RBI, two walks, and two runs scored. She completed the weekend going 2-3 with her seventh run of the week and another walk.

Pitcher of the Week
Maya Johnson, Belmont, R-Sr.
Johnson picked up two wins against UNI over the weekend, as she had two complete games with 27 strikeouts. She allowed just one earned run. The redshirt senior leads the NCAA in strikeouts (331), strikeouts per 7 innings (13.1), strikeout to walk ratio (11.03), earned run average (.71) and is tied for first in shutouts (12). She surpassed 1000 career strikeouts in the second game of Murray State doubleheader becoming the 101st NCAA Division I player to reach the milestone and one of two active players currently at that mark. She currently sits at 1,120.

Newcomer of the Week
2B Grace Hollopeter, Valparaiso, Sr.
Hollopeter had a Senior Weekend to remember to help lead Valpo to a series win over Bradley, picking up multiple hits in all three games while scoring three runs and driving in eight. Hollopeter started the weekend by going 2-for-3 with four RBIs in the series-opening win, putting the Beacons in front for good with a three-run homer in the fifth inning. She went 2-for-2 with a run scored and a sacrifice in the middle game, and then recorded four RBIs for the second time on the weekend in the series finale - Hollopeter gave Valpo the lead at the time with a two-run double in the fifth inning, and then connected on a two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh in the final home game of her collegiate career.

Freshman of the Week
DP Reagan Towns, Murray State
Freshman Reagan Towns made an impact at the plate all weekend for the Racers from the DP position.  The Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., native recorded the first extra-base hit of her career, scoring two runs on a double, and added another RBI on a sacrifice fly. She hit .375 and had three RBI. The Racers swept Illinois State over the weekend and split a mid-week doubleheader against Southern Illinois.


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MVC HEADLINES
  • Belmont, which is receiving votes in this week's top-25 poll, leads the MVC in the NCAA RPI as the Bruins sit at No. 45.  Southern Illinois is next-best in the Conference (at 77).  Three other league schools are in the Top 150, with Illinois State (105), UNI (123), and Murray State (144). The MVC ranks 13th as a league in the NCAA conference rankings.
  • Megan Asher delivered a career performance in Indiana State’s 11-inning walk-off win over Drake, throwing 11.0 shutout innings, the longest outing of her career, while allowing just 4 hits, 0 walks, and recording a career-high 4 strikeouts. Asher retired the side in order five times and held Drake to a .108 average, anchoring a Sycamore defense that played error-free behind her. Her 11-inning gem marked season highs in innings pitched, strikeouts, and walks allowed (0), and capped a weekend in which ISU allowed only three total runs across the Drake series.
  • UIC's Jasmine Whorley finished the week with a 2-1 record after 21 innings pitched in four appearances. Whorley pitched three complete games. She struck out nine batters. Nina Pesare led the Flames for the week with a .417 AVG after going 5-for-12 between five games. She finished the week with two runs, two RBI, a .417 SLG%, and a .462 OB%. Emilia Bartholomew finished the week with a .400 AVG after going 2-for-5 in five games played. She finished the week with two runs, one double, a .600 SLG%, and a .400 OB%. 
  • Jayme Scheck from Drake had an impressive performance from the pitching circle this past weekend against Indiana State…The Palo, Iowa native went 1-1 on the weekend tossing 17.1 innings including a complete game victory in game one of the series...Scheck’s ERA from this past weekend was a staggering 0.53 allowing just one earned run over her two outings…She allowed 11 hits and picked up 10 strikeouts compared to just three walks as well...She set a season-high with six strikeouts in the series finale against the Sycamores on Sunday.
  • Southern Illinois had a light week last week as the Salukis split a midweek doubleheader with Murray State. Junior Amanda Knutson was SIU's top performer on offense, going 4-for-6 with two doubles and one run scored. Fellow juniors Mikaela Coburn and Emily Williams both had two hits each, while sophomore Hayden Kurtz hit her sixth home run of the year.
  • Valpo earned a walk-off win in the series finale against Bradley on a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh from Grace Hollopeter, the fifth time in the program's last 10 Senior Days that it has come away from the day with a walk-off victory. With Kim Rodas scoring the game-winning run, this was the second time that seniors had accounted for both the game-winning run and the game-winning RBI on the Senior Day walk-off.
  • Evansville freshman Ashtyn Holbrook completed the week batting .333 while recording two RBI and a run. She started the week going 1-3 with an RBI in the victory at Northern Kentucky. Game two at UIC saw her go 1-1 with a run before she finished the week with a 1-4 effort and another RBI in the series finale against the Flames. Holbrook recorded three hits in nine at-bats for the week.
  • Senior Nicole Hughes of Belmont hit .370 with 2 RBI, three runs scored, four hits, and a double. She now has 201 career hits surpassing Belmont softball’s all-time career hit record (197). Freshman Lydia Vanderwoude hit .261, which included a home run, two doubles, 2 RBIs, a stolen base, and three runs.
  • Bradley's Morgan Schlosser hit .467 across five games this week, highlighted by a 3-for-4 performance against Western Illinois that included a game-tying three-run home run to lift the Braves to a midweek win. She reached base and scored in every game, finishing with seven hits and six runs scored.
  • Murray State's Ailey Schyck was a consistent threat at the plate all weekend in the Racers' sweep over Illinois State, batting .857 on the weekend.  The senior recorded six hits in seven at-bats while slugging 1.429 and only failed to get on base once on the weekend.  Schyck homered in the series finale and hit a double in the series opener to help spur the Racers on to a 13-7 win.  
  • Freshman Morgan Calhoun of Illinois State led the Redbirds with a .571 batting average (8-for-14) with three doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored. She went 3-for-3 in the series finale against the Racers with a double and one run scored. Taylor Liebelt batted .333 (4-for-12) with two home runs, one walk, six RBIs and four runs scored. Liebelt went 2-for-4 with two home runs in the series opener against Murray State.
  • Skylar Benesh led UNI last week with a .643 batting average, including nine hits and two runs in 14 at-bats. Benesh finished UNI's four-game week with a home run and two doubles, totaling 14 bases for a 1.000 slugging percentage. In the Panthers' Valley series against top-seeded Belmont,  she batted .700 against the Bruins who were receiving votes in the NFCA Top 25, with seven hits and two runs in 10 at-bats. She posted a 1.200 slugging percentage in the three-game series with 12 total bases and a home run. The sop[homore broke UNI's single-season runs record with her 59th run of the season on a home run in game two against Belmont.