Blaine Kinsey
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind.—The Indiana State softball team is set to honor its three seniors as they wrap up their 2013 season with a three-game series against the Salukis of Southern Illinois this weekend at Price Field. Seniors Mackenzie Connelly, Alex Lucas, and Halee Myers will play their final doubleheader of their Sycamore careers on Saturday beginning at noon with senior day festivities taking place between games. The two teams will then play a single game at noon on Sunday. The Sycamores enter their final weekend with a 16-34 overall record and 5-19 in MVC play while the Salukis are 24-26 and 12-10 in MVC play. The Sycamores are coming off a 2-1 series win over the Purple Aces of Evansville last weekend while the Salukis fell in their previous game on Wednesday, 4-2 in eight innings to the Fighting Illini of Illinois. The Sycamores need just one stolen base this weekend to break the MVC record in stolen bases while junior Morgan Allee needs just one stolen base to tie the MVC single season stolen bases record of 37. Live stats for all games along with full box scores and recaps will be available online at GoSycamores.com. A free live audio stream will also be available online for all three games at GoSycamores.com.
Last Time Out
The Sycamores are coming off their first series win of the season this past weekend when they won the final two games against the Purple Aces of Evansville to win the series 2-1. As a team the Sycamores stole 11 total bases to tie the MVC record of 100 in a season while Morgan Allee needs just one more stolen base to tie the individual single season record. Senior Mackenzie Connelly finished the weekend 6-9 at the plate with a home run and three RBI's to lead the Sycamores while freshman Paige Schreiner was 3-9 with three doubles and three RBI's.
A Little History—Southern Illinois
The Sycamores and Salukis have previously met 83 times with the Salukis holding the 66-17 all-time series advantage. The two teams first met during the 1978 season with the Salukis defeating the Sycamores 4-0. Last season, the Sycamores won the opening game of the series 4-2 in Carbondale before falling 5-0 and 3-1 in the final two games.
Scouting The Salukis
The Salukis enter the weekend with a 24-26 overall record and 12-10 in MVC play, having last seen the field on Wednesday in a 4-2 extra inning loss to the Fighting Illini of Illinois. The Sycamores defeated the Fighting Illini 6-5 on April 3. The Salukis have been led this season by Morgan Barchan who is batting .359 with a .455 on base percentage and 81 total bases. Inside the circle for the Salukis, Brittney Lang leads the pitching staff with a 4.28 ERA and 12-15 record over her 188.0 innings pitched while striking out 137.
MVC Leaderboard
Many Sycamores are near the top of the MVC leaderboard in multiple statistical categories. Junior Morgan Allee leads the Valley with 36 stolen bases while freshman Alexa Cavin also leads all MVC players with 13 sacrifice bunts. As a team, the Sycamores lead the MVC in stolen bases with 100 and sacrifice bunts with 56 and are third in fielding percentage at .966. ISU is also third in the MVC in walks with 144 and third in hit by pitches with 31. Defensively the Sycamores lead the MVC in Fielding double plays with 21, with six more than second.
Making National Strides
At the eighth NCAA national softball statistical rankings release on Monday, April 29, the Sycamores had multiple players near the top of the national lists. Junior Morgan Allee was 7th in Division 1 in stolen bases per game and seventh overall in stolen bases with 36. Freshman Alexa Cavin also ranks 12th in Division1 in sacrifice hits per game with 13. As a team, the Sycamores are ranked 10th nationally in stolen bases per game and have 100 total and are 21st in double plays turned per game and have 21 overall.
Scoring Those Runners
In her third season as a Sycamore, junior Shelby Wilson is beginning to get comfortable at the plate and with an RBI single against UNI, she moved into the Top 10 in career RBI's at ISU with 64. Wilson recorded 10 RBI's her freshman year and 21 during her sophomore campaign before hitting 34 so far this season. The junior is just 25 RBI's away from the ISU record with one year left to play. On the seaosn, Wilson leads the Sycamores with a .376 batting average and 53 hits.
Moving On Up
Not only has the entire Indiana State softball team been a threat on the bases, junior Morgan Allee, has led the team as she now has 36 stolen bases through the 50 games the Sycamores have played. Allee needs just one stolen base to tie the Missouri Valley Conference record of 37 after recording three steals this past weekend. Allee is also 7th in NCAA Division 1 in stolen bases and fifth in stolen bases per game. Her 36 steals also broke the previous ISU record of 28 and despite only playing one year at ISU, she currently ranks 5th on the ISU career stolen bases list.
Team Records About To Fall
As the season draws to a close, the Indiana State softball team is on pace to break multiple ISU records and finish in the top five of many other categories. The Sycamores have already broken school records in stolen bases, hit by pitch, double plays turned, and are on pace to break the record for highest on base percentage and highest fielding percentage. The Sycamores are also on pace to finish in the top five at ISU in slugging percentage, runs scored, home runs, RBI's, total bases, walks and sacrifice flies.
Batting Average—.251 (7th)Slugging Percentage—.355 (3rd)
On Base Percentage—.341 (1st)Stolen Bases—100 (1st)
Home Runs—26 (2nd)Walks—144 (2nd)
Hit By Pitch—31 (1st)Sac Flies—8 (5th)
Runs Scored—180 (3rd)RBI's—149 (4th)
Double Plays Turned—21 (1st)Fielding Percentage—.966 (2nd)
Stolen Base Record Falls
With five stolen bases as a team on Wednesday, April 3 against Illinois, the Indiana State softball team brok a 14 year old school record as they tallied a total of 67 stolen bases. The previous record was set in 1999 when they stole 64. With a successful delayed steal by senior Mackenzie Connelly during Sunday's 4-2 series win over Evansville, the Indiana State softball team tied the Missouri Valley Conference record of 100 stolen bases in a single season. The Sycamores entered the weekend 11 steals away from tying the record but wasted not time as they stole eight bases during Saturday's doubleheader and three more on Sunday. On the season, a total of 12 different Sycamores have stolen a base with four players stealing double digit bases.
Turning Two
This past weekend against Northern Iowa, the Indiana State softball team broke its third school record of the season, this time in double plays turned. After turning two more against Evansville, the Sycamores have now turned 21 double plays on the season which leads the MVC with six more than second place. The Sycamores are also 21st nationally in double plays.
Walk This Way
The Sycamore batters have been extremely patient at the plate so far this season and as a team have received 144 walks, which ranks second all-time at ISU. Seven Sycamore batters have also recieved double digit walks in senior Halee Myers (15), sophomore Megan Stone (15), freshman Alexa Cavin (15), junior Shelby Wilson (18), sophomore Megan Bunting (12), sophomore Ashley Dickerson (13) and junior Morgan Allee (15). Last season as a team the Sycamores recieved 118 walks in 53 games.
First Career Home Runs
Just past the halfway point in the 2012-13 season, five different Sycamores have hit their first career home run's. Freshman Abbie Malchow hit her first home run during the finale of the series against Wichita State while junior Morgan Allee hit her first collegiate homer in the first game against Missouri State. Senior Halee Myers also hit her first home run of her collegiate career on Wednesday night in the Sycamores 6-5 win over Illinois. On April 9 against IUPUI, senior Alex Lucas also hit her first home run. Freshman Paige Schriender added her name to the list on April 25 when she hit her first career homer against Illinois State.
Using The Long Ball
So far this season, the Indiana State softball team has recorded 26 total home runs and is second on the ISU Team Records list, 9 away from first. The 26 home runs also is 12 more than the Sycamores season total from one year ago. Eight Sycamore players have accounted for ISU's home runs as sophomore Megan Stone leads and junior Shelby Wilson each have eight. Junior Morgan Allee has three home runs including an inside the park home run against UNI while freshman Abbie Malchow has two. Senior Halee Myers, senior Alex Lucas, senior Mackenzie Connelly and freshman Paige Schreiner each have one. Stone and Wilson's eight home runs also put them second on the single season records list, just three behind first and Stone's 10 career home runs rank her fifth all-time at ISU, just two away from fourth.
Wearing Pitches
Sycamore batters have been a target for opposing pitchers while in the batters box. As a team, the Sycamores rank third in the MVC in hit by pitches with 30. That number also ranks first on the all-time ISU record book. Individually, junior Shelby Wilson ranks fourth in the ISU career record book with 10 hit by pitches and junior Morgan Allee ranks 6th with eight. Sophomore Ashley Dickerson and Allee each have been hit eight times this seaso which ranks second on the ISU single season list, just two behind first. Dickerson is also fifth on the career hit by pitch list with nine.
Small Ball
The Sycamores have played small ball through the first part of the season and after 50 games, they lead the Missouri Valley Conference in total sacrifices with 64. Freshman Alexa Cavin leads the Sycamores and the Valley with 13 total sacrifices while senior Halee Myers also has eight. A total of 11 different Sycamore batters have also recorded a sacrifice so far this season.
Dickerson Gets The Save
In her first ever appearnce as a collegiate pitcher, sophomore Ashley Dickerson entered the circle for the Sycamores Wednesday evening against Illinois in a one-run game in the bottom of the seventh. After a leadoff walk, Dickerson got a pop out and a grounded into a double play to secure the win for the Sycamores and earned the save.
Coach Bouman Reaches Milestone
During a 6-5 over over the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois, head coach Shane bouman reached a coaching milestone as he scored his 200th career coaching victory. In his second season, Bouman has recorded 35 victories since taking over the reigns of the Sycamore program.
Stone Is MVC Player Of The Week
Sophomore Megan Stone was named MVC player of the week for the week of March 25, marking the first Sycamore player to recieve a weekly award since Lindsey Beisser won MVC pitcher of the week, twice, last season. Stone is also the first Sycamore player be named player of the week since the 2009 season when Katie Armour did it April 27, 2009.
Swinging Those Bats
The Indiana State softball team came out of the gates swinging to open the 2013 season and are averaging nearly seven hits a game. The Sycamores have out hit their opponents 12 times and are 9-3 when doing so. The Sycamores also have three players batting over .300 on the season, including Shelby Wilson at .361, Morgan Allee at .335 and Megan Stone who is batting .331.
Wilson & Scott Are All-Tournament
After wrapping up play at the Blues City Classic this past weekend in Southaven, Miss., two Sycamore players were named to the All-Tournament team for their efforts. Sophomore Ashli Scott was named 1st Team All-Tourmanet after making one start and three apperances for ISU with a 0.58 ERA with a 1-0 record over her 12 innings pitched. Scott also recorded a season high in strikeouts with seven in her relief appearance against Nicholls State. Junior Shelby Wilson was also named 2nd Team All-Tournament after going 5-12 at the plate with two RBI's and a run scored with three stolen bases.
Returners Are Key
While they lost four letter winners and three starters to graduation, the Indiana State fielding alignment features much of the same as last year. The Sycamores return junior Shelby Wilson and sophomores Megan Stone and Ashley Dickerson to hold down the infield with newcomer Morgan Allee to fill the final sport. The Sycamores also return three key outfielders who spent significant time in the position during the 2012 campaign in: seniors Mackenzie Connelly and Halee Myers as well as sophomore Megan Bunting.
Follow ISU Softball Online
Keep up to date with Sycamore softball all over the web this season. Full stats, box scores and recaps will continue to be available on www.GoSycamores.com. Every home game along with select road games can also be heard world wide free of charge online at GoSycamores.com and select home games will offer a free webcast. However, you can also follow the Sycamores on Facebook at Facebook.com/SycamoreSoftball with the Indiana State University Softball fan page or on Twitter at Twitter.com/IndStSoftball.
On To The Next One
This weekend's three-game series against the Salukis of Southern Illinois will bring an end to the 2013 regular season for the Indiana State softball team. The Sycamores will return to action this upcoming fall with games at Price Field.
