EVANSVILLE, Ind.---The University of Southern Indiana softball opens the 2016 Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship Tournament with a first round matchup with the six-seed Bellarmine University. The Screaming Eagles are the three seed and take on the Knights at Noon on Friday at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Illinois.
 
How to Watch/Listen
Every game of the 2016 GLVC Softball Championship Tournament will be broadcast live on the GLVC Sports Network.
 
Ticket Information
An all-tournament pass can be purchased for $25 and admit the holder to all events over the three-day period. Single-day tickets are priced as follows: $10 for adults, $5 for students and youth (K-12) while all those under 5 will be admitted free. More information on the 2016 GLVC Softball Tournament is available at GLVCsports.com/GLVCsb16
 
Coaches' Comments
Head Coach: Sue Kunkle
 
"When we faced Bellarmine in the regular season, we had an off day and weren't able to get out timely hitting to work for us. We need to be able to pick pitches that we can handle and lay off the others. We will face good pitching with Bellarmine, as well as the entire list of opponents that we may face, so our offense which has been our strong suit all season needs to be patient but yet disciplined and look for our pitches."
 
"At this point in the season, you have to be able to bring your A game for every match up and take advantage of every mistake they make and limit our mistakes."
 
Eagles in the Rankings
USI jumped back into the fifth spot in the Midwest Region in the most recent NCAA Division II Regional rankings released Wednesday. The Eagles opened the rankings two weeks ago in fifth before spending a week at No. 6 last week. Ahead of the Eagles in the rankings are the University of Indianapolis ranked first, followed by fellow GLVC member UMSL. After a weekend sweep, Grand Valley State University moved into third, passing fellow GLIAC foe Wayne State University, who now sits in fourth. Rounding out the rankings are Hillsdale College in sixth, Maryville University in seventh, Truman State University in eighth, Ferris State University sits ninth, and Trevecca Nazarene University is on the cusp in tenth.
 
Last Time Out
The Screaming Eagles opened this past weekend with a doubleheader split with Maryville University. USI could not take advantage of opportunities in the 4-2 opening contest loss, but held firm late to grab the split with a 4-3 victory in game two.
 
Facing the sixth-ranked Tritons of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the Eagles fell behind early in game one, but kept pace with UMSL. Trailing 6-0, sophomore Marleah Fossett smashed a grand slam to right center field of UMSL ace Hannah Perryman to close the gap to 6-4. UMSL increased their advantage to 8-4 in what would be the final score in the contest. In game two of the series, the Tritons continued to showcase their offense in a 7-1 win.

All Hail Haley
Junior catcher Haley Hodges continues to rewrite the USI Softball record book in the 2016 season. Hodges has already set new marks for single-season runs, RBIs, home runs, and walks and is within range of breaking the school record for doubles.
 
In last weekend's second game against Maryville, Hodges was walked for the ninth consecutive plate appearance, breaking an NCAA Division II record of seven, which was previously set by Kutztown University's Colleen Smith in 2014. On the season, Hodges has been walked 41 times, including 16 intentional walks, which is the second-most in a season in NCAA DII history.
 
Scouting Bellarmine
The Knights enter the conference tournament after amassing a 32-24 overall mark and a 19-11 record in the GLVC…Bellarmine is led by multi-faceted senior Ally Foster who leads the Knights in batting average (.408), doubles (16), home runs (17), and RBIs (42), while also being Bellarmine's ace in the circle with a 21-9 record and a 1.18 ERA…USI leads the all-time series with the Knights, but Bellarmine swept the doubleheader in Louisville in March 8-3, 8-1.