EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Softball returns to USI Softball Field for Alumni Weekend when the Screaming Eagles host Southeast Missouri State University for a three-game series in Ohio Valley Conference play on Saturday and Sunday.
USI Softball (8-15, 5-1 OVC) welcomes back many of its alumni and hall of famers this weekend, as the Screaming Eagles seek a third-straight OVC series victory to begin the conference season. Southeast Missouri (6-18, 2-3 OVC) enters the weekend on a five-game skid.
The Redhawks lead the all-time series against the Screaming Eagles, 23-8. SEMO took two of three against USI last season in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
USI is coming off a second series win in OVC play, winning two of three last weekend at Western Illinois University. After dropping the series opener, 5-3, USI bounced back with a 4-2 win and a 15-4 win in five innings against the Leathernecks. In the 15-4 series finale victory at Western Illinois, USI set program Division-I records with 15 runs and 18 hits. It was also USI's biggest margin of victory in the D-I era.
The Screaming Eagles collectively hit .384 in the Western Illinois series, with senior outfielder
Caroline Stapleton leading the way with a .545 batting average while scoring five runs and tallying three RBIs. Eight players recorded multiple RBIs in the series. Freshman outfielder
Katelyn Marx, who batted .417, had four runs and four RBIs. Sophomore
Grace Huffman notched three hits and three RBIs. Freshman pitcher
Elly Robbins led the pitching staff with two wins and a 1.83 ERA.
On the season, Stapleton paces the Screaming Eagles with a .359 batting average and 19 runs. Marx is second on the team with a .347 batting average and 10 RBIs. Huffman and junior infielder
Sydney Long are tied for a team-best 11 RBIs. On the pitching side, freshman
Anna Kemp tops the squad with a 4.31 ERA and 40 strikeouts, while sophomore
Kylie Witthaus has 32 strikeouts in a team-high 56.1 innings pitched. Robbins leads the team with four wins.
Heading into the SEMO series, USI Head Coach
Sue Kunkle is one win away from 700 career wins. Kunkle is already USI's all-time winningest coach.
Southeast Missouri comes to town this weekend after getting swept in three games last weekend at the University of Tennessee at Martin. The Redhawks were no-hit in the series opener and were shut out 9-0 through the first two games of the series before falling in the series finale by a score of 7-2.
Senior outfielder Madison Winkler is SEMO's leading hitter, batting .352 with 10 runs and 11 RBIs. Winkler also has two home runs this season. As a team, Southeast Missouri is hitting .216. The Redhawks' pitching staff has a combined 6.41 ERA, with senior hurler Elliott Stinson topping the squad with a 2-5 record and a 4.29 ERA. Junior pitcher Maddie Carney is 2-7 with a 5.98 ERA and leads the team with 25 strikeouts in 57.1 innings of work.
The three-game series between USI and Southeast Missouri can be seen with an ESPN+ subscription. Additional coverage and live stat links are available on the USI Softball schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.
