EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Southern Indiana Softball begins its second consecutive appearance at the Ohio Valley Conference Softball Championship Tournament as the No. 4 seed Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. from Louisville Slugger Sports Complex in Peoria, Illinois.
The tournament starts Wednesday morning with first-round play for the 5-8 seeds. The first round is single elimination, but the following rounds are double elimination. The championship round is Saturday, May 11.
USI gets a first-round bye and awaits the winner of the 5/8 matchup between the University of Tennessee at Martin and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The winner between USI and UTM/SIUE will go on to face Eastern Illinois University, who earned the regular season title and the No. 1 seed, on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
https://usiscreamingeagles.com/documents/2024/5/6/20240508_USI_SB_Notes_OVC_Tournament.pdf
The Screaming Eagles’ postseason berth comes on the heels of their second transition season to Division I. Southern Indiana went 22-20 overall and 16-11 in Ohio Valley Conference play to earn the 4-seed, surpassing its overall and OVC win totals from last season. USI was projected fourth in the 2024 OVC preseason poll.
In Southern Indiana’s first appearance in the OVC Tournament a season ago, the Screaming Eagles were the 3-seed and captured their first-ever OVC postseason win against Tennessee State University before falling in back-to-back contests against Eastern Illinois and SIUE.
The Screaming Eagles concluded the 2024 regular season with a series win at Western Illinois University, the Eagles’ seventh OVC series victory of the season. USI opened the series with a 9-1 win in five innings before the Leathernecks took the middle game, 6-3, to split Saturday’s doubleheader. USI clinched the series with a 5-1 win in the finale on Sunday.
https://ovcsports.com/documents/2024/5/5//2024_Softball_Bracket_Pairings.pdf?id=19476
Overall, senior first baseman Lexi Fair (Greenwood, Indiana) leads the team with a .344 batting average and a .953 OPS. Fair also has a team-high 12 doubles with two home runs. The senior’s 25 RBIs is second on USI. Within the Ohio Valley Conference, Fair ranks top 10 in on-base percentage (.445), doubles, and hit-by-pitches (11). Fair was named OVC Player of the Week earlier this week after going 5-10 with three runs, two doubles, a home run, and four RBIs at Western Illinois.
Senior catcher Sammie Kihega (Greenfield, Indiana) has hit .316 with a team-high five home runs, including two grand slams, and 29 RBIs. Kihega’s five home runs and 13 doubles are top 10 in the OVC. Sophomore outfielder Caroline Stapleton (Shirley, Indiana) has batted .309 and has scored a team-best 24 runs.
Junior right-hander Josie Newman (Indianapolis, Indiana) leads the pitching staff with a 19-8 record and a 1.68 ERA. Newman’s 210 strikeouts and 195.2 innings pitched top the OVC and would rank top 10 in the nation, but USI does not qualify officially for NCAA stat rankings as a reclassifying program. Newman would also rank top 50 in ERA in the nation. Newman is a two-time OVC Pitcher of the Week this season. At the plate, Newman is batting .329 overall and .435 in the last seven games.
In USI’s last 10 games, Fair has hit .406, reached base at a .487 clip, and slugged .594 while cashing in six RBIs. The senior enters the OVC Tournament with an eight-game hitting streak and a 10-game on-base streak. Also hitting well in the last 10 games is Kihega and freshman infielder Sydney Long (Haubstadt, Indiana). Kihega has batted .367 with two home runs and 11 RBIs during that span and has reached base in eight consecutive games, while Long has a .324 batting average with six RBIs in the last 10 outings.
Heading into this week’s tournament, multiple Screaming Eagles are climbing the all-time charts in USI Softball history. Fair is already the program’s all-time hit-by-pitch leader, but the senior is tied for fifth with 21 career home runs. Plus, Fair has 44 career doubles and is only four away from tying the all-time mark. Kihega has been walked 98 times in her career and is one walk away from tying the career mark. Senior outfielder Mackenzie Bedrick (Brownsburg, Indiana) has swiped 66 bases and is three shy of fourth all-time, while her 134 runs scored are two away from entering the top five in USI history.
All games will be streamed with a subscription to ESPN+. All USI games can also be heard on The Spin 95.7 FM. Additional coverage links can be found on the USI Softball schedule page on usiscreamingeagles.com.