INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. | Great Lakes Valley Conference - McKendree University softball (33-20, 16-10 GLVC) heads off for the
2024 GLVC Softball Championship this week in East Peoria, Illinois at the EastSide Centre, holding the #4 seed for the tournament. The Bearcats will face #5 seed Missouri-St. Louis in the first round of the conference championship, who they swept earlier this spring during a league doubleheader.
The fourth-seeded Bearcats finished out the regular season with a 3-1 final weekend of play, splitting with third-seeded Drury while sweeping Southwest Baptist. McKendree looks to upend the Tritons in the opening round as UMSL nixed the Bearcats' NCAA Tournament hopes in 2023, knocking the Bearcats out of the conference championship last spring.
On the 2024 campaign, the Bearcats captured a third 30-plus win season in the Division II era with back-to-back being notched in 2017 (32-21) and 2018 (38-18). The non-conference slate saw McKendree go 17-10, including a 5-1 showing at its home tournament, the Bearcat Classic, and a 5-3 trip down to Florida during The Spring Games.
The 16-10 mark in conference marked back-to-back winning seasons in league play, the first since 2017 and 2018, with 16 wins this year and a 15-9 finish in 2023. The tail end of the season played a big part in the postseason berth, as the Bearcats notched a 9-3 record over the final 12 games, including three sweeps. During the regular season-ending stretch, McKendree out-paced opponents with a +47 run differential with three run-rule victories and two shutouts.
The Bearcats' battery has been led by sophomore infielder
Lauren Harris, graduate infielder
Olivia Stansbury, and senior infielder
Reagan Cheely. Harris, the reigning GLVC Player of the Year, has a current slash of .523/.551/.942 while leading the conference in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, OPS, and hits. She also ranks highly in RBIs (2nd), home runs (2nd), doubles (t-3rd), and stolen bases (4th). Stansbury holds a .322 average while bashing 12 homers with 47 RBIs and 34 runs scored. Cheely ranks third on the team in average at .295 while owning 44 hits with 21 RBIs as well as 22 scores.
Two Bearcats have held the circle this spring as senior
Ellie Quaethem and junior
Paige McAllister have thrown over 330 innings combined. Quaethem, a three-time All-GLVC selection, owns a 1.99 ERA this spring with her first 20-win season while holding opponents to just a .208 batting average in over 180 innings of work. McAllister, who joined the Bearcat squad in the fall, owns a 2.81 ERA with over 150 innings pitched and 13 wins.
Since head coach
Heather Tarter has been at the helm of the Bearcats, McKendree has a 4-3 record against the Tritons. The Bearcats swept the Tritons for the first time since 2021 in regular season play on the 2024 campaign.
SCOUTING THE TRITONS
UMSL finished the regular season just above the .500 mark with a 27-25 record while going 14-12 in conference play. The Tritons finished out the season with a 3-1 record in their closing weekend, with a mirroring of McKendree's results against SBU and Drury.
UMSL is led by Irene Travis and Courtney Settles from the offensive side of the plate, as Travis has a .349 average with 78 total bases and 61 hits while Settles has a .342 clip with 54 hits and 68 bases. Ashley Borowitz leads the Tritons from the circle, making 30 appearances and 24 starts, including 14 complete games. Borowitz has a 2.60 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP, and 128 strikeouts over her 148 innings this spring.
2024 GLVC Softball Championship | Championship Central
Dates | May 2-5
Location | East Peoria, Illinois
Facility | EastSide Centre
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