Courtesy of the Missouri Valley Conference
MVC Player of the Week
Megan Sowa, Sophomore, Gurnee, Ill. – Drake
Megan Sowa blitzed the opposing pitching in five games at the Colorado State Classic. She went 9-for-17 with one triple, one home run, two doubles, five runs scored and seven runs batted in along with slugging .941 with a .550 on-base percentage in Fort Collins. Sowa was held hitless in the tournament’s first game against Omaha, but bounced back with nine hits in her next 13 at-bats along with two walks. She was 3-for-3 with a double and three runs batted in the win over Valparaiso and in Drake’s other win over Omaha she was a home run short of the cycle. Her performance in Fort Collins raised her season average from .216 to 313.
MVC Pitcher of the Week
Taylor Lockwood, Junior, Indianapolis, Ind. – Indiana State
Junior pitcher Taylor Lockwood led the Sycamores in the circle at the Tennessee Invitational over the weekend, finishing with a 2-1 record and 2.28 ERA over 15.1 innings pitched with a complete game and 16 strikeouts. Lockwood earned a 4-1 victory over the #26 ranked Bison of North Dakota State before carrying a perfect game into the fifth inning against MVC foe Northern Iowa before earning the complete game win.
MVC Newcomer of the Week
Kennedy Bailey, Delta, BC Canada, Freshman – Northern Iowa
Bailey went 8-13 to compile a team-high .615 batting average over the weekend at the Tennessee Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn. The freshman went 3-4 against No. 11 Tennessee and added a RBI. Bailey recorded a hit in four straight games, bumping her batting average up to a team-leading .359. In the Panthers’ win over Purdue on Saturday, Bailey went 2-2 while reaching base three times. Bailey also compiled a .688 on-base percentage over a five game span.
Other notable performances:
PLAYERS
Kelly Kapp, Bradley
Kapp hit .368 in five games at the UCF Knights Invitational and stole two bases to push her conference-leading total to 11. Kapp, who has a conference-best 29 hits this spring, collected hits in each of Bradley’s five games at the UCF Knights Invitational to extend her hit streak to seven games. She was 1-for-3 against Kent State to open the weekend and followed it with a 1-for-3 effort at #15 Central Florida. After a 1-for-4 performance against Michigan State Saturday, Kapp was 4-for-9 with one run and one RBI in a pair of games Sunday. Kapp was 2-for-4 with a run scored in a 4-3 win against Kent State. She closed the weekend going 2-for-5 with one RBI and two stolen bases in an extra-inning game against Michigan State.
Danielle Freeman, Evansville
Talk about jumping right into the swing of things – that is exactly what Purple Aces sophomore Danielle Freeman did this weekend. After finishing up the MVC Women’s Swimming Championships, Freeman got ready for softball and made her season debut over the weekend. She made three starts on the weekend and did it all from the plate. Freeman was 5-10 with two home runs, three RBIs and three runs scored. She also showed her power with a pair of doubles while striking out just once. Just as impressive was her slugging percentage for the weekend, which came in at 1.300. Her first start of the season came against UConn on Saturday where she went a perfect 3-3 with two doubles, two RBIs and a home run. She capped off the weekend with another home run, which gave the Purple Aces insurance in a 5-2 victory over the Huskies.
Megan Stone, Indiana State
Senior Megan Stone led the Sycamore offense over the weekend at the Tennessee Invitational, hitting .385 in five games with two games coming against No. 11 Tennessee and one against the No. 26 North Dakota State Bison. Stone had a double and a home run for the Sycamores and is now just one home run away from tying the Indiana State career home run record.
Kennedy Bailey, Northern Iowa
Bailey went 8-13 to compile a team-high .615 batting average over the weekend at the Tennessee Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn. The freshman went 3-4 against No. 11 Tennessee and added a RBI. Bailey recorded a hit in four straight games, bumping her batting average up to a team-leading .359. In the Panthers’ win over Purdue on Saturday, Bailey went 2-2 while reaching base three times. Bailey also compiled a .688 on-base percentage over a five game span.
Brittany Fortner, Wichita State
Brittany Fortner’s big weekend propelled the Shockers to a 4-0 mark this past weekend during the 2015 Shocker Invitational, and to ride a five-game winning streak into their upcoming week. Fortner either led or tied the team lead in eight categories over the weekend: .667 batting average (led the team), eight hits (tied for the team lead), two home runs (tied for the team lead), eight RBI (led the team), 16 total bases (led the team), had a 1.333 slugging percentage (led the team), five walks (tied for the team lead), and had a .765 on-base percentage (led the team). On Sunday against Nebraska, she went 4-5 with a three-run home run, four RBI, two doubles and three runs scored, falling just a triple shy of the cycle and nearly breaking three school records.
PITCHERS
Dani Cowan, Bradley
Cowan posted a 0.68 ERA in two appearances at the UCF Knights Invitational. Cowan, who pitched 10.1 innings out of the bullpen during the weekend, gave up one unearned run in 4.1 innings of work Friday against Kent State. Sunday against Michigan State, she scattered two hits over six innings and struck out three Spartans. Three of the four runs scored against Cowan over the weekend were unearned.
Chelsea Ross, Northern Iowa
Chelsea Ross compiled a 2.57 ERA and added 27 strikeouts at the Tennessee Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn. over the weekend. Ross allowed just four hits and three earned runs to the No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers on Friday afternoon, striking out 10 in the process. Against Purdue, Ross struck out six batters through the first three innings while setting a new career-high for strikeouts in a game with 11. The junior allowed one earned run against the Boilers in their first matchup. In her second outing against Purdue, Ross retiring nine straight batters over a three inning span and adding 6 strikeouts.
Katie Malone, Wichita State
Katie Malone, last week’s MVC Softball Pitcher of the Week, went 2-0 with a 3.50 ERA and recorded a three-inning save in four appearances over the weekend during the 2015 Shocker Invitational. She pitched 16 innings and allowed eight runs (all earned) on 10 hits, walked four and struck out 17. Her batting average against was an impressive .172.
NEWCOMERS
Elizabeth Leonard, Bradley
Leonard owned a .313 average with one run and one RBI in five games at the UCF Knights Invitational in Orlando, Fla. She was 1-for-2 against Kent State to open the weekend. Against #15 Central Florida, Leonard went 1-for-3 and matched her season-long hit streak at three games with a 1-for-3 performance against Michigan State Saturday. She drew a walk and also scored a run in Saturday’s outing against Michigan State. In the rematch with the Spartans Sunday afternoon Leonard was 2-for-5 with one RBI and a stolen base to close out the weekend.
Kelsey Wright, Drake
Kelsey Wright blitzed the opposing pitching pitching in five games at the Colorado State Classic. She went 7-for-14 with one double, one triple, two runs batted in, eight runs scored along with drawing seven walks. She tallied a .714 slugging percentage and a .667 on-base percentage.
Morgan Lambert, Evansville
Redshirt freshman Morgan Lambert made four starts at the Mizuno Classic over the weekend for the Purple Aces. She went 4-for-11 from the plate while hitting her first double of the season. Lambert’s weekend started with a perfect 2-2 day with a run scored against Oklahoma State. In the second game of the weekend against the Cowboys on Saturday, she was 1-2 with another run. Her weekend was completed with a 1-4 effort from the plate in a 5-2 win over UConn.
Mackenzie Wright, Wichita State
Mackenzie Wright had her best weekend in her early college career as she hit .333 (4-12) with six runs scored, two home runs, four RBI, 10 total bases, and had an .833 slugging percentage. The Midwest City, Okla. native also had four walks, a .500 on-base percentage, a stolen base, and had a 1.000 fielding percentage. She leads the team in hit-by-pitches with eight, has a .453 on-base percentage, and is tied for the team lead with five stolen bases.
