PEORIA, Ill. – Indiana State hits the road for its final Valley series of the season, taking on the Bradley Braves on Saturday and Sunday. The doubleheader Saturday will air live on
The Valley on ESPN3.
LAST TIME OUT
Indiana State split its final midweek non-conference series of the season this past Tuesday, taking Game One from Saint Louis, 5-2, before falling 4-1 to the Billikens in the nightcap. Starting pitcher
Kenzie Ihle allowed just one run on four hits in 6.0 innings in a Game One victory for the Sycamores, and freshman
Becky Malchow had a huge day at the plate, going 4-for-7 with three RBI on two singles, a double and a two-run triple.
SCOUTING THE BRAVES
Bradley currently sits at 10th in the Missouri Valley standings at 20-30 overall and 6-17 in Valley play. The Braves are hoping for a similar weekend that the Sycamores are hoping for, as they also need a series sweep and for Drake to get swept by Loyola in order to make the conference tournament.
SERIES HISTORY
Bradley holds a 59-32 advantage in the all-time series against the Sycamores.
IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS
In order to make the MVC Tournament this season, the Sycamores will need to sweep Bradley in the final weekend series of the season while also hoping that Loyola is able to sweep Drake in Des Moines. The Bulldogs hold the tiebreaker over Indiana State after a series sweep on April 1-2, but the ninth-place Sycamores (6-17) are only two games back of eighth-place Drake (8-15). If the pieces fall into place this weekend, it will be just the third time since 2007 that Indiana State will have made the Valley Tournament. The Sycamores won the 2015 MVC Tournament as the eight seed.
SCHOOL RECORD
The Sycamores took down the single-season school record in double plays turned, converting two plays across a doubleheader at Saint Louis on May 2 for ISU's 25th and 26th double plays of the year. The previous record was 24, set in 2015. ISU leads the Valley in double plays turned this season, and entered the week 17th in the NCAA.
BECKY'S BIG DAY
Freshman
Becky Malchow had a huge day at the plate for the Sycamores in ISU's doubleheader at Saint Louis on Tuesday, going 4-for-7 with three RBI across both games. Malchow was crucial in Game One, going 2-for-4 with a double and a two-run triple off the right field wall to spark a Sycamore rally in the fourth inning. Malchow is the only Sycamore freshman to have played and started in all 50 games this season, and she is one of just two Sycamores of any class to do so (senior
Kassie Brown being the other).
FLASHING THE LEATHER
The Sycamore defense has been consistently solid this season, recently going on a 33.2 inning streak without an error that was snapped in the fifth inning of Game Two vs. SIU. This is the second such streak of at least 25 innings this season as the Sycamores also went 28.0 innings without one across three games at Drake and six innings without one at IUPUI in April. Indiana State currently ranks third in the Valley in fielding percentage at .965. In MVC play, the Sycamores rank second with a .975 fielding clip. Senior shortstop and Preseason All-MVC honoree
Kassie Brown is a big part of that, ranking sixth overall in the MVC with 104 assists.
DELLA DELLA GHER, Y'ALL
Freshman
Della Gher was up to her old tricks again, shutting the door on the Salukis in Game One last week with 1.2 hitless innings pitched for her fifth save of the season. Gher had already broken the single-season saves record at Indiana State following four saves in a span of a week down in Florida in March. Gher, a freshman native of Paris, Ill., who should still technically be in high school after graduating early from Paris High School in December, leads the Valley in saves and ranks fifth nationally.
CLIMBING THE CAREER RANKS
As the season draws to a close, several Sycamores are moving up in the all-time career top-10 categories:
#13 Kassie Brown, Sr., SS
3rd, Career Sac Bunts - 45
4th, Career Runs - 97
5th, Games Played - 201
6th, Career Stolen Bases - 36
6th, Games Started - 197
T-8th, Career Hits - 161
T-10th, Career Batting Average - .325
#8 Erika Crissman, Sr., OF
2nd, Career RBI - 100
5th, Career Triples - 9
6th, Career Fielding - .988
6th, Career Hits - 177
8th, Career Runs - 86
8th, Career Walks - 51
T-10th, Career Stolen Bases - 33
#5 Della Gher, Fr., P
T-2nd, Career Saves - 5
#3 Rylee Holland, Sr., OF
5th, Career HBP - 19
5th, Career Runs - 90
T-5th, Career Sac Bunts - 41
#23 Brooke Riemenschneider, Sr., C
2nd, Career Walks - 59
8th, Career RBI - 75
T-9th, Career Home Runs - 8
CLIMBING THE SEASON RANKS
Several Sycamores have already started to climb the single-season lists as well.
#5 Della Gher, Fr., P
1st, Saves - 5
#18 Kenzie Ihle, Jr., P
6th, Wins - 16
#12 Brooke Mann, So., C
T-8th, Home Runs - 6
T-6th, RBI - 31
#20 Leslie Sims, Fr., 2B
T-4th, Stolen Bases - 20
6th, Batting Average - .386
7th, On-Base - .455
#17 Mary Turitto, Sr., 1B
T-3rd, Double Plays - 15
DOMINANT IHLE
Junior
Kenzie Ihle had a superb weekend series against Evansville on April 22-23, blanking the Purple Aces 1-0 in the series opener and nearly throwing a no-hitter in a Game Three loss. In Game One, Ihle was dominant with a 12-strikeout performance – a career-high at ISU and the most by a Sycamore pitcher since March 7, 2012 (Lindsey Beisser, 12, vs. Sacred Heart). In that first game, Ihle yielded just four hits and only allowed one baserunner to reach third base all day (with two outs in the bottom of the seventh) and had four innings with multiple punchouts (including two innings where she struck out the side). In the series finale, Ihle was literally unhittable for five complete innings, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning in a similarly dominating performance. The Purple Aces ended up rallying in the sixth, but Ihle still struck out eight – pushing her weekend total to 20 strikeouts. In 12.2 innings pitched against Evansville, she allowed just six hits (including only two in the finale). With 16 wins this season, she ranks sixth on the single-season all-time list at Indiana State. Her 120 punchouts this season also ranks fourth overall in the conference.
Ihle was one of the best JUCO pitchers in the nation at Des Moines Area Community College the last two seasons, leading the NJCAA in strikeouts per game (10.1) in 2016 and setting a new DMACC school record for wins with a 31-3 record in two seasons.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Softball team, make sure to check out
GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including
Facebook and
Twitter.
