TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State softball will close out their regular season this weekend with a three-game MVC series at Valparaiso with action set to begin at 4 p.m. ET on Friday at the Valpo Softball Complex.
 
The Sycamores (26-24, 14-10) took two of three games from Missouri State last weekend to clinch their first series win over the Bears since 2014. Sunday's victory gave ISU 14 MVC victories on the year which is the most Valley wins in a single season in program history.
 
Valpo (8-37, 4-20) took on MVC Regular Season Champion UNI last weekend and dropped all three contests on the road.
 
Indiana State has won two-straight series against the Beacons as well as eliminating Valparaiso from the MVC Tournament in consecutive seasons. The Sycamores have a 19-6 lead in the all-time series.
 
Scouting the Beacons
Meaggan Pettipiece is in her first season as the head coach at Valpo after spending the past three seasons as the head coach at the University of Akron.
 
The Beacon offense is led by Regi Hecker who is batting .296 and 34 hits, driving in 13 runs and stealing five bases. Lauren Kehlenbrink leads Valpo with two home runs and has 11 RBIs on the year. Taylor Herschbach leads the Beacons with eight doubles and four triples, entering the weekend batting .273 on the year.
 
In the circle for Valparaiso, Easton Seib has logged 138 innings, striking out 56 hitters in her 34 appearances. Caitlyn Kowalski leads the Beacon pitching staff with 67 strikeouts in 92 innings of work.
 
Sycamore Stats & Notes
Isabella Henning enters the final weekend of the regular season hitting a team-best .392, which is good for third-highest in the MVC. Her 58 hits are second-most among Valley players. Henning is also second in the Valley with a .489 on-base percentage. She leads the Sycamores with seven home runs, 37 runs scored and 12 doubles and is second on the team with 31 runs batted in. She now ranks fourth all-time at ISU in home runs (22), fifth in doubles (37), fifth in walks (60),  sixth in RBI (95) and eighth in runs (92).
 
Kennedy Shade is batting .331 which puts her at 12^th in the conference. She has 45 hits on the year including 10 doubles and four home runs. Shade has driven in 28 runs on the season while scoring 23.
 
Hitting .303 on the season, Annie Tokarek leads the Sycamore offense with 32 RBIs. She has four home runs on the season with her most recent, a solo shot on April 30 against Missouri State, putting her into second all-time at Indiana State for career home runs with 26. She also now has 101 RBIs in her time in the Blue & White which is good for fourth-most in program history.
 
Olivia Patton is batting .290 with 47 hits, starting all 50 games in center field for the Sycamores. Patton has scored 21 runs and leads the team with nine stolen bases. With her appearance in the April 30 contest, she played in her 210^th game which moved her into third place all-time for games played at ISU.
 
Danielle Henning is hitting .288 on the year with 46 hits including seven doubles, one triple and one home run while driving in 22 runs. She has scored 24 times which is second-best on the team.
 
Abi Chipps is second on the team with seven steals and ranks first in the country for being toughest to strike out, punching out just once this season in 94 at-bats.
 
Lexi Benko leads the ISU pitching staff with a 2.50 ERA, owning a 12-8 record with 88 strikeouts. She has logged 123 innings, making 27 appearances (26 starts). Benko has five complete games on the year and four shutouts. She has started 77 games in her career which is fourth-most in program history. Her 260 career strikeouts are eighth-most all-time.
 
Cassi Newbanks is second on ISU with a 2.68 ERA in the circle. She is 4-5 on the year as well as recording a save. In 75.2 innings, Newbanks has struck out 38 hitters.
 
Lauren Sackett enters the weekend at 7-8 with a 3.06 ERA. She has a team-high 110 strikeouts in 84.2 innings and has notched four saves this season which is the third-most in a single season by a Sycamore pitcher.
 
For the latest information on Sycamore Softball, be sure to visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.