TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State Softball will travel to Houston, Texas to open their 2024 season and compete in the Houston Invite, where play begins on Friday, February 9.
The Sycamores will play five games throughout the weekend, beginning with a matchup at 5 p.m. ET against Houston and to wrap up Friday's play the Sycamores will take on Rutgers at 7:30 p.m. ET. On Saturday, ISU will play twice again, first taking on Colgate at 11 a.m. ET and then turning around to play Houston again at 1:30 p.m. ET. ISU will wrap up their weekend Sunday morning with another matchup against Colgate at 10:30 a.m. ET.
Each game throughout the tournament will have live stats available with the pair of games against Houston being streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
Get to Know the '24 Trees
After a record-breaking season, Mike Perniciaro enters his seventh season as head coach of the Sycamores. Assistant coaches for ISU include Brittany Gray-Cardenas and Rachel O'Malley who are both entering their third season on Perniciaro's staff. In 2023, the Sycamores shutout the No. 1 seed to make it to the MVC Championship where they fell to Southern Illinois. The Sycamores set a program record for most wins in a season (32) and most Valley wins in a season (17).
The Sycamores return 13 players from last year's roster while adding 8 freshmen, junior transfer Ana Macha (OF) from Lee University, and sophomore transfer Megan Asher (P) from Depauw.
Isabella Henning (1B) was ranked No.15 in the D1Softball rankings for first basemen as well as First Team All-MVC for the third straight year after hitting a team-high .378 last season with 65 hits including 12 doubles and 10 home runs. She is tied for the team-lead with 37 RBI and led the team with 42 runs scored. Henning is currently ranked tied for third at ISU with 25 career home runs and ranks fifth all-time with 101 career RBI.
Two time MVC All Defensive Team selection, senior Abi Chipps (UT) recorded 29 hits and scored 22 runs in her 2023 season. Chipps went a perfect 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts and tied a single-game ISU record with four hits against Murray State on May 11. She finished first in NCAA for toughest to strikeout with just one strikeout in 112 at-bats.
Danielle Henning (UT) played and started in all 57 games where she hit .283 with 52 hits including nine doubles, a triple and a home run. She drove in 23 runs while scoring 27 runs and drew 12 walks and stole two bases. Henning earned All-MVC First Team honors and was named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention Team and a CSC Academic All-District honoree.
Kennedy Shade (SS) appeared and started in 51 games and batted .318 with 55 hits including 10 doubles and four home runs. She recorded 29 RBI with 26 runs scored while stealing five bases. Shade tied a Sycamore single-game record for doubles with three against UIC on March 20.
The Sycamores also get back three pitchers who all appeared in multiple games last season. Lauren Sackett made 32 appearances where she went 8-8 with a 2.92 ERA in 100.2 innings. Sackett led the pitching staff with 129 strikeouts and five saves. She recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts twice last season and threw a no-hitter in first collegiate start against Maine on February 18 while striking out eight hitters. Cassi Newbanks made 32 appearances where she finished with a 6-5 record with one save and a 2.52 ERA. Newbanks logged 89 innings while striking out 46 hitters. Hailey Griffin made 21 appearances, recording a 3-2 record with a 3.82 ERA in 44 innings of work. Griffin recorded three saves and struck out 25 hitters and set a new career-high for strikeouts in a game with six.
Two returning catchers for the Sycamores include junior Randi Jo Pryor and sophomore Luci Kapelka who will look to make an increased impact this season. Pryor appeared in 19 games where she had five hits and drove in a pair of runs. Kapelka appeared in four games, where she recorded first career hit on February 25 against Kennesaw State and drove in two runs on May 7 against Valparaiso.
Additional Sycamores that look to fill bigger roles this season include Morgan Goodrich (OF) who made 32 appearances in the 2023 season and scored nine runs and recorded first career hit on April 7 against UNI. Hannah Welch (SS) appeared in 40 games, and scored 20 runs while being third on the team with seven stolen bases. Livi Colip (IF) appeared in 20 games and recorded first collegiate RBI on February 25 against Kennesaw State. Sophomore Isabelle Saylor (SS) will return for the Sycamores after redshirting last season due to injury.
The Opponents
Indiana State will face the University of Houston and Colgate University for the first time over the weekend, playing 2 games against both opponents.
Houston is coached by Kristen Vesely who is entering her ninth season as head coach of the Cougars. The Cougars finished 20-30 last season and returning for the Cougars is junior Turiya Coleman who was recently named to the preseason All Big-12 team after recording a .397 batting average with 56 hits, 33 runs, and 8 home runs last season.
Colgate is coached by Marissa Lamison-Myers who is heading into her seventh season as the Raiders head coach. Colgate finished 17-31 last season and returning for the Raiders is senior first baseman Kara Fusco who was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League team. Fusco finished top-10 in the Patriot League in home runs (6), slugging percentage (.503), and OPS (.846) in 2023.
ISU will also face Rutgers in the Houston Invite this weekend which will be the first matchup between these two teams since 1999. The Scarlet Knights are coached by Kristen Butler who is going into her eighth season as Rutgers head coach. This team finished 32-25 last season and returning for Rutgers is senior Kyleigh Sand who was ranked at No. 11 on D1Softball's 2024 Preseason Power Rankings at shortstop. Sand led RU batting .374 with a .442 on-base percentage and 26 stolen bases. She totaled 71 hits leading to 13 doubles and a team-leading three triples.
Up Next
The Sycamores will travel to Nashville, Tenn. to compete in the Roar City Invitational hosted by Tennessee State University on Feb 16-18. ISU will face Western Michigan, Tennessee State, UT Martin, and Saint Louis University.
Follow the Sycamores
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. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.
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