2003 Season Outlook
Eagles looking strong after GLVC run

If the phrase "defense wins championships" is true, then consider the University of Southern Indiana softball team a serious contender. The Screaming Eagles finished the 2002 season as the nation's top fielding team and made a run at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship, finishing one win shy of grasping the crown for the first time since 1995.

As the Eagles take the field for the 2003 campaign, there is reason to believe that they will make a push for a GLVC championship and a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament. After finishing the 2002 season with a 31-18 record (10-7 GLVC) under first-year head coach Sue Kunkle, the Eagles return eight starters, including one of the league's most feared hitters, senior utility player Rachel Bowling (Middleton, Indiana).

Bowling, a three-time first-team All-GLVC selection, finished the 2002 campaign by ripping off a .375 batting average with five home runs and nine RBIs in the conference tournament. She led the conference with 16 home runs and was second in the league with 41 runs batted in.

A two-time All-Region selection, Bowling enters the 2003 campaign as USI's all-time leader in career home runs (33) and runs batted in (117). She also is tied for fourth all-time at USI with 31 career doubles and is fifth all-time at USI with 56 career base-on-balls.

Bowling will see a majority of time in centerfield, but she will also be counted on to provide depth to USI's pitching staff. She posted a 6-6 record with a 1.73 ERA in 2002.

Senior outfielder Ginnie Roberts (Lafayette, Indiana) returns for her final season after earning second-team All-GLVC honors for the first time in her career. Roberts hit .252 with 11 RBIs and five doubles. In the field, Roberts was solid, posting a .984 fielding percentage.

Shortstop Jenny Duell (Lafayette, Indiana) accompanies Bowling and Roberts in the 2003 senior class after recording a .947 fielding percentage and 102 assists last year. From the plate, Duell rang up a .195 batting average and 10 RBIs as a junior in 2002. She led the team with 16 sacrifices and four stolen bases.

Rounding out the 2003 senior class is outfielder Christi Arzola (Valparaiso, Indiana) and infielder Stacy Beedie (Bedford, Indiana). Both have filled key pinch-hitting roles for the Eagles. Beedie recorded a .333 batting average and three RBIs in 2002 while Arzola hit .206 with three RBIs and 10 base-on-balls.

A strong junior class will help USI's causes in 2003. First baseman Monica Tepe (Granger, Indiana), first-team All-GLVC catcher Kristen Houseworth (Martinsville, Indiana), and second baseman Brooke Biggs (Osceola, Indiana) each turned in strong performances from the plate and in the field.

Houseworth set a school record for fielding percentage (min. 250 chances) after not committing an error in 2002. Tepe and Biggs anchored the right side of USI's infield and hit a combined .298 batting average with 19 doubles and 31 runs batted in. Tepe recorded a .997 fielding percentage in 348 chances at the corner.

Junior outfielders Lacey Haynes (Boonville, Indiana) and Jessica Brown (Evansville, Indiana) provided solid support off the bench for the Eagles in 2002. Both will see significant time in the outfield as well as in pinch-hitting roles.

USI has plenty of reason to be excited about the additions of junior transfers Shannon Emmons (Boonville, Indiana) and Nichole Pike (Fairfield, Illinois). Both transferred from Wabash Valley Junior College where they led the Lady Warriors to a 44-7 record in 2002.

Pike was a two-time All-Conference, NJCAA I All-American, All-Region XXIV, and Region XXIV All-Tournament selection as a third baseman at WVJC. She also was named the Great Rivers Athletic Conference "Player of the Year" in 2002.

Emmons, a pitcher, earned All-GRAC as well as All-Region and Region All-Tournament honors as a freshman and sophomore. She also was named the 2001 GRAC "Freshman of the Year".

Sophomore outfielder Sunny Oelling (Valparaiso, Indiana) is USI's lone returnee from last season's freshman crop. Oelling spent time as USI's leadoff hitter in 2002, scoring 11 runs and posting a .193 batting average. She will have an opportunity to challenge for the leadoff job in 2003.

In addition to Emmons and Bowling, the Eagles will rely on freshman Missy Grover (Mishawaka, Indiana) to provide pitching support in 2003. Grover, who sat out last season, was the winning pitcher in the 1999 state championship game for Penn High School and set a school-record with a 0.85 ERA in 2000. Her efforts in 1999 and 2000 earned her All-Conference and All-State honors.

Freshman pitcher Christie Schubert (Millstadt, Illinois) recorded a 12-1 record and a 1.45 ERA as a junior in 2001 for Althoff Catholic High School. Schubert will provide depth to USI's pitching staff in 2003.

The Eagles will count on freshman catcher Amy Atteberry (Whiting, Indiana) to provide depth to USI's catching core. Atteberry earned All-Conference and All-State honors as a junior and senior at Whiting High School.

USI will start the season with two trips to Georgia and a trip to Florida. The Eagles will compete in the Kennesaw State University Invitational (February 21-22) before coming back to Evansville, Indiana, to take on Kentucky Wesleyan College in a non-conference, home-opening, double-header on Wednesday, March 5.

After the spring trip to Florida, in which the Eagles will compete in the Division II Rebel Spring Games March 9-13, USI will travel to Columbus, Georgia, to take part in the Columbus State University Tournament (March 14-15). The second day of the CSU Tournament will pit USI against coach Kunkle's alma-mater, California-Pennsylvania.

The Eagles will begin their quest for a league championship Saturday, March 22, when they travel to defending GLVC champion, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

USI will have a chance to improve its regional standing when it competes at the GLVC/GLIAC Showdown, April 11-13, in Battle Creek, Michigan. GLVC Tournament play will begin Friday, May 2, with the games on the campus of the number one seed.