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The best way to describe Austin Peay State University’s softball program over the past four years is the difference between night and day.
“We’ve gone through the lowest of lows, when we won only nine games my freshman year,” said senior catcher Carly Mattson, a McHenry East graduate. “You go into every series just hoping to get one win out of it.”
After 17 wins in her sophomore season, Mattson and the Governors put together the best season in school history one year ago, finishing 39-19 and earning their first postseason berth, to the National Invitational Softball Championship.
This spring, the Governors (28-19) are in third place in the Ohio Valley Conference and on the verge of another 30-win season.
Mattson’s bat has played a big role.
She is hitting a career-best .331 – almost 90 points better than last season – with a team-leading 12 doubles to go with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs.
“It’s just being more aggressive at the plate,” Mattson said. “This has been our hardest schedule yet, so I knew we were going to be seeing a lot of really good pitchers. Obviously, they’re going to want to get ahead in the count. Your mindset as a hitter is to swing at that first or second pitch because those are probably the best pitches you’re going to see.”
Mattson’s approach has boosted her slugging percentage to a career-best .627, along with career highs in runs (29) and hits (47) for a season.
The Governors have been aided by an offense that ranks second in the OVC in home runs and third in batting average.
“This group is almost exactly the same as last year,” said Mattson, who is one of six seniors. “There’s not one spot in the lineup that a pitcher wouldn’t fear. We’ve got this groove going on. Everybody’s hitting.”
Mattson is part of the winningest class (93 victories) in school history and ranks third in school history in career home runs (36), sixth in doubles (32) and seventh in RBIs (92).
Mattson and the Governors hope to instill some fear in others at the OVC tournament, which begins Wednesday. The team’s 3-1 victory April 5 at Jacksonville (Alabama) State was the first time in Mattson’s career that Austin Peay has defeated the OVC powerhouse.
“Last year, we went into our series with them and we were timid,” she said. “We were scared of them.”
This season, Austin Peay has beaten every other team in the conference at least once while putting together a 13-5 league record.
“We know that if we see them in the tournament … we already beat them once. Why can’t we beat them again?” she said.
Hahn headed to nationals: University of Wisconsin golfer Jordan Hahn (Richmond-Burton) became the first Badgers men's golfer to be invited to the NCAA tournament since 2009 and only the fourth in school history.
Hahn, a senior, was named first-team All-Big Ten on Tuesday. He is the first Wisconsin men’s golfer to earn that honor since 2002. Hahn’s team-best scoring average of 71.59 this season is a school record, and he has placed in the top 25 in nine of 11 tournaments this season. He has two tournament victories this season and four top-10 finishes.
His career scoring average of 73.09 also is tops in school history.
Hahn will compete May 13 to 15 at an NCAA regional hosted by the University of Louisville.
RBI king at Augie: McHenry West grad Ryan Granneman is the team leader in RBIs this season for Division III Augustana College's baseball team.
The senior catcher has driven in 31 runs while batting .333 with seven doubles and a team-best 23 walks. Augustana (23-11-1) is in second place in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin with a 12-7 record.
Granneman has 14 multihit games this season, including a 3-for-4 effort with three RBIs last weekend against CCIW leader North Central.
Whalen heads to Indy: Marian Central grad Greg Whalen has joined the football program at NAIA Marian University in Indianapolis as its offensive line coach.
A former offensive lineman at D-III North Central in Naperville, Whalen coached the position for the past two seasons at his alma mater. He previously coached at Aurora University.
In 2017 and 2018, the North Central offensive line allowed the fewest sacks in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin and led the league in rushing both seasons.
Turner honored: Marengo grad Jessica Turner of Graceland University was named an All-Heart of America Conference honorable mention in softball this week.
A senior who plays second base for the NAIA Yellowjackets, Turner batted .309 with 11 RBIs this season for the Yellowjackets (26-24), who advanced to the conference tournament.
Kohler on pace for Vikings: Woodstock North grad Bradley Kohler is part of two top relay teams at D-II Augustana this spring.
Kohler, a sophomore, ran the lead leg on the sprint medley team that posted a season-best time of 3 minutes, 29.99 seconds last week at the Drake Relays. He runs the second leg on the 4x400-meter team, which posted its best time (3:24.05) in a meet this month in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Whitewater wears crown: D-III Wisconsin-Whitewater clinched its third straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference softball title last weekend.
Sophomores Kaleigh O’Brien (Prairie Ridge) and Alexis Addante (Jacobs) have contributed this season at the plate. O’Brien, who catches and plays first base, has started 15 games and is batting .310 with seven RBIs for the Warhawks (26-10). Addante, an outfielder, is batting .273 with three RBIs this season.
The WIAC championship is Whitewater’s 13th in program history.
• Barry Bottino writes a weekly column about local college athletes for the Northwest Herald. Write to him at barryoncampus@hotmail.com and follow @BarryOnCampus on Twitter.