SVSU softball team heads to regionals

KOCHVILLE TWP., Mich. (WNEM) - This week is the start of the NCAA Division 2 Softball Tournament, and over the weekend, SVSU won their second straight GLIAC Tournament championship and punched their ticket to get back to regionals.

The Cardinals have experience competing at that stage. Last season, SVSU defeated Grand Valley to win the GLIAC title and made the regional title game as well, where they took on Southern Indiana. The Cardinals came up short in that game, but many of the girls from last year’s team are back.

The girls said they now know what to expect going into the start of regionals on Thursday, May 11.

“After we won this one, it was to prove that we are good enough and we can do it. We can win whenever we put ourselves out there and go to our full potential,” said SVSU senior pitcher Jaclyn Groves.

“Last year there was a lot of anxiety and tension going into regionals. We didn’t have a lot of experience and I feel like our attitudes were completely different going into like the GLIAC Tournament because we’d already been there, we already knew what we had to do. So, the attitude was more calm and confident and I feel like that attitude will go into regionals,” said SVSU senior outfielder Jackie Popko.

On Monday, May 8, SVSU found out how their regionals will start with the Cardinals getting the 3-seed to face Ohio Dominican on Thursday. ODU beat SVSU back in March, but just like the weather, SVSU is heating up.

The girls said the bond they have together will continue to lead them to victory.

“We love each other so much and on the field, it really shows that we’re a close knit team,” said SVSU senior pitcher Emily DePew.

“We’ve been together for the most part, majority of us have been together for about three, four years. So just having the depth through the entire lineup and having the freshmen come in and add to it just molded really well and ultimately led to the success on the field,” said SVSU junior catcher Paige Kolinski.

“I think everybody knows that it takes everyone to win a championship and Ryan has been really good in instilling confidence in us girls. He believes that if we just play Cardinal softball, we can win a lot of games and it shows. That’s what we’ve been doing, and we hope to keep the momentum rolling coming into the weekend,” said SVSU junior third baseman Alexis Gills.

SVSU takes on Ohio Dominican Thursday, May 11 at 2:30 p.m.

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