THE FIRST PITCH
• The No. 6 seeded Youngstown State softball team (24-25) opens the 2023 Horizon League Championship against the No. 3 seeded Northern Kentucky Norse (19-29), Wednesday, May 10.
• First pitch against the Norse is set for 3:30 p.m. Eastern at King Park in Green Bay, Wis. 
• The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

Last Time Out
• Last week, the Penguins won the season series over Northern Kentucky by winning the first two games of the series, 9-1, and 3-1.
• The Penguins dropped the series finale, 10-9, in 10 innings.

Up Next
• With a win, the Penguins will face No. 2 Robert Morris, Thursday, May 11 at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.
• With a loss, the Penguins will take on the loser of the No. 4 IUPUI-No. 5 Green Bay game in an elimination contest on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern.

About Northern Kentucky
• Northern Kentucky enters the tournament with an overall record of 19-29 and earned the third seed in the championship after posting a 13-9 Horizon League mark.
• Ella LeMonier leads the Norse with a .331 batting average and 21 stolen bases while Jena Rhodes is batting .276.
• Lauryn Hicks leads the staff with an 8-8 record and a 2.80 earned-run average.
• LeMonier, Hicks, and Maddie Lacer were all named All-Horizon League First-Team.
• Lacer, who batted .235, was named the league's defensive player of the year.

Series History
• This is the 28th meeting between Youngstown State and Northern Kentucky in a series that dates back to 2016.
• The Penguins own a 14-13 advantage in the all-time series.
• The Penguins and Norse have met in the postseason three times and the Norse have won twice.
• Last season, Northern Kentucky defeated the Penguins, 1-0, in the first round of the tournament and knocked off YSU, 6-0, in 2019.
• The Penguins defeated the Norse in the 2018 Horizon League Championship, 4-2.

Penguins Earn League Honors
• Youngstown State juniors Sara Fessler, Sophie Howell, and Elyssa Imler were named to the 2023 Horizon League Softball All-League Teams, the league announced on Tuesday.
• Fessler was named to the All-Horizon League First-Team while Howell and Imler were voted to the second-team.
• Fessler, who ranked in the top five in 10 different statistical categories, led the league with 38 runs scored and a .500 on-base percentage. 
• She ranks second with a .376 batting average and 76 total bases, third with 54, and fourth with 11 doubles and a 1.039 OPS.
• Howell, who went 9-5 with a 2.29 earned-run average and 65 strikeouts in league play, ranks second in the league with 14 victories, third with 151 strikeouts,  and fifth with a 2.76 earned-run average.
• Imler is batting .291 with seven doubles, a home run, and 19 runs batted in overall, and boasts a .300 batting average against Horizon League foes.

Campbell Reaches 350 at YSU
• Head Coach Brian Campbell, the winningest coach in program history with 351 wins, picked up his 350th victory at Youngstown State after the Penguins 9-1 win over Northern Kentucky on May 5.
• Campbell, who has 636 career victories, was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2021.
• In 2021, Campbell led the Penguins to the first regular-season conference championship in program history with a 36-15 overall record and a 28-8 mark in league play.
• He has led the Penguins to five 30-win seasons and is the only coach in school history to win at least 30 games in consecutive seasons - 2021, 2022 and 2016, 2017.
• Since the start of the 2021 season, Youngstown State has an overall record of 92-64 for a .590 winning percentage.

Home Sweet Home
• Since the Penguins began playing their home games at the YSU Softball Field in 2014, they have found a lot of success in their home ballpark. Youngstown State is 116-63 in 179 games in its on-campus facility for a .648 winning percentage. YSU secured its 100th victory at the complex with a 5-2 victory over Green Bay on April 23, 2022.
• The Penguins, who are 12-4 at home in 2023, have reached double digits in wins in eight of the nine seasons that they've played at the YSU Softball Complex (no home games were played in 2020). 
• YSU's best season at home came in 2021 when it went 23-8 for a .742 winning percentage. The Penguins have had a winning record in seven of their eight seasons playing on campus.
• Youngstown State was 15-8 at the YSU Softball Complex in 2022, including 11-4 against Horizon League opponents during the regular season. This season, YSU is 4-2 against league foes at the YSU Softball Complex.
• The Penguins have earned a victory on each Opening Day at the YSU Softball Complex since 2014. YSU is 5-3 in their first home games since 2014, but it bounced back to split doubleheaders on the three instances in which it dropped the opener.
• Youngstown State has a 74-36 mark (.673) in Horizon League regular-season games played at the YSU Softball Field. The Penguins are 31-10 in conference regular-season contests played on their turf over the last two-plus seasons.

Fessler Feasting
• Youngstown State junior Sara Fessler had a player-of-the-year type of season.
• Fessler, who ranked in the top five in 10 different statistical categories, led the league with 38 runs scored and a .500 on-base percentage. 
• She ranks second with a .376 batting average and 76 total bases, third with 54, and fourth with 11 doubles and a 1.039 OPS.

Bats Improved in League Play
• Youngstown State's offensive production has certainly increased during Horizon League play. 
• The Penguins batted .293 with 34 doubles, 15 home runs, and 95 runs batted in against league foes.
• Seven players batted above .280 in league play while three are above .330.
• Sara Fessler boasts a .400 average against the league while Taylor Truran hit .356. 
• Avrey Schumacher batted .339, Megan Turner hit .323, and Elyssa Imler had a .300 average, 
• Turner had six home runs with 20 RBIs, a .677 slugging percentage, and an OPS of 1.025 in league contests.

Howell Climbing K's Chart
• Junior Sophie Howell is quickly climbing the Youngstown State all-time strikeout chart.
• She currently ranks tied for seventh all-time with 303 career strikeouts and needs 12 more to move into sixth place.
• Howell has a career-best 151 strikeouts this season, which ranks third in the Horizon League and sixth on the YSU single-season list.
• She also leads the league with 58 strikeouts looking and 167.2 innings pitched, and ranks second in the league with 14 wins. 

Jakse, Turner named to All-Academic Team
• Youngstown State's Jillian Jakse and Megan Turner were named to the 2023 Valeo Softball All-Academic Team.
• Jakse, who has appeared in 42 games this season, was Named to the Horizon League honor roll three times and carries a 4.0 grade-point average in civil engineering. 
• She was also named the 2021 Freshman of the Year and First-Team All-Horizon League that season.
• Turner, who carries a 4.0 GPA with a graduate major of business leadership, has been named to the Horizon League Honor Roll three times 
• She has appeared in 48 games and is tied for the league lead with six home runs.

Howell, Turner Sweep Horizon League Weekly Awards
• Junior Sophie Howell and senior Megan Turner were named the Horizon League Pitcher and Player of the Week, respectively, on March 28.
• That week, the Penguins went 6-1 overall and 4-1 in Horizon League play thanks in part to the duo. 
• Howell went 3-0 with a 1.54 earned-run average, 23 strikeouts in 22.2 innings pitched. She also fired three complete games. 
• Turner batted .471 (8-for-17) with six runs scored, two doubles, five home runs and 11 RBIs. She also slugged 1.471 and had an OBP of .500.

Penguins Picked Fifth
• Youngstown State was predicted to finish fifth in the Horizon League after a preseason vote of the league's head coaches. The Penguins, who received 50 points, are coming off their second straight 30-win campaign after going 32-24 overall and 17-9 in the Horizon League.
• Oakland earned 77 points and eight first-place votes to earn the top spot in voting done by the League's head coaches while Robert Morris (68 points) was voted second in the poll. Cleveland State (61) and Green Bay (51) were picked ahead of YSU (50), and Northern Kentucky (43), IUPUI (22), Purdue Fort Wayne (20) and Detroit Mercy (13) rounded out the poll.

2023 #HLSB Preseason Poll
Pl.       Team – Pts. (First-place votes)
1.         Oakland (8) – 77
2.         RMU (1) – 68
3.         Cleveland State – 61
4.         Green Bay – 51
5.         Youngstown State – 50
6.         Northern Kentucky – 43
7.         IUPUI – 22
8.         Purdue Fort Wayne – 20
9.         Detroit Mercy – 13