The First Pitch
The Youngstown State softball team (31-18, 14-4 HL) hosts the 2026 Horizon League Softball Championship, May 6-9, at the Covelli Sports Complex in Youngstown, Ohio. The top-seeded Penguins have a bye and will play the winner of Game 1 between No. 4 Oakland and No. 5 Green Bay on Thursday, May 7. First pitch for Game 4 is slated for 12 p.m.

Last Time Out
The Penguins earned a series win over Oakland on May 1-2 in Rochester, Mich. The Penguins won the first two games of the series, 9-3, and 11-10, and dropped the finale, 6-3.

Up Next
With a win, the Penguins advance to Game 8 and would face the winner of Game 5 on Friday, May 8 at 2:30 p.m. With a loss the Penguins would play in Game 7 on Friday, May 8 at 12 p.m.

Green Bay Series
Youngstown State won the season series against Green Bay on April 17 and 18 at the Covelli Sports Complex. The Penguins won the opener, 9-7, while the Phoenix won game two, 11-3. Youngstown State won the rubber match, 5-2, on Senior Day.

Penguins Specialty Awards
Youngstown State was a big winner in the 2026 Horizon League softball postseason specialty awards. Freshman Kennedy Kimball became the first player in Horizon League history to win Freshman of the Year and Pitcher of the Year in the same season. Head Coach Brian Campbell was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year for the fourth time. He also won the honor in 2012, 2021, and 2024.

Penguins Rake in Postseason Awards
Along with three Horizon League postseason specialty awards, the Penguins also placed a program-record six players on the all-league teams, including four on the first team and one on both the second team and third team.

All-Horizon League First Team: Kennedy Dean, Emma Gilkerson, Lydia Wilkerson, Kennedy Kimball
All-Horizon League Second Team: Tai Turner
All-Horizon League Third Team: Selah Moyer

Penguins' Bats Alive
Overall, Youngstown State is batting .338 as a team, which is on pace to set a school record, and has nine players hitting .310 or better. Senior Kennedy Dean leads the Penguins with a .374 average while Tai Turner  and Lydia Wilkerson are batting .368 and .364, respectively. Emma Gilkerson boasts an average of .359 while Bella Meyer owns a .353 average.

Penguins 30-for-30
After the winning the season series against the Golden Grizzlies, Youngstown State will picked up its 30th and 31st wins of the season. It marks the eighth time in program history the Penguins have won at least 30 games is a season. It's the seventh time Youngstown State reached the 30-win plateau under Head Coach Brian Campbell.

Penguins Set Multiple Offensive Records
The 2026 season is becoming one of the best offensive campaigns in program history. The Penguins have already set the single-season records for most runs scored (378), most runs batted in (344), doubles (86), and set the hits record of 459, breaking the old mark of 456, and they are on the cusp over breaking the mark for batting average. The Penguins own a .338 batting average, which is 20 points ahead of the current standard of .318 set in 2016. Youngstown State's 47 home runs rank second on the list and it needs five more to tie and six more to break the record of 52 set in 2016. 

Dean in Select Company
With her three home runs at IU Indy, senior Kennedy Dean became just the fourth player in school history to hit at least 12 home runs in a season. Dean is also just one shy of tying the single-season record of 13 set by Cali Mikovich in 2016, and she needs to more break the mark. She is also just the sixth YSU player to record at least 10 doubles (14) and 10 home runs (12) in the same year.

Campbell Reaches Career Win 700
Head Coach Brian Campbell, the winningest coach in program history with 435 wins, picked up the 700th victory of his coaching career in the Penguins' 4-3 win over Le Moyne on March 7 and now has 720 wins. Campbell is a four-time Horizon League Coach of the Year winning the award in 2012, 2021, 2024 and 2026. He led the Penguins to a 20-4 Horizon League record and tied the program single-season wins record with 36 in 2024. 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 seven 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.

No Sophomore Slump
Outfielder Bella Meyer is having an outstanding sophomore for the Penguins. The Champion, Ohio native is batting .353 and is one four Penguins with at least 10 doubles with 10 and has two home runs and 25 runs batted in. She's also batted .364 in league play.

Dean Sets Single-Season RBI Record
Senior Kennedy Dean became the first Youngstown State player to drive in at least 50 runs in a season and broke the single-season record of 49 after blasting a grand slam against Mercyhurst on April 14. Dean now has 65 RBIs on the year and ranks second in the Horizon League. Dean also leads the Penguins with 17 multi-RBI games, including three games with at least five runs batted in and two with four RBIs, and has 15 multi-hit contests.

Turn It Up Tai
Second-team all-league selection junior Tai Turner has been on an offensive juggernaut. Turner posted a team-best 13-game hit streak earlier this season, which ranks tied for seventh in school history, and owns a .368 overall average with eight doubles, three triples, five home runs 36 RBIs. Turner also has 56 runs scored and needs three more to set the single-season mark.

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 145-78 in 223 games in its on-campus facility for a .650 winning percentage. YSU secured its 100th victory at the complex with a 5-2 victory over Green Bay on April 23, 2022.  Youngstown State has a 95-48 mark (.664) in Horizon League regular-season games played at the YSU Softball Field. Since 2021, the Penguins are 55-22 in conference regular-season contests played on their turf.

Kimball One of One
Kennedy Kimball is the first player in Horizon League history to win Freshman of the Year and Pitcher of the Year in the same season. She is the fourth Youngstown State pitcher to win the league's top pitcher and the first since Elle Buffenbarger in 2021. She is also just the second YSU freshman to earn the honor and the first since Kelly Murphy in 2003. The Windham, Maine native is also the seventh Penguin to be named freshman or newcomer of the year and the first since Jillian Jakse in 2021. Kimball leads the Horizon League with a 7-1 record, a 3.31 earned run average and a .232 opponent batting average against league foes. Overall, Kimball is tied for the league lead with 11 victories, leads the conference with a 2.97 ERA and four shutouts and ranks fourth with 81 strikeouts.

Score Early
The Penguins have been success this season by scoring runs early in the game. Youngstown State owns a record of 14-4 when it scores in the first inning and a 23-7 mark when it scores first. The Penguins also own an 23-5 mark when it leads after four innings, 15-4 after five, and 15-2 after six innings. 

RISP-y Business
The Penguins have been solid at the plate with runners in scoring position this season. As a team, Youngstown State is batting .367 with runners in scoring position. Selah Moyer boast an average of .524 (22-for-42) and senior Kennedy Dean is batting .484 (30-for-62) with runners in scoring in scoring position while Bella Meyer has a .435 average (20-for-46) and senior Emma Gilkerson is batting .434 (23-for-53)

2026 Under Armour #HLSB Preseason Poll
Pl.       Team – Pts. (First-place votes)
1.         RMU (6) – 48
2.         IU Indianapolis – 33
T3.       Green Bay – 31
T3.       Northern Kentucky – 31
5.         Youngstown State – 19
6.         Oakland – 18
7.         Detroit Mercy (1) – 16