Softball

Morningside will make its fourth consecutive appearance in the NAIA Softball National Championship tournament when the Mustangs face fifth-ranked Central Baptist College in Thursday’s pool play opener at 3:30 p.m. in Gulf Shores, Ala.

The Mustangs qualified for the national tourney as the GPAC post-season tournament champion. The Mustangs are riding a six-game winning streak and have won nine of their last 10 games.

Jordan Johnson has won 12 of her last 14 pitching starts, including seven by shutout, and has a microscopic 1.35 earned run average during that stretch. Emma Remy has also pitched well down the stretch and is 7-3 with a 1.71 ERA over her last 10 starts.

Kati Steffen has blasted nine home runs with 23 RBIs over the last 21 games, while Taylor Michaelson has hit at a .439 clip over her last 32 contests.

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Morningside will face Central Baptist College at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 17, in its pool play opener at the 2012 NAIA Softball National Championship tournament in Gulf Shores, Ala.

The Mustangs, making their fourth consecutive appearance in the NAIA national tourney, are in Pool D along with Central Baptist, Lee University, and Reinhardt University. Morningside will face Lee at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 18, and Reinhardt at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 19.

The winners of the eight pools will advance to a national championship double elimination bracket slated for May 21-23.

Morningside qualified for the national tournament by winning last week’s Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Tournament after it finished fourth in the regular season standings with an 11-9 league mark. The Mustangs will take a 28-18 record and a six-game winning streak into the national tourney.

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Morningside College placed four players on the 2012 All-Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Softball First Team as selected by the league’s head coaches.

The first-team all-conference performers for the NAIA National Tournament bound Mustangs are Kirsten Dargy, junior designated player from Omaha, Neb.; Mackenzie Neely, a junior catcher from Roland, Iowa; Kati Steffen, a sophomore first baseman from Moville, Iowa; and Courtney Vaughn, a senior third baseman from Fort Dodge, Iowa.

After hovering around the .500 mark for most of the season, the Mustang softball team got hot at the end and will make their fourth consecutive appearance in the NAIA National Championship tournament because of it.

Morningside earned its national tournament berth with an 8-1 victory against Midland University in Saturday’s championship game of the GPAC Post-Season Tournament in Hastings, Neb.

This year’s NAIA national tourney is slated for May 17-23 in Gulf Shores, Ala.

Saturday’s victory against Midland was the sixth straight win for the Mustangs and the ninth triumph in their last 10 contests. The Mustangs (28-18) had a record of just 19-17 prior to their current surge.

Jordan Johnson, a sophomore pitcher from Sioux City, has been named the Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Softball Pitcher of the Week for April 2-8.

Johnson pitched a pair of abbreviated five-inning shutouts to help the Mustangs go 2-2 for the week. She did not walk a batter and allowed only five hits in 10 innings in wins against Northwestern College and Hastings College. Johnson twirled a two-hitter with four strikeouts in an 8-0 victory against Northwestern on April 4 to hand the Red Raiders their only league setback so far this season. She pitched a three-hitter with three strikeouts in a 9-0 win against Hastings on April 6.

Johnson has not allowed an earned run in her last four starts while lowering her season’s earned run average from 3.54 to 2.56.

Morningside College head softball coach Jessica Jones-Sitzmann has announced the names of a transfer addition who will join the Mustangs for the 2012 season and eight recruits who will join the team next year.

The transfer is Taylor Michaelson, an outfielder from Sioux City who joined the Mustangs at the semester break from Iowa Lakes Community College. Michaelson, who has freshman eligibility, is a 2011 graduate of Sioux City East High School, where she was a five-year starter and a four-time Class 4A all-state selection.

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Morningside has been tabbed the favorite to win the 2012 GPAC softball championship in the GPAC Softball Coaches Pre-Season Poll.

The Mustangs, who have won each of the past three league titles, received 10 of the 11 first place votes in the pre-season poll.

Morningside returns six of its eight position starters and both starting pitchers from a team that finished 46-11 last season and made its third consecutive appearance in the NAIA National Tournament.

The Mustangs will open the 2012 season at the Friends University Tournament on March 2 and 3 in Wichita, Kan.

Click here for the complete 2012 GPAC Softball Coaches Pre-Season Poll.