ANGOLA, IND.-- The third-ranked Trine softball team topped the Central Region rankings in the NCAA Regional Rankings released Thursday.
The Thunder are ranked first in the region with a 33-2 overall record, having wrapped up the MIAA regular-season title with a 16-0 conference mark. Trine set the all-time MIAA mark for consecutive conference wins Wednesday witha sweep of St. Mary's, extending their winning-streak to 46 games. The Thunder are 4-0 against teams ranked in the region, having swept both Case (third) and Calvin (fourth). The NCAA Regional Rankings are used to determine seeding in the NCAA Regional Championships. The rankings reflect games played through Monday.
Bree Fuller (Hubbardston, Mich./Fulton) threw the first perfect game in school-history this past Wednesday against St. Mary's. The junior has thrown a perfect game and a no-hitter in her last two starts in conference play. She became the first MIAA pitcher to throw two no-hitters in a season since Shauna Koolhaus of Calvin threw two in 1996. In her last three starts, she has allowed one run on two hits, walked five and struck out 36 over 20 innings pitched.
A Thunder player can be found atop the leaderboard of nearly every offensive statistical category in the MIAA. As of Monday's NCAA Statistics report, Trine was the third-highest scoring team in the nation. The team is batting .372, getting on base at a .443 clip and slugging .574.
Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) leads the nation with 12 triples this season. Searles sets the table atop the Thunder order with an MIAA-leading .472 batting average and .535 on-base percentage. The speedster leads the conference with 24 steals.
Kaitlyn Clark (Mount Juliet, Tenn./Wilson Central) has slugged an MIAA-leading 13 home runs to go along with a conference-best 45 RBI's. The sophomore also leads the league with 11 doubles and an .829 slugging percentage.
One of Trine's hottest bats of late belongs to Rachel Harris (Uniontown, Ohio/Hoover), who has homered in two-straight games. Harris has seven homers and 34 RBI to go along with a .373 average.
Trine will host the 2014 MIAA Tournament, which begins next Friday, May 1. The Thunder are slated to open against a yet-to-be-determined opponent at 1:00 p.m. Full details on the MIAA Tournament will be announced when league play is completed Saturday.