SLIAC Softball: Decade of the Griffins
Over the last few weeks, we have been looking at the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference spring sports history. Each week we examine the 30 years of SLIAC history, culminating with a send-off for SLIAC seniors of each spring sport. Today we look at the most recent decade of SLIAC softball history, the 2010s, a decade controlled by the Fontbonne University Griffins.
The Fontbonne softball program already had five regular-season titles and won three SLIAC Tournaments, making three trips to the NCAA Division III National Tournament, as they began the decade of the 2010s. However, they would quickly surpass those numbers in the new decade, rolling to seven regular-season titles, six consecutive SLIAC Championships, and six straight national tournament appearances. In the eight years (2009-16) under the direction of head coach Bill Rosner, the Griffins never had a losing season and 30 games in a season three times. They won 54 straight games at home from 2012 to 2017 along with 36 consecutive regular-season SLIAC wins from 2012 to 2014. The list of Griffin All-Americans during that time includes pitcher Madi Leonard, Marissa Simon, and sisters Cassi and Danni Glixman.
The Fontbonne dynasty was stopped in historic fashion by Greenville University in 2016. The Panthers came into the SLIAC Tournament as the #4 seed but shocked the Griffins in the first-round by handing them their first loss in the tournament since 2010, a stretch of 16 post-season games. Greenville lost their next game but won their final three of the tournament and became the first team to win the championship through the loser's bracket since the 2005 tournament. That tournament put in place the foundation for a Panthers' title run, as they took home both the 2017 and 2018 titles as well.
Another historic tournament occurred to close out the decade, this time with Eureka College making headlines. The Red Devils used a potent lineup to win the programs' first-ever SLIAC Softball Championship. The Red Devils boasted the NCAA Division III leader in both batting average in Sydney Shubert (.587 mark) and home runs per game (0.49) and RBI per game (1.66) in Morgan Ledbetter. The duo also earned All-America honors with Shubert taking home the SLIAC Player of the Year award. The Red Devils swept their way to the SLIAC title, scoring 27 runs in their three tournament games, advancing to the national tournament.
After making just two SLIAC tournaments in the first six years of the decade Westminster College became a formidable opponent in the final three years. The Blue Jays won regular-season titles in both 2017 and 2018 behind a deep roster that included two-time SLIAC Player of the Year Erica Burney and SLIAC Pitchers of the Year, Alyson Hahn and Katie Price.
There were also several individual standouts during the '00s including two-time SLIAC Player of the Year Blackburn College's Grace Young, her teammate Brianna Markel, Spalding University's Kelci Flener, and Iowa Wesleyan's Morgan Christner, the 2019 SLIAC Pitcher of the Year.
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