TOWSON, Md. – The bus is gassed up. The equipment is stored in its familiar spot underneath the bus. The food orders have been placed. The Towson University softball team is taking a road trip to Eastern Kentucky University to compete in the National Invitational Softball Championship tournament.
 
This is Towson's first postseason appearance in program history. The Tigers will meet Austin Peay on Thursday at 3 p.m. at Gertrude Hood Field. This will be the first meeting between Towson and Austin Peay in softball.
 
The pod will run from Thursday through Saturday with the winner advancing to the semifinals against winners from the other three pods. The loser of the Towson-Austin Peay plays at 12 p.m. against the loser of the Eastern Kentucky-Toledo contest on Friday. The two winners of those games play at 3 p.m., also on Friday.
 
A Look At Austin Peay
The Tigers will most likely be facing one of the better pitchers in the nation in Austin Peay's Morgan Rackel. She is 22nd nationally with a 1.31 earned run average and 40th with 201 strikeouts. Kelsey Gross has five saves, which is 12th nationally. The Governors offense has been led by Danielle Liermann's .343 average. She has 15 home runs and 51 RBIs to lead Austin Peay. Also hitting over .300 for the Governors are Bailey Shorter (.325) and Kacy Acree (.324). Carly Mattson has 12 home runs. It is the first national postseason appearance by the Governors (39-17) in the program's 33-year history, after posting school bests with a second-place finish during the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and a third-place finish in the conference's championship tournament. The Governors enter the tournament with a RPI of 78 in the nation.
 
A Look At Eastern Kentucky
EKU (40-18) fell in the championship game of its conference tournament to Jacksonville State. Paige Murphy, Mollie Paulick and Emily Corbitt were each placed on the Ohio Valley Conference All-Tournament Team. Murphy continues to lead the Colonels offensively, hitting a .461 clip with 14 doubles, 1 triple, 22 homers, 58 runs batted in and 33 walks. Paulick holds a 21-6 record on the season with a team-best 2.03 earned run average. Murphy was named the OVC Player of the Year. She, Paulick and Destinee Lizzmore garnered first team honors. Hannah Clark was named to the second team and Lizzmore, Carly Robinson and Corbitt were named to the all-newcomer team. Worthington was named the OVC Coach of the Year.
 
A Look At Toledo
The Rockets, of the Mid-American Conference, come into the event with a 34-21 mark after dropping their final game to Ball State. Bailey Curry leads the offensive effort with a .363 average while Kailey Minarchick is leading from the circle with a 2.36 ERA. Minarchick and Curry were each named First-Team All-MAC while Curry doubled up as the Freshman Of The Year. Ashley Rausch was given all-second team honors and Kylie Norwood was named to the all-freshman team. Head Coach Kristen Butler was named the MAC Coach of the Year.
 
Towson Team Records
Towson set single season program records for wins (40), runs (364), hits (492), doubles (98), total bases (762), walks (174) and batting average (.331). This was Towson's highest batting average since the 1994 team hit .306.
 
Historic Start
Towson roared to its best start in program history at 19-3.
 
Record Winning Streaks
The Tigers had a school record 13-game winning streak from Feb. 23 through April 17. Towson also had a 10-game winning streak from April 14-28.
   
Home Sweet Home
The Tigers became the first team in program history to win at least 20 home games, finishing with 23 wins at the Tiger Softball Stadium.
 
Well Isn't That Grand
Nicole Stockinger hit two grand slams this season.
   
High Five
Towson scored at least five runs in an inning 19 times this season.  Four Tigers had five-RBI games this season (Kendyl Scott twice against Georgetown on Apr. 17 & Delaware State on Apr. 25, Nicole Stockinger against Oakland on Feb. 24, Shelby Stracher against North Dakota on Feb. 9 & Brook Miko against Delaware on Mar. 30).
 
Homer Happy
Towson was 10-0 when it hit at least two home runs. The Tigers hit 52 home runs, the second most in a single-season in program history. The program record is 70 set in 2016.
 
Double-Digit Fancy
Towson scored double digits in a game 14 times. Towson has had double-digit hits in a game 26 times this season.
 
CAA Players of the Week
Megan Dejter was named CAA Pitcher Of The Week twice (Feb. 27 & April 20). Nicole Stockinger was named CAA Player Of The Week twice (Feb. 27 & Mar. 12). Kendyl Scott was named CAA Player Of The Week (April 9).
 
CAA Success In 2018
The 13 CAA regular season wins tied the 2005 and 2009 for most in a single season. Towson had an 11-game winning streak against CAA competition from March 31-April 28.
 
Mighty Miko
Brook Miko led the nation in RBIs (72) and RBIs per game (1.31) entering the CAA Tournament. Miko was fourth in doubles (22), 12th in sacrifice flies (5) and 17th in runs per game (1.04). Miko led the CAA in all five of the above-mentioned categories. In addition, Miko was eighth in doubles per game (0.40), 12th in hits (72) and 14th in total bases (132). Miko, who ended the regular season with a .426 batting average, had a two-homer game against Delaware in a 7-4 victory. Miko had 22 multi-hit games, including a quartet of three-hit efforts. Miko set Towson single season records for RBIs, runs and doubles. She became the Tigers all-time program leader in runs, doubles and RBIs. The RBI and runs mark are CAA single season records. Miko is also the CAA's career leader in RBIs.
 
Super Scott
Kendyl Scott entered the CAA tournament ranked second in the NCAA in hits (84), fourth in batting average (.472), fifth in total bases (137) and 10th toughest to strikeout (35.6).   Scott was named Towson Female Student- Athlete Of The Year during the annual Towson Golden Paws banquet.Those numbers are also CAA-leading marks for Scott. In addition, Scott was sixth in doubles (21), ninth in doubles per game (0.40), 30th in slugging percentage (.770) and 41st in on-base percentage (.505). Scott led Towson with 29 multi-hit games. Scott had a walkoff single against UNCW to lift Towson to a 4-3 win Scott hit two homers during a 14-4 win over Delaware State and drove in five runs twice in an eight-day period in April. Scott set the Towson single season record for hits with 85. She also became the all-time program leader in hits and runs during the season.
  
Dynamite Dejter
Megan Dejter tied a single season Towson program record with 22 victories.
 
Wonderful Wilson
 Madison Wilson opened the season with a 13-game hitting streak. Wilson had 21 multi-hit games.
 
Runs Runneth Over
The Tigers scored 19 runs against North Carolina A&T, the seventh time since 1980 they scored at least that many in a game.
   
Stracher Shines
Shelby Stracher became Towson's all-time leader in home runs in grand fashion with a walkoff homer in the Tigers season opening win over North Dakota. Stracher has 41 career home runs, which is third in CAA history.
 
CAA Postseason
Towson is one of three teams from the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) to compete in the postseason. CAA Tournament champion Hofstra earned the automatic qualifier and was sent to the Columbia, South Carolina where it meet Liberty Friday at 5 p.m. Meanwhile, regular season champion James Madison was sent to the Knoxville, Tennessee regional. The Dukes will meet Ohio Friday at 3 p.m.
 
All-CAA Selections
Seniors Megan Dejter, Daria Edwards, Brook Miko, and Kendyl Scott along with junior Nicole Stockinger were named to the 2018 All-Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Softball Team. Dejter, Miko, and Scott were named to the First Team. Edwards and Stockinger earned Second Team recognition. This is Scott's second consecutive First Team selection.
 
About the NISC
Overall, 17 schools are participating in this tournament. This marks the second year of the tournament, which features eight teams that have won 30 games or more during the 2018 season and six teams that finished second or better during the regular season in their respective conferences.
 
First-round regional action begins Wednesday, May 16 – regional hosts are Northern Colorado, UNLV, Eastern Kentucky and Central Arkansas. Each double-elimination regional concludes play on either Friday, May 18 or Saturday, May 19. The Championship round, also double-elimination, is slated to begin Wednesday, May 23 at a host site to be determined.
 
Each of the 12 automatic qualifiers are the teams who finished the best regular-season record in their respective conference and are not playing in the NCAA Tournament. The five at large selections were selected off their body of work. Teams are selected to regions based on travel considerations first and then seeded by NCAA RPI (as of May 13).