In recent years, softball has been the primary sport in the Land of Logan in terms of equality and excellence between Russellville and Logan County. It’s never an upset, regardless of which team wins when they Clash. That’s being reflected now in the success former Lady Panthers and Lady Cougars are enjoying this season playing college softball.
At least five former Clash of the Lady Cats alumni—three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior—are important and productive parts of college softball teams.
Take for example what happened Wednesday. In Tennessee, former RHS great A’miyah Collier returned to action for Vol State after a month of being sidelined with a fractured foot. Her aunt, Shanon Leavell, reports that she homered in her first at-bat back.
Meanwhile, her year-younger teammate, Madison “Matt Matt” Penrod, had a good day Tuesday and an even better one Wednesday. On Tuesday, during a game in Virginia, her dad—Lady Panther Assistant Coach Chris Penrod—wrote:
“Matt Matt working at the plate 2 doubles, RBI, and behind the plate, done hosed down 2.”
The next day, Penrod added much more. Coach/Dad Chris wrote, “Matt Matt with the 3 Run Bomb in Virginia!!! Her first collegiate Home Run!!! Proud Dad!!! Matt Matt, Work Hard Be Patient. 3 for 5 with 5 RBI's!”
Shehad a great college debut a few weeks ago, going 4 of 7 at the plate with 2 doubles, 2 singles, and 4 RBI's. As of April 5, she had played in 23 games for the Kentucky Christian University Lady Knights and was batting .255. She had 4 doubles, a triple and 9 RBIs. Her on-base percentage is .300 and her slugging percentage .364. This week’s totals are going to balloon those figures.
Back to Collier: She started the team’s first 22 games, playing shortstop and batting third. She also did some of the pitching, both as a starter and a reliever. At the time she was injured, she had accumulated 40 runs, 39 hits. 5 doubles, 7 triples, 12 homers, 48 RBI, 11 walks, 14 strikeouts, a .494 batting average, and 1.190 slugging percentage. She had [itched in 5 games, 3 as starter, 2 complete games, 3-1 record, 17 innings, and a 5.25 earned run average.
In the last six games before being sidelined, she went 16 of 29 (.552) 3 homers, 4 doubles, 2 triples, 19 RBIs, and 14 runs scored.
The Lady Pioneers are 33-9 on the season.
Freshman Nora Epley has played in 31 of Lindsey Wilson’s 32 games and has been a major contributor to the Lady Raiders’ season. She is first on the team in doubles (12), walks (20) and on-base percentage .445. The infielder is second in batting average (.330), at bats (97), hits (32) and runs scored (22). She’s third in slugging percentage (.485).
The former Lady Cougar went three for four against Williams Baptist of Arkansas on Feb. 28 and has gotten two hits in eight other games.
On defense, she’s recorded multiple assists in 13 games and has only committed four errors all season, no more than one any game.
In most of the offensive categories, she only trails teammate Sam Hartman, a junior from Oklahoma.
Emerson McKinnis is playing NCAA Division I softball for Murray State University in the Missouri Valley Conference. The former Lady Cougar is the backup catcher as a freshman. Her highlight has been being hoisted on the shoulders of teammates after driving in a winning run for the Racers.
This is what Racer Media Information had to say about it:
“Despite losing the first two games of the series, the Racers defeated Missouri State in dramatic fashion in the series finale. Freshman catcher Emerson McKinnins delivered the winning run in the eighth inning with an RBI single to salvage a win on the weekend.”
Eight pictures of her game-winning at bat on the MSU website beginning at https://goracers.com/galleries/softball/series-vs-missouri-state/murray-state-softball-vs-misso/4970/104748
Meanwhile former Lady Panther Jacklyn Zeuge is playing for Bellarmine University in her native Louisville. She has started at second base in 25 of 29 games for the Atlantic Sun Conference team, which is also NCAA Division I. The team, which is also known as Lady Knights, is struggling this season at 5-24.
Zeuge, who played for Coach Ryan Davenport’s Lady Panthers her senior season after playing three years for Louisville Male, is accustomed to winning. Male went undefeated on the way to a national championship when she was a freshman. She and Collier were among the leaders of the RHS team which won the program’s first district championship in 2022.
‘Jack’ is batting .215, which is fourth on the Bellarmine team. She has 14 hits and 10 RBIs while scoring 10 runs. She’s tied for first on the team in walks (17) and being hit by pitches (3). Her on-base percentage is .400. On defense, she is second on the team in both assists (47) and putouts (45). Her fielding percentage is .929.
All of this is in sharp contrast with her first two seasons at first Austin Peay and then Bellarmine when she was rarely used as a pinch hitter.
The daughter of Steve and Libby Zuege, she has an older sister Morgan, who is still a member of the APSU softball team. Their mother, the former Libby Haines, was a standout basketball and tennis player at both RHS and Cumberland University.