MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Morehead State softball team will open its fall campaign on Saturday with a doubleheader against neighboring Kentucky Christian. The two teams will meet for a doubleheader at the University Field in Morehead, Ky., at 10 a.m. It will be the first of three outings this fall for the Blue and Gold.
The Eagles will also play Shawnee State in a home doubleheader on Sunday, Oct. 12 and then host Lake Land (Ill.) College for a twin bill on Sunday, Oct. 19. All three sets of games will begin at 10 a.m.
Fourth year MSU coach
Megan Griffith will have her largest roster to date.
"We started full team practice this week and it's been a lot of fun! Our players have shown strong work ethics and the willingness to learn and grow, which has made it all the more exciting," she said. "We're looking forward to squaring off against Kentucky Christian this weekend. It will be a great way to continue our development and growth as a team. We have Shawnee (State) and Lake Land in October and we're excited to see the team's progress between now and then."
The Eagles have had individual workouts as well as weight training and conditioning since mid-August.
"We are staying focused on our process throughout the fall, and the players have done a fantastic job staying process-oriented," Griffith said. "We've got a lot of great things to work with this year!"
Twelve newcomers are joining 10 returnees. The latter group includes all three pitchers and six starting position players (including the designated player).
Morehead State finished the 2025 campaign 8-41 overall, and 6-20 and in 10th place in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Eagles are coming off their best offensive season in ages, boasting a .274 team batting average, with 204 runs, 341 hits, 66 doubles, 18 home runs, 179 RBI, a .383 slugging percentage and a .345 on-base percentage. The squad also walked 121 times and had 200 strikeouts.
Pitching, however, was an issue. The Eagles used six pitchers and finished with a 7.96 team ERA, with opponents hitting .361 against them. They also walked 223 batters, while striking out just 107.
Two all-conference players return. Junior outfielder
Maddy Christopher hit .268, with 57 hits, scoring 27 times, stealing seven bases and adding a .395 on-base percentage. Junior shortstop
Sela Pickford hit .331, with 28 RBI, 19 extra-base hits, a .522 slugging percentage and a .380 on-base percentage. She also ranked among the national leaders among shortstops with a .966 fielding percentage. Christopher was a First-Team All-OVC selection, while Pickford was named to the second team.
Sophomore infielder
Victoria Spencer (.246 batting average, 18 runs and a .299 on-base percentage), sophomore catcher
Nyla Doiron (.246 batting average, 10 doubles, 26 RBI and a .333 on-base percentage), senior infielder
Jordan Donato (.222 batting average, 19 runs, a .301 on-base percentage) and senior outfielder
Taikibrea Campbell (.215 batting average, nine doubles and a .208 on-base percentage) are also key returning starters.
Six players did not return from last year, including
Ilencia Lightbody,
Darlene Montoya and
Kendra Lewis.
MSU's first opponent is a familiar one. The Eagles hosted KCU in both the fall of 2022 and 2023, and finished 4-0. In 2023, Morehead State won 6-2 and 8-1 in a pair of five-inning home games. In 2022, it was 5-2 and 16-4, both in seven innings, with the contests played at Rowan County High School.
The Knights finished 19-29 last spring. The two teams have never faced each other in the regular season.
Shawnee State posted a 27-18 record last year. The Eagles and Bears are tied 9-9 in the spring series history, with the last meeting coming in 2013, when the Blue and Gold won 2-0 and 6-0 at home.
Lake Land is a two-year college that has sent multiple players to MSU. Three current Eagles played there before transferring to Morehead State. Donato, senior pitcher
Rylie Burney and junior utility player Noemye Letendre spent time at the school. Because Lake Land is a junior college, the Eagles and the Lakers are not eligible to play during the regular season.
However, this fall LLC is playing a slate of Division I colleges, including UT Martin, Western Illinois, Bradley, Purdue, Valparaiso, SIU Edwardsville, Muray State. Southern Indiana, Ball State and Eastern Illinois. The meeting with MSU will be its final one of the fall.
Last fall, the Eagles played just one game, falling to Kentucky 11-0 in seven innings in Lexington, Ky.
Morehead State will begin the 2026 campaign in February.
