EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE softball finished the regular season with a split Saturday and has secured the No. 3 seed for the 2026 Ohio Valley Conference Championships.
SIUE, which finished the regular season with a 27-27 record and an 18-9 record in OVC play, won game one Saturday 5-0 and dropped the nightcap 8-0.
The OVC Championships begin Wednesday in Peoria, Illinois, at the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex.
As the No. 3 seed, SIUE advanced directly to the double-elimination tournament and will play the winner of the tournament's first game between sixth-seeded Southern Indiana and seventh-seeded Tennessee Tech. SIUE's game is set for a 3 p.m. start and will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
On Sunday, SIUE celebrated seniors Kaylin Fahy, Gretchen Trello and Kiana Villa, playing in their final home games at Cougar Field.Avery Arwood earned the complete-game shutout in game one. She struck out nine and allowed five hits while winning her seventh straight game. Arwood is 12-6 heading into the OVC Tournament.
SIUE's offense tallied three runs in the third inning on an RBI double by Aidyn Barrera and a two-RBI single by Betsy Woodward.
Trello helped the Cougars make it 4-0 in the fourth. After a hard hit off Western Illinois pitcher Kaitlyn Green that moved Raegan Duncan over to third base, Trello would steal second but an errant throw allowed Duncan to score.
Duncan would add a towering home run to left field to would cap the scoring.
In game two, Western Illinois rallied for five runs in the third inning and pushed past the Cougars. Western Illinois, now 14-31 overall and 9-17 in the OVC, used a complete-game five-hitter by Lillie Wools to collect the victory.
SIUE finished their final regular season home game with six hits, including two from Fahy.
