SIU Edwardsville Cougars softball

The SIU Edwardsville Cougars softball team represents Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in NCAA Division I college softball. They compete as members of the Ohio Valley Conference. SIUE plays its home games at Cougar Field, located in the southwest corner of the campus.^[2]

SIU Edwardsville Cougars
Founded	1974
University	Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Athletic director	Derrick Brown (interim)
Head coach	Ben Sorden (2nd season season)
Conference	OVC
Location	Edwardsville, IL
Home stadium	Cougar Field aka Cougar Stadium (Capacity: 800+)
Nickname	Cougars
Colors	Red and white^[1]
NCAA Tournament champions
D II: 2007
NCAA WCWS appearances
D II: 2006, 2007
AIAW WCWS appearances
D II: 1980, 1982
NCAA Tournament appearances
D I: 2014 D II: 1985, 1988, 1990, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Conference Tournament championships
OVC: 2014 GLVC: 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008
Regular Season Conference championships
OVC: 2015 OVC West Div.: 2014 GLVC: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007 GLVC SW Div.:1997, 1998

History

Sources:^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Through 2018, the SIUE softball team had had only two head coaches in its history.

The program was begun by Cindy Jones in 1974–75. In fourteen seasons, Jones' teams were 376–201, with two trips to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Division II National Tournament^[8] and two invitations to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship tournament while competing as a Division II independent.

Coach Sandy Montgomery took over the Cougars in 1989, with SIUE continuing as an independent and earning its third invitation to the Division II playoffs before joining the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) in 1996. In thirteen seasons as members of the GLVC, the Cougars won or shared seven regular season division or conference titles and five conference tournament championships. They earned ten trips to the NCAA Division II playoffs, including two spots in the Division II College World Series, and won the NCAA Division II National Softball Championship in 2007.

In 2008–09, SIUE athletics began the transition into Division I, and the Cougars joined the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) in 2011.

On April 9, 2014, the Cougars defeated the Saint Louis Billikens 4–1 at SLU. The win was Coach Sandy Montgomery's 900th coaching win, making her the 39th coach in NCAA softball history to reach that milestone.^[9] Coach Montgomery's record since assuming the reins in 1989 through the end of the 2014 regular season is 914–462–2.

On May 10, 2014, the softball Cougars became the first SIUE team to win an OVC championship in any sport. Rain and thunderstorms shortened the tournament, played at University Field at Jacksonville State, with the losers bracket being cancelled, while the 2nd seeded Cougars and the 4th seeded Murray State Racers were the last two undefeated teams. The Cougars scored early, with four home runs in the first two innings, and defeated the Racers 12–1, with the game halted after 6 innings by the mercy rule.^[10] The squad also became the first SIUE team to qualify for an NCAA Division I tournament since the 1982 men's soccer team, when that sport had been the university's only Division I program before the school's transition to Division I for all sports began in 2008.^[11]

In late July 2018, Sandy Montgomery suddenly announced her early retirement.^[12] Assistant coach Jessica Jones was named as interim head coach for the 2019 season.^[13]

On August 24, 2022, Coach Ben Sorden was named the new Cougars head softball coach. ^[14]

Records by year

Statistics overview

Season	Coach	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
SIU Edwardsville (Division II Independent^[3]) (1975–1985)
1975	Cindy Jones	10–9
1976	Cindy Jones	4–11
1977	Cindy Jones	16–9
1978	Cindy Jones	15–10
1979	Cindy Jones	15–16
1980	Cindy Jones	36–20			AIAW DII WCWS (t-9th)
1981	Cindy Jones	30–14
1982	Cindy Jones	39–20			AIAW DII WCWS National Runnerup
1983	Cindy Jones	33–17
1984	Cindy Jones	38–8
1985	Cindy Jones	40–13			NCAA Regional
1986	Cindy Jones	25–22
1987	Cindy Jones	36–19
1988	Cindy Jones	39–13			NCAA Regional
Cindy Jones:		376–201 .652
1989	Sandy Montgomery	35–24–1
1990	Sandy Montgomery	34–13			NCAA Regional
1991	Sandy Montgomery	35–16
1992	Sandy Montgomery	22–21
1993	Sandy Montgomery	23–24
1994	Sandy Montgomery	18–25–1
1995	Sandy Montgomery	24–19
SIU Edwardsville (Great Lakes Valley Conference (Div. II)^[4]) (1996–2008)
1996	Sandy Montgomery	34–17	12–6	2nd
1997	Sandy Montgomery	39–13	23–0	1st Southwest
1998	Sandy Montgomery	33–23	22–5	1st Southwest	NCAA Regional
1999	Sandy Montgomery	33–17	13–3	1st
2000	Sandy Montgomery	39–19	16–6	t-3rd	NCAA Regional
2001	Sandy Montgomery	41–17	17–5	2nd	NCAA Regional
2002	Sandy Montgomery	51–12	17–2	1st	NCAA Regional
2003	Sandy Montgomery	44–11	17–3	1st	NCAA Regional
2004	Sandy Montgomery	35–19	15–5	3rd	NCAA Regional
2005	Sandy Montgomery	41–15	15–3	3rd	NCAA Regional
2006	Sandy Montgomery	52–11	16–4	1st	Div. II WCWS
2007	Sandy Montgomery	49–8	19–5	t-1st	NCAA Div. II Champion
2008	Sandy Montgomery	49–11	19–5	2nd	NCAA Regional
SIU Edwardsville (Division I Independent^[3]) (2009–2010)
2009	Sandy Montgomery	40–10
2010	Sandy Montgomery	27–24
SIU Edwardsville (Ohio Valley Conference^[5]) (2011–current)
2011	Sandy Montgomery	28–30	19–11	4th
2012	Sandy Montgomery	23–29	13–16	8th
2013	Sandy Montgomery	35–13	17–5	2nd West
2014	Sandy Montgomery	30–23	19–5	1st West	NCAA Regional
2015	Sandy Montgomery	43–16	20–6	1st
2016	Sandy Montgomery	28–26	15–11	4th
2017	Sandy Montgomery	41–13	13–3	t-2nd
2018	Sandy Montgomery	25–21	14–8	5th
Sandy Montgomery:		1,051–540–2 .660	336–108 .757
2019	Jessica Jones	16–28	8–14	8th
Jessica Jones:		16–28 .852	8–14 .364
Total:		1,415–743–2 .656	336–108
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

All–Americans

Through the years, fifteen Cougar softball players were named Division II All–Americans:^[15]

1981 – Denise Schaake 1982 – Amy Frey 1984 – Kathy Byrne

1988 – Laura McCune 1991 – Michele Cleeton 2000 – Erin Newman & Katie Waldo

2001 – Valerie McCoy & Erin Newman 2002 – Valerie McCoy 2003 – Jenny Esker & Holly Neuerburg

2006 – Alicia DeShasier & Sabra McCune 2007 – Kaitlin Colosimo

In 2017, Haley Chambers-Book became the Cougars' first Division I All-American.

References

1. "Ohio Valley Conference Style Guide" (PDF). June 20, 2022. Retrieved November 13, 2022.
2. "OVC Member Institutions". Ohio Valley Conference. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
3. "SIUE Softball Archives". SIUE Cougars. Retrieved July 8, 2013.^{[permanent dead link]}
4. "GLVC Softball Archive". Great Lakes Valley Conference. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
5. "OVC Softball Records" (PDF). Ohio Valley Conference. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
6. "Division II Softball Championship History". NCAA. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
7. "AlestleLive Sports Blog". The Alestle. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
8. "1979-80 Winter & Spring Championship Results" (PDF). NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP NEWSLETTER. Washington, DC: ASSOCIATION FOR INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS FOR WOMEN. Summer 1980. p. 17 (p 143 of PDF). Retrieved 2017-02-20.
9. "Sandy Montgomery Notches 900th Win In Illustrious 26 Year Career". NCAA. April 8, 2014. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
10. "Rain ousts EIU; SIUE wins OVC softball title". Journal-Gazette & Times-Courier. May 11, 2014. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
11. . The Telegraph. May 11, 2014. Archived from the original on May 12, 2014. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
12. "COLLEGE SOFTBALL: Montgomery retires after 30 seasons, 1,051 victories as SIUE coach". The Telegraph. July 27, 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
13. "SIUE Announces 2018 Fall Softball Schedule". Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
14. "SIUE Softball Names Sorden as New Head Coach". SIUE. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
15. "SIUE Softball All-Americans". SIUE Cougars. Retrieved August 16, 2014.^{[permanent dead link]}

External links

• Official website