ST. LOUIS – Madison Hunsaker and Olivia Krehbiel of Missouri State softball earned Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete honors as the league announced the postseason team Friday morning.
Hunsaker and Krehbiel received honorable mention recognition for their efforts on the field and in the classroom this season. The Bears duo collected National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Region honors on Thursday (May 20) as Hunsaker was a first-team selection and Krehbiel landed on the second team.
Hunsaker (Sr., P/1B, Peculiar, Mo.) earned her first MVC Scholar-Athlete honor after she played in all 43 games of the 2021 season and started in 42 of them while maintaining a 3.34 cumulative grade-point average in Administrative Management. She posted a .268 average with six doubles, three home runs and 21 RBI at the plate while going 10-5 with 91.2 innings pitched in her 25 appearances in the circle. Her 1.91 ERA against Missouri Valley Conference opponents ranked fifth among league pitchers.
The honor becomes the latest accolade for Hunsaker, who garnered all-MVC second team laurels and represented the Bears on the league’s All-Defensive Team to go along with her NFCA All-Region selection. She earned both MVC Player of the Week (April 19) and Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 22) honors this spring and became the second Bear to collect both of the conference’s weekly awards after Kate Madden accomplished the feat in the 1996 campaign.
Krehbiel (So., 3B, Lee’s Summit, Mo.) adds an MVC-Scholar Athlete nod to her career ledger that includes this year’s NFCA All-Region honor as well as being selected to the NFCA Scholar-Athlete team in 2019. Boasting a 3.96 GPA as a Sales Management major, she batted .342 in her sophomore campaign while leading the team in RBI (30), extra-base hits (14) and walks (24). In her 40 starts this year, Krehbiel totaled a team-high 75 assists while she occupied the hot corner for the Bears.
The Lee’s Summit, Mo. product was an All-MVC first-team selection after she ranked fourth in RBI (24), fifth in slugging (.746) and sixth in hitting (.418) in conference-only games. She reached base safely in 13 of the final 14 games for MSU and drove in 16 runs during that stretch to close out the season.
Drake’s Macy Johnson was tabbed MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year to headline the 12-player first-team list. Hunsaker and Krehbiel were joined by seven other honorable mention honorees.
Missouri State finished the 2021 campaign with a 26-17 overall record and went 16-6 in MVC play to total at least 16 conference wins for the fifth time in program history.
