KENOSHA, Wis. – Parkside softball opens postseason play this week at the 2026 GLIAC Tournament, taking on Purdue Northwest in the first game of the tournament Thursday morning in Crown Point, Indiana.
The Rangers enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed for the second straight season after finishing the regular season 25-27 overall and 14-14 in GLIAC play. Parkside will face No. 5 seed Purdue Northwest on Thursday, May 7, at 11 a.m. CT at the Crown Point Sportsplex. The tournament runs Thursday, May 7, through Sunday, May 10, and will be double elimination.
Saginaw Valley State earned the No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 Ferris State, No. 3 Grand Valley State, No. 4 Parkside, No. 5 Purdue Northwest and No. 6 Davenport. The top two seeds receive byes into Friday, while Parkside and Purdue Northwest will open the tournament Thursday morning. The winner will advance to face top-seeded Saginaw Valley State on Friday, May 8, at 11 a.m. CT, while the loser will play again Thursday at 4 p.m. CT in an elimination game against the loser of No. 3 Grand Valley State and No. 6 Davenport.
ABOUT THE RANGERS:
Parkside enters the GLIAC Tournament 25-27 overall after finishing 14-14 in league play, tying a program record for the most GLIAC wins in a single season. The Rangers are making their sixth straight GLIAC Tournament appearance and have only missed the conference tournament once since joining the league, which came in 2019 during their first season in the GLIAC.
The Rangers have also built a strong recent postseason résumé. Parkside has reached the GLIAC Tournament championship game in two of the last three seasons, including last year's run as the No. 4 seed. In 2025, the Rangers went 4-2 in the tournament, with both losses coming to eventual champion Saginaw Valley State, including on Championship Sunday. Parkside also reached the title game in 2023 before falling to the Cardinals. All-time, the Rangers are 8-9 in the GLIAC Tournament dating back to their first appearance in 2021.
Parkside enters postseason play riding a four-game winning streak after sweeping Roosevelt in four games over the final week of the regular season. The Rangers took both games in Rosemont on Wednesday, winning 10-0 in six innings and 4-0, before returning home and sweeping the Lakers again Saturday by scores of 6-0 and 6-5. The final week included history in multiple forms, as Casey Jo Vermett became just the fourth Ranger ever to reach 200 strikeouts in a single season and the first to do so in 18 years, while Mia Johnson became Parkside's career doubles leader with her 58th career double in the first inning of game two Saturday. The Rangers also completed one of their best comebacks of the season in the regular-season finale, erasing an early 5-0 deficit to win 6-5. Additionally, Vermett was named GLIAC Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season.
Offensively, Parkside has been powered by extra-base production. The Rangers are hitting .260 overall with 357 hits, 83 doubles, six triples, 44 home runs and 226 RBI. In the GLIAC, Parkside ranks sixth in batting average, fifth in on-base percentage and fourth in slugging percentage. The Rangers also lead the conference in both doubles and home runs, but have relied far more on power than speed, sitting last in the league in stolen bases at 33-for-35.
Johnson continues to lead the Rangers and remains one of the top offensive players in the country. The reigning back-to-back GLIAC Player of the Year is hitting .456 with 67 hits, 20 doubles, two triples, 17 home runs, 43 RBI, 57 runs scored and 56 walks. She owns a .605 on-base percentage, a .966 slugging percentage and a 1.571 OPS. Johnson leads the GLIAC in batting average, doubles, home runs, on-base percentage, runs scored, slugging percentage, total bases and OPS, while also ranking among the national leaders in nearly every major offensive category. She enters the tournament ranked third nationally in slugging percentage, fifth in on-base percentage, eighth in total bases, 10th in home runs, 13th in doubles, 17th in runs scored and 20th in batting average.
Parkside has also received key production around Johnson. Isabel Aranda has 45 hits, 13 doubles, six home runs and 31 RBI. Megan Medlin has added seven doubles, six homers and 28 RBI, while Cici Di Silvio has 16 doubles and 25 driven in. Reese Valha has 12 doubles, three home runs and 20 RBI, Ava Swain has reached base at a .408 clip with 32 walks and nine hit-by-pitches, and Elodie Sullivan has provided a late-season boost with a .310 average, two home runs and 17 RBI in 27 games.
In the circle, Parkside owns a 3.51 team ERA, the third-best mark in the GLIAC. Vermett has led the way with one of the most dominant strikeout seasons in program history, entering the tournament 15-8 with a staff-best 2.90 ERA across 147.1 innings. She leads the GLIAC in innings pitched and strikeouts with 209, is tied for the league lead with 16 complete games and ranks third nationally in strikeouts per seven innings at 9.9. Vermett has also thrown five shutouts and held opponents to a .205 batting average. She enters the tournament coming off 13 straight scoreless innings against Roosevelt, including two complete-game shutouts.
SCOUTING PURDUE NORTHWEST:
Purdue Northwest enters the tournament 27-25 overall and 13-15 in GLIAC play, finishing just one game behind Parkside in the regular-season standings. The Pride earned the No. 5 seed after missing the GLIAC Tournament last season, which marked the first time since joining the league that they failed to qualify. This will be Purdue Northwest's sixth GLIAC Tournament appearance, and the Pride are 9-10 all-time in the conference tournament. In their most recent tournament trip in 2024, they went 3-2.
The Pride played three straight doubleheaders to close the regular season, facing Grand Valley State twice before finishing against Ferris State. Purdue Northwest went 2-4 during that stretch, splitting at home against Grand Valley State on Friday, splitting on the road with the Lakers on Saturday and then dropping both games at Ferris State on Sunday. The Pride enter the tournament on a three-game losing streak.
Offensively, Purdue Northwest has been one of the most dangerous teams in the league all season. The Pride lead the GLIAC in batting average at .323 and slugging percentage at .465, while ranking third in on-base percentage at .385. Purdue Northwest has collected 465 hits, 76 doubles, 24 triples, 27 home runs and 240 RBI while scoring 266 runs. The Pride have also been far more active on the bases than Parkside, going 80-for-94 in stolen base attempts.
True freshman Gracie Jensen leads the Pride and has been one of the best hitters in the GLIAC. Jensen is batting .428 with 68 hits, 12 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 48 RBI and a .474 on-base percentage. She ranks fourth in the GLIAC in batting average, second in hits, sixth in on-base percentage and third in RBI. Kylie Dugan has also been a major catalyst at the top of the lineup, hitting .355 with 59 hits, 44 runs scored, 27 walks and 29 stolen bases.
The Pride lineup has depth throughout. Jessy Del Toro is hitting .394 with a .468 on-base percentage, Kylie Madura is batting .354 with 12 doubles, four triples, eight home runs and a team-best .653 slugging percentage, and Amanda DeBoer is hitting .325 with 31 RBI. Emma Fair has added a .339 average and 20 RBI, while Sylvia Mudis has six home runs, five triples and a .663 slugging percentage in 37 games.
In the circle, Purdue Northwest carries a 4.16 team ERA, which ranks fifth in the GLIAC. Hailie Charmat has handled the most innings for the Pride, throwing 102.0 frames with a 7-9 record, 3.57 ERA, eight complete games and 76 strikeouts. Abbey Bond has also seen significant time, posting a 7-7 record and 4.15 ERA in 77.2 innings, while Jordyn Roop has made 13 starts and owns five wins.
SERIES HISTORY:
Thursday's matchup will be the 30th all-time meeting between Parkside and Purdue Northwest, with the Pride holding a 19-10 advantage in the series. The Rangers, however, have had the upper hand recently, winning five of the last seven meetings and six of the last 10 overall.
Parkside won three of the four regular-season meetings against Purdue Northwest this year. The teams first split a doubleheader in Kenosha on March 25, with Parkside rolling to a 15-3 win in five innings before Purdue Northwest responded with a 10-8 victory in game two. The Rangers then swept the Pride in Hammond on April 18, winning 8-2 in game one and 6-5 in game two.
The opening doubleheader between the teams featured plenty of offense. In Parkside's 15-3 win, the Rangers scored seven runs in the first inning and added three more in the second to take early control. Maddie Hernandez drove in four runs, Medlin added three RBI, Aranda homered and drove in three, and Johnson doubled, walked twice and drove in two. Purdue Northwest answered in game two behind Jensen, who went 3-for-5 with a home run and five RBI, while Mudis and Del Toro combined for four hits and three RBI. Aranda nearly powered Parkside to a sweep by going 3-for-3 with a home run, two doubles and six RBI.
When the teams met again in Hammond, Parkside took both games. Vermett earned two wins in the circle and struck out 19 total batters across the doubleheader, helping the Rangers win 8-2 and 6-5. Those two victories were part of a critical late-season stretch that helped Parkside stay above Purdue Northwest in the conference standings.
In GLIAC Tournament play, Purdue Northwest has won the only two postseason meetings between the programs. The Pride defeated Parkside twice during the 2024 tournament, first winning a 1-0 game in nine innings on May 2 after a walk-off sacrifice fly, before eliminating the Rangers two days later with a 3-1 victory on May 4. Parkside will look for its first postseason win over Purdue Northwest on Thursday morning.
LOOKING AHEAD:
With a win over Purdue Northwest, Parkside would advance to face No. 1 seed Saginaw Valley State on Friday, May 8, at 11 a.m. CT. With a loss, the Rangers would move into the elimination bracket and play again Thursday at 4 p.m. CT against the loser of No. 3 Grand Valley State and No. 6 Davenport.
To follow along with the Rangers this week, be sure to visit parksiderangers.com/coverage.
