Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes YSU senior pitcher Sophie Howell readies to throw during the Penguins’ game against Morehead State last season.

YOUNGSTOWN — In the last nine years of head coach Brian Campbell’s 16-year tenure, Youngstown State has been accustomed to competing at the top tier of the Horizon League.

In every season since 2015, the Penguins had finished third or better in the conference standings, including winning the regular season conference title in 2021.

But after YSU finished tied for fourth last year, its lowest since 2015, the Penguins are looking to again be “competitive” in the conference landscape this season, as they prepare to open up 2024 against Delaware on Friday at the Gardner-Webb Tournament in North Carolina.

“We’ve all said that from the start,” graduate student infielder Sara Fessler said this week. “Coach Campbell and (assistant coach Sara Zilles) told us coming back from preseason that we’re going to be goal-oriented. So every week, we’ll go over something we want to accomplish at practice. It’ll change weekly or maybe tweak something different, but they’ll check in at the end of the week of practice and be like, ‘Hey, did you accomplish this?’ I think that for us, it makes us really intentional with how we go through practice. So keeping focused and being goal-oriented is going to be huge for us.”

Last season, YSU finished the season 27-27 overall and 12-10 in league play. Then after losing in the first round of the Horizon League tournament to Northern Kentucky, the Penguins made a run through the consolation bracket, beating IUPUI, Green Bay and Robert Morris before falling to eventual league runner-up Oakland.

After its run to end the season, YSU returns plenty to build on this year, as Fessler leads a sizable contingent of nine returning upperclassmen for the Penguins.

But YSU also adds an equally large group of seven freshmen to this year’s team that provide Campbell’s group with an even mix of youth and experience.

“Setting a tone — I think that’s what it comes down to with the upperclassmen,” Campbell said. “You have to set the tone, you have to set the tone of the game, you have to be a leader on the field as far as production and do your job. I think that’ll help the young ones. Freshmen, they bring the energy (because) they’re new to this. But Division I softball is a lot faster game than maybe what they’re used to. They bring the energy and I think that’s exciting to the older students and seniors.”

YSU returns six of the nine members of its primary lineup from last season, including Fessler, who led the team with a .369 batting average and was named to the 2023 All-Horizon League First Team.

The team’s other top-four hitters, including junior infielder Taylor Truran (.300), senior shortstop Elyssa Imler (.290) and senior catcher Conchetta Rinaldi (.262), who is a Cardinal Mooney alum, are part of that returning group.

“We have a good amount of players here that we’re able to switch and switch out,” Campbell said. “I think last year, we got caught with nine every single game. Going into this year, that’s one thing that me and (Zilles) talked about was wanting to make some switches and lineup changes and be able to go a little bit deeper. … It’s one of those things that could go in a lot of different directions depending on what the scouting report looks like (game-to-game).”

But perhaps the deepest of the Penguins’ roster is its pitching staff, as YSU brings back all three of its top-three pitchers from last season.

Senior RHP and Champion-product Sophie Howell led the Penguins with a 17-12 record last season, throwing 173 strikeouts with and a 2.48 ERA. She pitched every inning of YSU’s Horizon League tournament run and earned All-Horizon League Second-Team honors.

Meanwhile, senior RHP Devan Ryan posted a 7-10 record to go with a 2.70 ERA and junior utility player and South Range-alum Bree Kohler did a little bit of everything for YSU. Kohler was 3-3 with a 3.21 ERA as a pitcher, while also batting .156 in 45 at-bats for the Penguins.

Both Campbell and Fessler noted that “speed” is something that sets them apart this season, hoping that they can use that to put additional pressure on opposing defenses.

“I think the identity of the team is honestly that we’re firing on all facets,” Fessler said. “We have our pitching, we have our speed, our power — I don’t think there’s necessarily one thing that we’re going to rely on.”

Once the Penguins get through a non-conference slate during the first month of the season that takes them through the Carolinas and Virginia for a series of tournaments, the Horizon League looks to be just as competitive as ever.

Oakland won the regular season crown last year, while Northern Kentucky emerged with the tournament title.

“This year’s conference, it’s a mixture,” Campbell said. “It’s about us just taking it one game at a time and taking that mentality through there. The Horizon League is a great conference. It’s very competitive from the top to the bottom and we’ve seen that in recent years.”

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com